The Book of the Dead
It is a collection of religious documents and funerary texts that were used in ancient Egypt, to be a guide to deceased on his journey to the other world, used from the beginning of the modern era of the ancient Egyptian state (circa 1550 BC) to about 50 BC. The term “book” is the term closest to describing this wide range of texts consisting of a number of magical spells designed to help a dead person’s journey to the Hereafter. These spells were written by many priests over a period of about 1000 years. He is considered the oldest book that has ended in his knowledge, without in the age of construction of the Great Pyramid, a copy of which is still preserved in the British Museum. There are calls for the gods, chants and prayers, then a description of what the souls of the dead in the other world find from the reckoning and the punishment and reward. They built the huge temples along with the tombs that are no less magnificent and luxurious, where they thought of the resurrection and the return of the spirit that they called in two close pictures, ka or ba. They also made sure to put all the things of the deceased from the food and costume and everything he loved in his life with him in his tomb where the spirit of the deceased can eat and drink from them when she returns to the body, and before her quest for other life. These spells and magical amulets-as the texts of the pyramids were called in the age of the ancient state-were embossed on the walls of ordinary tombs and pyramids or on a sarcophagus or wooden coffin placed next to the mummy to be a guide to deceased on his journey to the other world. These spells served as guidelines that enable the deceased to overcome the obstacles and dangers that he will encounter during his journey to the other life, and also demonstrate the means he uses to successfully complete this journey without being abused. At the same time a reminder of the names of the gods that will encounter them in this way, since forgetting the name of one of the gods is not in his favor, especially since he is receiving his account in the hereafter will stand before a court of 40 God. In the era of the central state and the modern State, the texts of the Book of the Dead began to be written on papyrus and put this book next to the mummy inside the coffin. Every old Egyptian was keen to instruct the priests to prepare a book for the deceased, mentioning his name, the name of his father, his mother and his job in his life. In preparation for the day of his death and preparing a ritual to move him to his tomb.
One of the basic parts of the Book of the Dead is a prayer defended by the deceased for himself (called Confession of Exile):
“Peace be upon you, O great God, the god of truth. I came to you, my lord. Subject to Your Majesty’s Witness, I came to you, my lord, by right, abandoning falsehood, no one was unjust and I did not take the path of the misguided, I did not stay in the right and I did not keep the lust the wife of one of my womb Oh, God, I didn’t. I didn’t cry, and I did not steal from the temples, and I did not commit the indecency and did not do anything sacred, and did not rape and stolen money and did not violate the dead, I did not sell wheat at an obscene price and did not cheat and did not kill. I am Pure, I am pure, I am pure. As long as I am innocent of sin, make me my lord of the winners. “(I did not deprive cattle of its grass, I did not make traps for the birds of the god, I did not fish from their lakes, I did not prevent water in the season, I did not dam or obstacle to running water,
Contents of the book
The Book of the dead in ancient Egyptians shows us the religious beliefs that they have been occupying all their lives. Not only did death have an inseparable part of life, but at that time people had another conception of death and other life than we thought today. The Book of the Dead was with its spells and directions to the deceased, helping him to make a resurrection and move to the hereafter where he lived as he lived on Earth but without disease, fatigue or old age, but also in the Hereafter a companion to the gods eating and drinking with them on some occasions. The goal of the dead or death was to reach eternal life in the other world, and that was not logical for some people and peoples of those ages. The conception of living in the hereafter is that the deceased who did a good deed in his life and was faithful and honest helps the poor, the hungry and the thirsty, and assists widows and orphans, such a person would live according to what the gods wanted from “a life together, a justice system”, a symbol of this ancient Egyptian regime with Maat the Gods of Truth and order for me.
The Book of the Dead contains several chapters, describing and referring to the following:
-Protecting the dead from demons and evil spirits and snakes and others.
-You know the dead at the resurrection the way to the hereafter.
-Help him to cross the Sea of fire, and the odds that threaten him.
-Allow him to hesitate between the Earth world and the other world.
-Help him live in the hereafter.
-Help him to get water and food and receive donations.
-Help him to know the places in the Hereafter.
-Remember the names of the gods and important names (such as the name of afterlife gate).
-Help him to know the doors and their names and spells open them and pass them and reach the gods and identify himself to them.
Although there are some differences between our beliefs in the present about the afterlife, there are similarities between our beliefs and the ancient Egyptian beliefs. They were ancient Egyptians who believed in the resurrection and appearing before a judicial body formed by 42 judges and before them the deceased admitted that he did not steal, did not assassinate anyone, did not lie, and all that he did not do the disadvantages of his life in the world.
I didn’t cause harm to a human being,
I have not forced any of my relatives to do the bad. And I didn’t insist on bad work for good work,
I did not walk with the assailant.
