Tag: book of the dead

One of the greatest aspects of the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian collection is The Book of the Dead for a man named Sobekmose, who had the title “Goldworker of Amun.” Sobekmose was buried in Memphis and that is where this papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛 was found. This Book of the Dead dates to the 18th Dynasty (early New Kingdom 1500-1480 B.C.E.). It is displayed as one complete papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛!

The Book of the Dead contained instructions/spells for the deceased 𓅓𓏏𓏱 as they made their way through the underworld 𓇼𓄿𓏏𓉐. The red text that you see is used to indicate the start of a new spell, the end of a spell, or the names of certain mythological figures.

I love this particular image 𓏏𓅱𓏏 – it shows the sun 𓇳𓏺 god Ra 𓇳𓏺𓁛 in his solar barge that he used to bring the sun 𓇳𓏺 across the sky 𓊪𓏏𓇯 during the day 𓉔𓂋𓏺𓇳, and then through the underworld 𓇼𓄿𓏏𓉐 at night 𓎼𓂋𓎛𓄛. Ra’s 𓇳𓏺𓁛 journey across the sky 𓊪𓏏𓇯 is supposed to be representative of his birth/resurrection (sunrise), growth (day) and then death (sunset). Then, Ra’s 𓇳𓏺𓁛 journey would repeat for another day.

I love how the solar barge is sitting on top of the determinative hieroglyph for “sky 𓇯” and that the Egyptian stars 𓇼𓇼𓇼 are also there!

One of the greatest aspects of the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian collection is The Book of the Dead for a man named Sobekmose, who had the title “Goldworker of Amun.” Sobekmose was buried in Memphis 𓏠𓈖𓄤𓆑𓂋𓉴𓊖 and that is where this papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛 was found. This Book of the Dead dates to the 18th Dynasty (early New Kingdom 1500-1480 B.C.E.). It is displayed as one complete papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛!

The Book of the Dead is interesting because it doesn’t follow a particular story. The spells 𓎛𓂓𓏛𓏦 do seem to be grouped by theme, and sometimes pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 can be representative of the spells 𓎛𓂓𓏛𓏦 as well.

In this image 𓏏𓅱𓏏, you can see some of the Hieratic script that the Book of the Dead is written in – don’t ask me to translate, because I can’t read Hieratic! I can only read hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! I would love to learn Hieratic though! The text is read from top to bottom, right to left.

Some of the Hieratic is in black 𓆎𓅓 ink while some of it is in red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟. The red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 ink seems to symbolize either the beginning or the end 𓎼𓂋𓎛𓂝𓏛 of a spell 𓎛𓂓𓏛, or it could highlight a word for a noun that was considered “bad” in Egyptian culture. However, sometimes even “offering table 𓂝𓃀𓅡𓄿𓋃” could have been written/drawn in red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 and offering tables 𓂝𓃀𓅡𓄿𓋃 were not bad at all! So, some of the red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 ink seems kinda random.

One of the greatest aspects of the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian collection is The Book of the Dead for a man named Sobekmose, who had the title “Goldworker of Amun.” Sobekmose was buried in Memphis 𓏠𓈖𓄤𓆑𓂋𓉴𓊖 and that is where this papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛 was found. This Book of the Dead dates to the 18th Dynasty (early New Kingdom 1500-1480 B.C.E.). It is displayed as one complete papyrus 𓅓𓍑𓏏𓏛!

The Book of the Dead is interesting because it doesn’t follow a particular story. The spells 𓎛𓂓𓏛𓏦 do seem to be grouped by theme, and sometimes pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 can be representative of the spells 𓎛𓂓𓏛𓏦 as well.

In this image 𓏏𓅱𓏏, you can see some of the Hieratic script that the Book of the Dead is written in – don’t ask me to translate, because I can’t read Hieratic! I can only read hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! I would love to learn Hieratic though! The text is read from top to bottom, right to left.

Some of the Hieratic is in black 𓆎𓅓 ink while some of it is in red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟. The red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 ink seems to symbolize either the beginning or the end 𓎼𓂋𓎛𓂝𓏛 of a spell 𓎛𓂓𓏛, or it could highlight a word for a noun that was considered “bad” in Egyptian culture. However, sometimes even “offering table 𓂝𓃀𓅡𓄿𓋃” could have been written/drawn in red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 and offering tables 𓂝𓃀𓅡𓄿𓋃 were not bad at all! So, some of the red 𓂧𓈙𓂋𓅟 ink seems kinda random.