An Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Sobekmose

by Paul F. O' Rourke (Translator)

The first-ever translation of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead of Sobekmose―fully illustrated and explained by a leading Egyptologist, offering fascinating insights into one of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world The Book of the Dead of Sobekmose, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, is one of the most important surviving examples of ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead. Such “books”―actually papyrus scrolls―were composed of traditional funerary texts, including magic spells, which were thought to assist the deceased on their journeys into the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians believed in an underworld fraught with dangers that needed to be carefully navigated, from the familiar, such as snakes and scorpions, to the lakes of fire to cross, animal-headed demons to pass, and the ritual Weighing of the Heart, whose outcome determined whether or not the deceased would be born again into the afterlife for eternity. Virtually all of the existing published translations of material from the Book of the Dead corpus are compilations of various texts drawn from a number of sources, and many translations are available only in excerpt form. This publication is the first to offer a continuous English translation of a single, extensive, major text from beginning to end in the order in which it was composed. This new translation not only represents a great step forward in the study of these texts but also grants modern readers a direct encounter with what can seem a remote and alien, though no less fascinating, civilization. 56 color illustrations

Genres: Egyptology, History, Nonfiction, Mythology, Egypt

216 pages, Hardcover

Published December 20, 2016

About the author

Paul O'Rourke is Research Associate in the Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

Reviews

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the appropriate reader this straightforward book could be quite interesting. However, if you only have a casual interest in Ancient Egyptian mythology this book probably is too specialized. I thought the author and translator did a great job of explaining how Ancient Egyptian books of the dead worked, and how they compared to coffin and pyramid texts. The translation itself appeared be quite sound and thoroughly researched. When you actually read the text it becomes clear that the whole thing is quite esoteric and difficult to understand, something O'Rourke does warn the reader about. It seems likely that the book would even be strange for other Ancient Egyptians to read as it is sort of like a spell book and is meant to be, at least to some degree, mysterious and grand. Much of it consists of a mixture of stylized demands and self aggrandizement to fool or intimidate forces of the underworld that would prevent a successful passage. It's pretty cool, in a way, but beyond a glossary and a brief introduction not much is provided as to how wider Ancient Egyptian religion functioned. If you're already highly involved with the topic of the mythology and religion of Ancient Egypt and want to look at a specific preserved example of it, this book is perfect. If you're not it's still a neat work but you'll probably find yourself scratching your head and being a bit bored. I found it to be fascinating but wished more interpretation was given

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a translation of a 3500 year old papyrus, this was pretty easy to understand.

People should make note of the title being An Egyptian Book of the Dead as opposed to "The" and that's because there isn't a single Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was a set of spells to help the deceased navigate the afterlife and each book was specifically written and tailored to individual persons. It was an expensive process and the text was often written both in hieroglyphics and hieratic writing (a form of Egyptian cursive more closely linked to phonetic writing.)

This particular Book of the Dead is on display in the Brooklyn Museum and is one of the more complete versions known to exist outside of Egypt and was found in the tomb of a wealthy goldworker. The book itself covers the history of Egyptian burial practices and afterlife beliefs to give the text context, followed by as close of a direct translation of the papyrus as can be obtained. The language of the book itself is, of course, archaic and not structured in a way an English reader would understand at first glance but the translation is done well enough to make it easily readable regardless.

[Robert Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful translation and a good "museum" book, less useful on the research/philology side. I would have wished for larger pictures of the papyrus, it's nearly impossible to see and read, and it would have been great to have the columns printed on the picture for easier reference from the text.

As for the book itself, it literally speaks for itself. The translation is obviously very literal, rendering the prose a bit on the cryptic side for a modern reader, but you don't leave the book with any uncertainty about what Egyptian religion is all about: going forth by day and keeping that ability no matter what the gods throw at you, using magic and knowledge.