The civilization of Ancient Egypt existed for over 3000 years. During this time, the Egyptians have become so sophisticated in esoteric practice that scientists are still “puzzling” what this or that message means. But most of all, researchers are worried about the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the meaning of which for many decades has been trying to unravel the most famous professors.
What the ancient Egyptians wanted to convey with the help of this book, why they buried their pharaohs on it, why they sacredly believed in its hymns, prayers and spells - there is still no answer to all these questions.
These, as well as many others, riddles made the book of the dead the most sensational book, the same attribute of Ancient Egypt, like pyramids or sarcophagi. After 4,500 years of its existence, the Egyptian Book of the Dead intrigues the modern reader with its creative ideas and the desire to achieve a blissful afterlife no less than ever.
Each time the reader of this book feels as if someone, after four thousand years, is addressing him with temporary and permanent expressions of fear and hope, which are sometimes very familiar and sometimes look rather strange. After all, it provides an illustrated guide on how, traveling through a dark and dangerous world, to be reborn after death and where to find guarantees of this rebirth.
In the Book of the Dead and in all its copies, as a rule, there are four sections - this is how to protect the body in the grave, how to travel to the underworld, how to appear before the judgment of God, how to exist in the afterlife after being accepted by the gods. For example, the Theban version of the Book of the Dead, written by Ani (a scribe in the eighteenth dynasty), also contains hymns to the gods, especially Osiris, the god of the dead. Its summary reads:
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»Worship Re when he appears in the eastern horizon of the sky.
Here, Osiris, the scribe of the divine proposals of all the gods, Ani. He says, praise to You, who came as Kheperi, the god of existence, who is the creator of the gods … May he bring pleasure and power, like the one who is dead. The living soul [Ani] goes forward to see Horus of two horizons, the soul of Osiris, the scribe Ani, a true voice before Osiris …"
This hymn to Osiris mentions two important characteristics of each deceased: VA, translated as “soul,” and K., which is a kind of spiritual counterpart. The Egyptians believed that man has five distinct elements: a shadow, a physical body, a name, and most importantly, ka and ba. The last element was represented by a bird with the head of the deceased, which passed into a separate existence after the death of a person. Ba is of great importance for a peaceful existence in the afterlife.
And, although the ancient Egyptians did not speak directly about death, they had many euphemisms, or names, for death and the dead. For example, the west bank of the Nile was associated with death - the sun died there daily, the dead were buried on the west side of cemeteries. The one who died was said to have “gone to the west” or called “Westerners” or “true voices”.
However, the Book of the Dead does not look like today's literature. This papyrus is 4 meters long, which contains a set of spells, spells, prayers, hymns and rituals that were written by priests over the long history of Egypt. Moreover, some of the works presented come from the dynastic period of Egypt, at the time of the birth and life of Jesus Christ.
Another secret of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is its author. It is not known who created the book and when. Although it is argued that it was compiled thanks to the texts on the pyramids and tombs. At that time, the texts on the pyramids were magic incantations for the pharaohs, the texts on the tombs were ordered by everyone who could afford carved or painted coffins.
In the end, there were so many spells that all of them simply would not fit on the tombs. The Book of the Dead solved this problem, since the scribes began to write spells about protection, rules of behavior in the afterlife and rules for rebirth after death on papyri, and they were already put in the tomb. But how did they know this themselves, who taught them this, where is the primary source and is there one? Unknown.
Also now experts are trying to unravel the mystery of the name of the scribe Bakenmouth revealed with the help of infrared rays. First of all, researchers are interested in why the name was painted over with yellow paint on almost 4 meters of papyrus. Did the Egyptians really believe that if the name of this person was not mentioned in the book, the magical protection would not take place. And, if so, why this name was chosen, and who this chronicler was, remains to be seen.
Today, many researchers argue about whether the Egyptians made predictions for the future in their Book of the Dead or not. Indeed, in fact, this would not be surprising, since the ancient Egyptian civilization is very similar to the Sumerian and Mayan civilizations. In addition, the Egyptians knew astronomy well and studied the stars in detail, which means that one way or another they had to try to predict the coming times.
Some scholars argue that yes, the book contains these predictions. It talks about a polar change that is about to take place. They also claim that about 10-11 thousand years ago it was she who became the cause of the Flood. But will the events happen again?