Among the broad spectrum of ancient Egyptian religious literature, the Book of the Dead is the most representative of ancient Egyptian mortuary religion and of the magical and ritual practices belonging to it. Moreover, its rich corpus of texts and images provides unique information on the scribal practices, mortuary traditions, myths, and priestly rituals in ancient Egypt from the 2nd Millennium BCE to the Roman Period. The Oxford Handbook of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is the first major guide to collect and synthesize the wide-ranging body of scholarship on the Book of the Dead as well as the broader literature on ancient Egyptian religion and magic.
Useful for both curious undergraduates and advanced scholars, this collection of contributions from specialists in the field will become a go-to resource for years to come on everything from the textual history of the Book of the Dead to its material origins and historical reception. Editors Rita Lucarelli and Martin Andreas Stadler have curated a singular volume that is both state of the art and comprehensive.
Author(s): Rita Lucarelli, Martin Andreas Stadler
Series: Oxford Handbooks
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 609
City: New York
Cover
The Oxford Handbook of the Egyptian Book of the Dead
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction
Part I The Textual History of the Book of the Dead
1 The Transition from the Coffin Texts to the Book of the Dead
2 The Book of the Dead in the Eighteenth Dynasty
3 The Ramesside Book of the Dead and the Deir el-Medina Tradition
4 The Book of the Dead in the Third Intermediate Period
5 The Book of the Dead Papyri in the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty
6 The Last Books of the Dead
Part II Types of Sources: The Material Aspect of the Book of the Dead
7 Writing Book of the Dead Manuscripts: Tasks and Traditions
8 Production and Layout of New Kingdom Book of the Dead Papyri
9 Female Owners of Book of the Dead Papyri
10 Book of the Dead on Tissues: Shrouds and Mummy Bandages
11 The Book of the Dead in Tombs
12 The Book of the Dead in Temples
Part III The Book of the Dead’s Position in Ancient Egyptian Religion
13 The Book of the Dead as a Source for the Study of Ancient Egyptian Religion: Methodology, Problems, Prospects
14 The Funerary Literature Related to the Book of the Dead
15 The Book of the Dead in the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods and the Contemporary Funerary Texts
16 The Book of the Ba
Part IV Particular Aspects of the Book of the Dead’s Contents
17 Thematic Groups and Sequences of Spells
18 Spell 1 of the Book of the Dead and Its Vignette
19 The Field of Offerings or Field of Reeds
20 The Judgment
21 Gods and Demons in the Book of the Dead
22 The So-Called Chapitres supplémentaires
23 Illustrations in Saite through Ptolemaic Books of the Dead
Part V The Book of the Dead in Modern Times
24 The Time of the Pioneers (Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries)
25 Just a Catchy Title? On the History of Reception of the Egyptian Book of the Dead
26 Translating the Book of the Dead
27 The Conservation of Book of the Dead Papyri
28 The Art of Forgery in the Manuscript Culture in Antiquity
Index
