The text inscribed on the papyrus envisages a list of instructions for embalming the face of a deceased person, which was done with a piece of red linen soaked in a special plant-based liquid. 91-92, 99-100."The text reads like a memory aid, so the intended readers must have been specialists who needed to be reminded of these details, such as unguent recipes and uses of various types of bandages", said Ms Schiødt, commenting on the procedure considered to be a sacred ritual that required skills and profound knowledge. I, The image of mś.w Bdšt in ancient Egyptian mythology (Archaeopress Egyptology 16), Oxford, p. Studies on the vignettes from chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead. Bierbrier, 'Portraits and masks: burial customs in Roman Egypt ' (London, 1997), p.36. Very little text/image loss except for yellow paint which has faded. Framed by black lines on left-hand side and bottom.Ĭomposition fills sheet bordered on top and bottom with red and yellow line. Short black cursive hieroglyphic captions are beside each image of deceased main colours are yellow, red, white, brown, green and black. To the right is a ba-bird on top of an architectural feature deceased adoring two lions either side of a horizon. The scene showing him seated in a booth playing the board game senet is partly to ensure his continued enjoyment of a favourite leisure pursuit, but also has an underlying funerary significance: victory probably symbolized the overcoming of any obstacles which prevented entry to the afterlife. Hunefer is depicted leaving the sign for "the West" in two directions, indicating his ability to roam at will in the afterlife. Above all columns except the leftmost column is a polychrome vignette in a band at the top. Right-hand side is composed of 23 lines of cursive hieroglyphic text written in black and red ink with black dividing lines The beginning of Chapter 17, a text so obscure in content that the Egyptians themselves added explanatory glosses. The finely written semi-cursive hieroglyphs above the vignette are the text of Chapter 23 of the 'Book of the Dead' containing ritual utterances for the ceremony. Above are short columns of black cursive hieroglyphic text with black dividing lines.īelow, officiants carry a heart and foreleg cut from a still bleating calf towards a table heaped with offerings, a chest and ritual implements laid out ready for the Opening-of-the-Mouth ceremony which, will reincorporate Hunefer's spirit into his mummified corpse and enable him to enjoy the afterlife to the full. Behind is a round topped funerary stela containing a prayer on Hunefer's behalf it stands before his pyramid capped tomb chapel on the west bank at Thebes. The deceased's widow Nasha laments before him. Other priests present containers and raise ritual implements to Hunefer's mummy which is held upright by a priest wearing a jackal's mask impersonating Anubis, god of embalming. The officiating priest, clad in a panther skin, offers incense and purifies with water as he stands beside a heap of offerings. Main vignette on the left-hand side illustrates the ceremonies carried out near the entrance of the tomb on the day of burial. Sheet split into two sections divided by double black/yellow line. Perhaps, as royal scribe, it was Hunefer himself who put brush to ink to inscribe his own papyrus. Curator's comments 'Book of the Dead' papyri are first found in the early New Kingdom c.1450 BC and the finest (like Hunefer's) were written by expert scribes and decorated by master draftsmen.
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