The Book of the Dead

If I could study any artifact, and have all of the resources I needed to do so, it would be the Egyptian Book of the Dead. When I was in my undergrad I seriously considered becoming an Egyptologist. I have been fascinated with this ancient civilization since I can remember. In fact, I think a big part of this fascination came from playing my favourite computer game as a child: Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. This was one of 3 games I had, and the other 2 were math-related and forced upon me by my mom. I’ve included a YouTube clip here so you can see the magic that was this game. Perfect for any history lover! Anyways, that is where it started, but I’ve never had the opportunity to pursue this path.

I know that there is endless research and information about the Book of the Dead, and we know all about ancient Egyptian funerary rites. But I’m a firm believer that we can’t, and don’t, know everything about anything so if given the opportunity to conduct my own investigation I would focus on the physicality of the Book of the Dead and all of those details that make it the important document it is. With this said, I think the biggest challenge in studying this artifact would be the fact that it is immensely popular.

Egyptian Book of the Dead, papyrus,
320 BCE, Royal Ontario Museum

This “book” in the form of a papyrus roll would reveal not only burial customs and beliefs regarding the Egyptian afterlife, but also practices of information communication and circulation in addition to the value of scribes and painters in ancient Egyptian society. I suppose all of this information is already obvious, but studying this artifact as an information vehicle would shed light on a variety of societal customs, artistic practices, and relationships between people and the objects they create. I would ask questions that go beyond the mere purpose of the Book of the Dead and ask what kinds of materials and methods were used to create it (paints, oils, papyrus, etc.), who the creators were, why it was created, how often it was created and for whom, and the development of these texts from tomb walls to papyrus; from kings to the middle classes.

Key features I would study:

Information—What information is conveyed in the Book of the Dead? How is it conveyed? How does it change through various reproductions?

People—Who wrote it? Who altered it? Who was privileged enough to read it and receive it (from kings to nobles to the middle classes)? What was the role of the scribe in ancient Egyptian society? What was the role of the painter in ancient Egyptian society?

Artistic Practice—What kinds of materials were used? What was the process for making papyrus? Who was responsible for this process? What kinds of materials made up the paints that were used? (There was a study of the polychrome pigments of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Book of the Dead of Amenemhet published in 2010, which revealed lead white, previously not found in Egyptian funerary papyri, making it representative of the developments in the palette used across the Ptolemaic period).

Finally, I would ask how is all of this information related and what, if any, light it can shed on all of these practices and their influences in the centuries that followed.

References:

Di Stefano, L., & Fuchs, R. (2011). Characterisation of the pigments in a Ptolemaic Egyptian Book of the Dead papyrus. Archaeological And Anthropological Sciences, 3(3), 229-244.