This vignette detail shows an episode from Book of the Dead, spell 125, in which the deceased appears before Osiris and a tribunal of gods to have his heart weighed against the feather of Maat, symbolizing justice and truth. If his heart equals the weight of the feather, he is allowed to pass into the next world.
Getty’s Book of the Dead manuscripts include seven papyri and 12 fragments of linen mummy wrappings that are now undergoing new scholarship spearheaded by Foy Scalf, an Egyptologist who is the head of research archives at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago. Along with Getty’s ongoing provenance research (discussed below), Scalf is studying the texts and preparing translations and analysis in order to place them within the broader context of the long history of the Book of the Dead.
The group of writings that we call the Book of the Dead developed from multiple different sources, including earlier funerary inscriptions, priestly oaths, and household spells. It was likely embedded in a strong oral tradition, as most people could not read or write. By the New Kingdom, starting around 1550 BCE, scribes started writing Book of the Dead spells on papyrus scrolls. Vignettes often illustrated key points in the text, as in the example above from spell 125, in which the deceased has his heart weighed in the presence of Osiris. Book of the Dead spells were meant to be spoken aloud. Priests would read from scrolls during the funeral, and much of the text is written as direct speech that the deceased is envisioned reciting in the netherworld.
Exploring Getty’s Book of the Dead
Getty’s collection spans a wide timeframe, which provides an exciting opportunity to examine how the Book of the Dead evolved for more than 1,000 years, and how it was used by the Egyptians.
The earliest text we own is an 18th Dynasty papyrus that was made sometime around 1450 BCE, during the height of Egypt’s New Kingdom The papyrus, which belonged to a woman named Webennesre, includes spell 149, in which the deceased encounters fourteen “mounds” in the afterlife, each of which has its own inhabitants. These mounds are illustrated at the far right of the scroll.