BOOK OF THE DEAD. A book, that is to say, intended for the dead, the most important of the religious writings of the ancient Egyptians. Parts of it may belong to the remote period of the first Memphite dynasties. The Book contains prayers or addresses, hymns, and formulae for the use of a deceased person in the underworld. It was in use in the Middle King dom, but more so in the New Kingdom, and, later, por tions were written on the walls of the tombs, the sides of the sarcophagi, the linen bandages, and on papyri folded within the body-cloths. Different portions or chapters were thought to be adapted to different tastes, emergencies, or means. With the magic help of the Book of the Dead, a soul on its journey through the under world could overcome the evil spirits and win over the good ones. Prof. Naville gives this rubric from later papyri : " He who knows this book on earth, or on whose coffin it has been written, may come out from the day when be pleases, and again enter his dwelling, without anyone repulsing him. And there shall be given to him bread, beer, much flesh meat, upon the altar-table of Ra; he shall receive allotment of land in the garden of Aalu, and there shall be given to him grain, and he shall grow green (flourish) again, like what he was upon earth." A very interesting chapter or section has
reference to the testing of the soul in the underworld. Arrived at the Hall of the Two Truths or Two Justices, the deceased person had to stand before the judgment throne of Osiris, with whom sat the forty-two judges of the dead. The deceased had to justify himself, to make a confession, and to show that he had not been guilty of any of the forty-two sins. To test him, his heart was weighed in the scales by Horns (q.v.) and Anubis (q.v.). If be came through this ordeal satisfactorily, he received back his heart and in his old form became a new and eternal being. Other books based upon the Book of the Dead, supplementing it or reproducing the most import ant formulae, had a wide circulation. These included such works as : " The Book of the Breath," " The Second Book of the Breath," " The Book of Journeying in Eternity," " The Book of May my Name flourish '." It should be added that much of the matter in the Book of the Dead reveals a well-developed moral sense. See A. Wiedemann: A. Erman, Handbook; E. Naville, The Old Egyptian Faith, 1909.