Book Of The Dead Gallery

Detail from the linen shroud of the official Meh, Ancient Egyptian, 18th dynasty, 1550-1295 BC

Detail from the linen shroud of the official Meh, Ancient Egyptian, 18th dynasty, 1550-1295 BC. The text is taken from the judgement chapters of the Book of the Dead. It is an example of the illustration of shrouds bearing funerary texts, an innovation begun in the reign of Hatshepsut. From the Musee du Louvre, Paris

© Werner Forman Archive/ Musee du Louvre, Paris / Heritage-Images

Ancient Egyptian cosmos, c1025 BC

Ancient Egyptian cosmos, c1025 BC. Nut (heaven), stretches over the Earth, represented by her brother Geb, who lies below her. The toes of the goddess are at the eastern horizon, and her fingertips at the western horizon. Her father Shu (air), holds her up with both hands, separating her from Geb. Despite this Geb and Nut had four children: Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. The myths surrounding these four deities relate to the emergence of human society; the separation of earth and sky constitutes the creation of the world. This scene is part of the Greenfield papyrus, the Book of the Dead of the priestess Nesitanebtashru. It is one of the best surviving examples of a funerary papyrus; the original document was over thirty-seven metres long and is from the burial of Nesitanebtashru at Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, Egypt

© Oxford Science Archive / Heritage-Images

A man and his wife making offerings to Osiris, from the Egyptian Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead of Ani; sheet 36; full colour vignettes; red and yellow borders. Spell 148 continued; spell 185, hymn to Osiris. A man, Ani, and his wife, Tutu, making offerings to Osiris, from the Egyptian Book of the Dead of Ani. From the British Museum's collection

© CM Dixon / Heritage-Images

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