Spell 74 of the book of the dead in New Kingdom and Late Period tombs

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Suez Canal University - Faculty of Tourism and Hotels- Ismailia - Egypt

2 Suez Canal University - Faculty of Tourism and Hotels - Ismailia - Egypt

Abstract

The Egyptian Book of the Dead or what was known as Book for going out of the day” stands as one of the important seminal works of religious literature not only in Ancient Egypt but of all the human history, it plays a great role in shaping ideas and .assumptions of Egyptian religion in the popular imagination.
It was written on papyrus , mummies , walls of tombs, coffins and chapels by the priests in hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts , illustrated with vignettes consists of several magical spells depicting the deceased through his journey through the afterlife.
The book of the dead is a compilation of many smaller texts referred to as “spells r3.w” . Each individual spell was a self-contained unit with its own theme , structure and combined with specific illustrations .
The study of “spell 74” of Book of the Dead is interesting, it describes the meaning of having freedom and going forth of constraint in peace. This spell also show a unique scene of a human legs serpent with the deceased, the choice of the serpent was due to its similarity with the deceased, ,both of them stay under the ground and want to get out of the darkness from their grave and gain the freedom.
This research aims to investigate the distribution of spell 74 f on different parts of the tomb and its significance. It will mention all spell’s scenes , places , description and finally its function.

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics