Papyrus Ani

An important text of ancient Egyptian literature was discovered in Thebes with the 24 meter long Papyrus Ani. Also known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the text is dated to 1,240 years before Christ and survives today in four specimens, each of which is unique. With its great selection of ca. 200 magical formulas and religious instructions, the fully preserved text is additionally a special document of Egyptian mythology that not only fascinates researchers today. Large colored drawings complement the views on death and the life thereafter with a particularly strong symbolic language.

Great Illustrations and Uniform Design

The book of the dead boasts a uniform design across its entire length, characterized by red and yellow stripes on the upper and lower margins. The text found in between is structured by red-marked titles of the individual chapters, rubrics, and various keywords. Based upon the various fonts, researchers have concluded that three to four scribes worked on the Papyrus Ani. Since the illustrations are much more uniform in their form of presentation, there were probably only one or two artists contributing to the paintings. The stiff deportment of the figures depicted in bas-relief are typical for ancient Egyptian art. Invariably, the head is depicted from the side with one eye, the shoulders and chest from the front, and the hip and leg from the side once again. This stylistic element called aspective endeavored to capture people as completely as possible.

Egyptian Mythology and Death

Magic spells and incantations, like those found in the book of the dead, already existed during the 5th/6th dynasty ca. 2500 B.C. Many of them were intended to help the dead to become divine and to make it possible to lead a life in the next world where they were immortal. In order to reach this goal and to be protected from demons on the way there, the Egyptians gave the deceased sayings as protection and help during the journey. Moreover, the text chronicles 43 various gods in the court of the dead altogether. Each has their own name and was responsible for a particular crime.

Ani as a Historical Figure

Ani was probably a high-ranking official of the temple administration since the book of the dead can be considered typical for a Theban nobleman of his period. Multiple places in the text where his name was inserted by a later hand indicate that the text was not originally composed for Ani. Such addenda are not, however, found in the first part, which was probably consequently finished expressly for him.