Egyptian officials have released the first images of an ancient 16-meter-long papyrus that appears to contain writings from the “Book of the Dead” and was recently found at a historic site in Saqqara. In these 10 images, images of the gods of Egyptian mythology and scenes from the world after death can be seen, and texts can be seen that date back to more than 2000 years ago.
At the beginning of February, it was announced in the news that archaeologists have succeeded in discovering a papyrus from the Book of the Dead near Jozer’s tomb. Today, the first images of this ancient inscription have been published. It was popular among the Egyptians to bury writings with the dead so that these writings would guide people in the afterlife. Below you can see 10 images of the fragments of the Book of the Dead that were discovered in this tomb.
This 16-meter inscription was found in Saqara site in May 2022. This papyrus contains writings from the Book of the Dead that have been recovered and translated into Arabic. The Cairo Museum has now exhibited this inscription.
The Inscription of the Dead was found in the form of a tube in a coffin belonging to a man named Ahmse (not to be confused with Pharaoh Ahmse). This man’s name is mentioned about 260 times in this papyrus. He lived about 300 years before Christ.
A group of researchers was able to open this inscription with great care. Ahmse’s tomb is located in the south of Jozer’s pyramid. Although the pyramid itself was built long before Ahmse, many Egyptians preferred to bury their dead at the foot of the pharaohs’ pyramids.
Above you can see the full picture of this 16-meter papyrus. This text is written in black and red ink, and the quality of the writing shows that a professional person put them on paper. Despite its large size, this inscription is not the largest papyrus from the Book of the Dead, and a 37-meter version was previously found.
The above picture shows the said papyrus in the Cairo Museum.
Pictures of ancient Egyptian papyrus paintings
The Book of the Dead also contains pictures. The image above appears to represent Osiris, the god of the underworld in Egyptian mythology. In these myths, Osiris is resurrected after death, and the dead hoped that this would happen to them after death.
The image above shows more details about Osiris. He is sitting on a royal throne and wearing a crown known as “Atef”. In front of Osiris there are offerings and a creature is seen which is probably “Amut”; A god who devours all those unworthy of resurrection.
The above photo of this papyrus shows offerings and a scene of a couple honoring the Egyptian gods. This couple can be Ahmse and his wife. Not much is known about Ahmse, but he must have been wealthy enough to have this papyrus procured for him.
Different scenes can be seen in the above image. On the left side, we see a cow as if it is plowing the land. In another part of the paintings, a boat can be seen, which can be used to move to the underworld.
The image above shows an Amut-like creature sitting near Osiris. In Egyptian mythology, the hearts of the deceased were weighed on the scale with a feather of the god of truth, justice and order, “Maat”. If a person had done bad deeds in his life, his heart would be heavier than full Ma’at and Amut would swallow him.
