Surely, at some point many of us have been able to hold in our hands a tourist guide with maps, tips and descriptions of places of interest to those engaged in tourism. In ancient Egypt, something similar happened, just that difference was that the trip was to the world of the dead.

Man has always been afraid of the unknown, and this fear has led him to create a source of joy in front of the least known of the states that man must inevitably experience death.

The belief in life after death born since time memorable

It happens that all or nearly all religions have been the same, the promise of a future existence after the death of one form or another, is present in the sacred books of each of them regardless of how they have been delivered to his devotees and under what circumstances.

If we were to ask what was the reason why the ancient Egyptians were interested in building impressive monuments like the pyramids, the Sphinx in Giza, the tombs of the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, the necropolis of Saqqara and Luxor and Karnak temples not to continue extending the list, we find that the cause is death.

When we come into contact with this ancient civilization and is visiting this attractive country or visiting a museum that has some pieces belonging to the Pharaonic culture, it is incredibly easy to realize that the Egyptians were obsessed with death and his idea of the Hereafter. To observe any monument, regardless of scale or utility, it seems sensible to dub this as funerary art, from the simple to the complex is surrounded by a sense of another world.

The Book of the Dead has been one of those funereal utensils, their use was as its name implies, for the dead. In reality this was not a real book as we know today, was a series of spells, incantations, ceremonies and prayers grouped on papyrus, all these in order to help the deceased in the final trial and avoid the dangers of More there.

Scene where there are between the bullets, the sacred texts Book of the Dead

The term is used today to talk about the Book of the Dead is not the same as used by the Egyptians in ancient times. The true translation of the name of this collection of papyri is from The Day Rally to interpretations as Output A Day The origin of the modern nomenclature dispute between two sources, the first of them said that Arabs and called them thieves to find them along with the mummies while the second one states that it was because of the publication of the Turin Papyrus by Richard Lepsius who titled his work as Das Totenbuch which translated into Spanish means the Book of the Dead.

Background to the Book of the Dead

Without the need to reach the birth of the Egyptian religion, we can say that the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley also were afraid of the unknown and thus created a world both physical and idealized for the dead. Egypt is divided by the river Nile and the ancient inhabitants of the east side used to build houses and temples of worship to the gods while the western side of Egypt was used to bury the dead.

The Book of the Dead did not appear suddenly in Egyptian history, this was the result of a series of processes that were gradually appearing in different forms in different periods. The former logically back to the earliest times of civilization. The priests passed their knowledge to neophytes in a verbal but it was necessary to have a less perishable than the root oral teachings that since the dawn of Egyptian civilization is practically comes.

Since the V Dynasty, was that it gave this step that allowed for much less ephemeral beliefs about the afterlife. The new media that the priests gave to their beliefs was the stone. In relation to the world beyond the so-called Pyramid Texts were carved on the walls of the pyramids of Unas, Teti and Merenre among others.

The Pyramid Texts are the first manifestation sacred texts so far found

Subsequently, not only the pharaohs wanted to have a life after death so from Dynasty VII to the Middle Kingdom made some innovations. High-ranking officials and nobles adopted the custom of including in their funerals these sacred texts, but under a new support, the coffins were buried where their bodies.

The sacred texts were written in the noble sarcophagi officials

During the New Kingdom around the XVIII Dynasty was an innovative breakthrough in media transcription and this is one of the most important, the papyrus was the new resource of the Egyptians. Through the use of papyrus to transcribe the Book of the Dead many lower-income people had the opportunity to buy their own phone for your trip to another world.

The new medium of sacred texts was papyrus

In this regard it is noteworthy that the underworld became big business for the priests and scribes. In Egypt it was customary among the people in acquiring certain utensils in advance to take with you at the time of his death. According to the purchasing power of the person you could buy some papyrus large, beautifully drawn and all kinds of contents to help in the afterlife. However, who could not afford to pay a fortune for the Book of the Dead, had to be content with selecting some of its chapters with a much poorer quality artwork missing where the papyrus to be filled only writing.

The Book of the Dead of Ani is one of the most famous for its spectacular Illustration

Until today have survived several copies of the Book of the Dead in multitudes of sizes, from a few centimeters long until many more extensive as that of Ani with an extension of 25 meters divided into thirty-seven parts. Other copies of up to 51 meters are also well known.

The Pyramid Texts and Coffin

During the first Old Kingdom dynasties carved on the walls of some pyramids certain religious texts that are now dated as the oldest of its kind. These engravings to which he gave the name of the Pyramid Texts contain funerary rituals are practiced to the mummy, magic spells and rites among other things to help the dead king had more chance of being accepted into the realm beyond the grave and keep his soul was devoured by the god Ammit. It is believed that many of these texts have been copied from some much older but which until now, no specimens have been found.

One of the so-called Pyramid Texts best known are those found in the pyramid of King Unas, last king of Dynasty V and this is the oldest religious text found until now. Not only have these sacred scriptures found in the pyramids of these pharaohs, but also were sculpted in some queens pyramids.

It is very important this first manifestation of religion in the pyramids and that they were taken into account as machines rose from the soul of the deceased and next to these texts the possibility of life in the hereafter would thus immensely encouraging. The Pyramid Texts are also important sources of study to understand the thinking of the ancient religion from that time had an increasingly complex development.

During the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, the figure of the sun god Ra is the most important among the Pyramid Texts, but later this was replaced by another deity.

In the first Pharaonic dynasties in the world, the resurrection in the Hereafter was limited to the king and queen while the nobles were unable to secure a future and eternal life after death. Later, the nobles and other high-ranking officials wanted to ensure his immortal life but could not build monuments like the pyramids to put on them the Pyramid Texts. A way to satisfy that need, which even today are looking to believe in life after death regardless of the religion they belong to, was that the Egyptians began to demand their existence in the hereafter and this was find a new adaptation of the Pyramid Texts to enable them to take them to their own graves. The solution was to carve the texts on the coffins of the dead and thus they would also have the opportunity to live eternally. The result of this new adaptation is what we know today as the Coffin Texts.

However, this was not enough to ensure a life in the hereafter, had to meet certain requirements and that there was a mummified body making the process more complicated by grave robbers who used to destroy the mummies after stealing her belongings to prevent these from attacking.

During this stage, the image of the sun god Ra was not as popular as in antiquity. Now the trend was toward the god of the dead Osiris Ra but not completely extinguished and that this deity has been found in some spells with inscriptions from this period.

The creation of the Book of the Dead

The terminology of the Book of the Dead used by Egyptologists as we know, is used to refer to all spells, prayers and hymns that were used by the deceased on his journey into the beyond in order to facilitate its acceptance in the world after death and to avoid the dangers that the process could be presented. Currently about 200 are known formulas that the deceased could be used and today Egyptologists have divided into chapters called. However, not all chapters have been found together in the same burial.

There are several versions of the so-called Book of the Dead, these are the cases of the copies made in Heliopolis and Thebes. These two have some differences but basically not very different.

Fortunately, they have received many copies of the Book of the Dead in good condition until today because many of them were placed inside the coffins of the mummies. One of the most famous papyri found the papyrus of Ani-now in the British Museum, "the scribe of the XIX Dynasty, around 1250 BC New Kingdom.

Horus presents scene where the deceased before his father Osiris and where then (the late) acts as a type of God of the dead

Papyrus of Ani is famous due to three main factors: the first is its length being just over 25 meters. Another element is that the inscriptions are accompanied by beautiful graphical representations of the different stages of the trial carried out in the world of the dead. The other factor of considerable importance is that the papyrus of Ani brings a lot of chapters of the Book of the Dead, making it one of the most complete found so far.

Papyrus had originally been prepared for him but that his name was placed in the blank spaces were left free to be a time when there was a buyer.

It is also worth noting that had passages from the Book of the Dead as well as being enrolled in the papyri, they were also in small pieces known as shabtis, some walls of tombs or on linen, the latter particularly at the time of Tuthmosis III.

Ushebti the dead was taken to another world

The shabtis were a magical substitute who could do well be the presentation of the deceased or their servants. Such substitutes in the afterlife would be responsible for all the hard work thus replacing the deceased to make life more pleasant in the other world. For example, in the Coffin Texts referring to the cane fields of this world and there shabtis to replace the deceased through the magic formula for shabtis inscribed on the sarcophagus and that this must read.

The Book of the Dead is usually written in vertical columns rather than horizontal. The cartoons are very common to accompany the texts predominantly in black ink. The special spells and the most important were written in red ink to draw attention.

The order of the chapters vary widely in the eighteenth and nineteenth Dynasty according to the wishes and possibilities of the deceased. The richest people could send a write to them a Book of the Dead, especially for themselves but for the costs, papyrus serial events were very popular. In these cases the scribe transcribed the Book of the Dead but left gaps which subsequently include the names and titles of the buyer.

Judgement Day

On the journey into the world of the dead the deceased could be exposed to hazards that would prevent him from eternal life in the kingdom of Osiris. These dangers are all sorts including some deities that the deceased had to be careful.

The first thing to do was to choose death before the chapters of most interest to your trip to the Hereafter. As is known, eternal life became a very good business especially during the New Kingdom was the time and these writings had been copied to the papyrus, a material much cheaper than the carved reliefs on the tomb being easier to acquire for the general population.

The possibility of living in another world, literally, had no money so the production of the Book of the Dead was growing and more popular.

After being holders of certain chapters of the book, just wait the time was that these would be used. Once that time came and the event of any compensation due the deceased's body was embalmed by the priests while they were carrying out their respective burial rituals.

The preservation of the mummy was important for the Ka could survive and thus ensure the possibility of living the eternal life. The Ka was the vital energy in its purest form and to live it was necessary that the Ka was safe and if it is destroyed, the result was the final death where there was no possibility of resurrection.

Not knowing what was in the other world was an imminent danger to the dead so that their knowledge was very important to doing that during the New Kingdom, the acquisition of these sacred texts were unique compared to much older times.

When the deceased on his journey to the afterlife was a number of obstacles that had to overcome to achieve eternal life, to overcome these obstacles was a need plea of not guilty of several sins mentioned in the so-called Negative Confession. In it, the deceased had to testify against 42 assistants gods Osiris, and one by one, witness the absolute innocence of the sins in question. To move to the next test was necessary to be innocent before the gods of the deceased must have known their names.

Thoth, Anubis and Ammit are part of the gods present in the trial that preceded the 42 divinities with acting as judges

After that, the deceased was accompanied by the god of mummification, Anubis to the Hall of Two Truths where he would stand trial for his actions in the world of the living. In the trial scenes are present in addition to the dead, Anubis the god of mummification, body of man and the head of a jackal, the god Thoth of wisdom and writing, with the body of man and the head of an ibis, the presence of goddess Maat through an ostrich feather, lady of justice and truth, of heaven and Ammit Horus, the leopard beast with the body, legs and head hippo crocodile devour the hearts of those who exceeded the trial.

Anubis, god of mummification is one of the key witnesses trial

The heart was considered in ancient Egypt as the center of consciousness and emotions of man, which is why the techniques of mummification reached such perfection that the dead were embalmed heart in place, while other organs and viscera were removed from the body and deposited in canopic jars.

The canopic jars were used to preserve the viscera the late

In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased's heart was heavy on a large scale the other end was weighed against the feather of Maat, symbol of truth. Here the truth must overcome gravity, if the balance is tilted toward the side of the heart all was lost, the deceased did not pass the test and his heart was devoured by Ammit causing the final and second death. But if on the contrary, the balance was stable, he meant that the deceased during his life had been honest and that he had not lied to the gods, and the trial was passed. The gods Anubis and Horus claimed that the trial was fair. Regardless of the results thereof, the god Thoth recorded write the final verdict. It is important to note that never has been found in a papyrus in the trial of the deceased where he was unfavorable.

After weighing the heart, Toth logged result as the beast Ammit attentive aguadra

However, before weighing the heart with the feather of truth, the deceased went to his heart not to betray him or contradict him. The hieroglyphic text to the formula to go to the heart was carved into a beetle and put on the heart of the mummy.

After being weighed the heart of the deceased and after passing the trial, the sky god, Horus, drove the deceased to his father Osiris who was accompanied by his wife Isis and Nephthys, both by a sister. This was justified in the habit of marriages between brothers and sisters, parents and children to maintain the divine lineage from the royal family. Osiris is seen particularly wrapped like a mummy and holding the crook and scourge used to represent the power of the pharaohs. Before him, there are 4 lesser gods.

Before Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and four gods is presented the deceased, having passed the trial

After the deceased was accepted into the realm of the afterlife in return for being decent and proper for his life on earth, had several options on what to do. The Beyond is an underground region bordered by light everywhere during the day, with vast fields for agriculture. The Beyond was divided into 12 regions called Cave or Duat. Each of these caves were ruled by spirits. The sixth region was Beyond that Osiris lived. This region was described as a field irrigation channels and small islands.

The hope of the deceased was being accepted into the kingdom of Osiris, but also wanted to be able to return to Earth. The Book of the Dead had some formulas that allowed the deceased to visit Earth, traveling across the sky, visit the gods and the boats sail at dawn and dusk.

Ani the deceased is accepted into the kingdom of Osiris

Transcription of some chapters of the Book of the Dead

To have a clearer understanding of the content of the Book of the Dead is interesting to read some of the spells, formulas, and hymns. To do this, use the entries from different papyri.

Heart Formula

Oh heart of my mother!, Oh Heart of Me

mother!, viscera of my heart Oh my different

ages!, not raise false testimony against me

the trial, not you face me in court

show no hostility against me

in the presence of the custodian of the balance!.

You are my Ka which is in my body,

the prosperous Khnum makes my limbs.

Go to the well we are destined

there. This will be good for us

be good for the divine judge and be nice

for those who judge.

Not conjecture lies against me

in the presence of the great god, lord

West.

Look, we depend upon your nobility

declared righteous.

The Negative Confession

To be told to make the Hall of

Two Truths.

I came to you my lord. I've been

brought to witness your beauty.

You know, I know the names of

forty-two gods who are

you in the Hall of the Two Truths

safeguarding of those living

evil, those who drink their blood.

On the day of trial ... I come before you

having repelled bringing Maat

evil.

I have not committed crimes against others.

I have not mistreated cattle.

I have not sinned in the Place of Truth.

I have not known what you should not know.

I have not done any harm.

I have not started any day demanding more

my debt.

I have not used the boat the most powerful.

I have cursed no god.

I have not robbed any poor.

I have not done what the gods detest.

I have not slandered any servant

against his master.

I have not caused panic.

I did not mourn.

I have not killed.

I have ordered the killing.

I have not made anyone suffer.

I have profaned the offerings of the temples.

I have not exhausted the bread of the gods.

I did not steal food from the dead.

I have not copulated nor have I defiled.

I have not increased or reduced

measure [to be].

I have not diminished the Arure.

I have not cheated in the fields.

I have added more weight to the scale.

I have not misrepresented the plummet of the scales.

I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.

I have not deprived of their grazing cattle.

I have not put traps in Canados of the gods.

I did not fish their fish ponds.

Any source I have not stopped flowing.

I have no fire off as needed.

I have not neglected the days of meat offerings.

I have not stopped the cattle belonging to the gods.

I have not stopped any god in his procession.

I am pure, I am pure, I am pure, I am pure.

I'm as pure as it is the great heron in Henes.

I am the lord of nose breathing

who keeps people on the day

the eye is alert in the second month

station output [winter] in

last day.

In the presence of the lord of this land

I have seen the end of the alert eye.

No evil happen to me in this land,

in the Hall of Two Truths

because I know the names of

gods here, followers of the great god.

Words to give the deceased's mouth

Words to be spoken.

I get up egg hidden land.

My mouth was given to me that

she can speak in the presence of

great god, lord of the underworld ...

I am Osiris, lord of Re-Sta.

The fortunes of the scribe of Osiris Ani,

true voice, who is on top of

the ladder.

I have come as the desires of my heart

the burning island, and I extinguished the fire.

Spell never to die in the Afterlife

Parabras to be said by Osiris Ani.

My cave is open, my cave is open;

the glorified spirits in the darkness fall.

The eye of Horus I sanctifies opener

I take care of roads.

I hid in you ...

My neck is as Ra;

My face is uncovered;

My heart is in place ... I Ra ...

I am not ignorant of you, do not do damage.

Your father lives for you, the son of Nut.

I am your great son watching your secret.

I'm crowned the king of the gods;

I will not die again in the world

after death.

Spell to allow the deceased back home on Earth

Parabras to be said by Osiris Ani.

I'm the lion god is going ...

I am the eye of Horus, I opened

the eye of Horus on this day.

I reached the river. "

Come in peace, Osiris Ani.

Hymn to Osiris

Worship of Osiris, lord of eternity,

Wen-Nefer ... numerous ways

and great pictures, and Ptah-Seker-Atum

in Heliopolis, lord of the sarcophagus.

He reached Memphis ... they will protect

when you get into Nut.

Isis embraces you in peace and alienates

enemies of the beginning of the road.

And you turn your face and gives Amentet

birth to the Two Lands with electrum.

Those who fall [the dead] rise

and see you, and they breathe air.

They look at your face like the sunrise

on the horizon, and their hearts are at peace

by what you've done you are the lord

of eternity.