Exhibition at the British Museum Brings Ancient Book of the Dead to Life

LONDON (AP).- As self-help manuals go, the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead has certainly stood the test of time.  For centuries, the 3,500-year-old guidebook offered Egyptians a step-by-step guide to the journey from this life to the next. It remains famous, if poorly understood — a spooky collection of arcane symbols, crocodile-jawed monsters and jackal-headed gods.  A major new exhibition at the British Museum hopes to shed new light on the book, which was not a single volume, but a series [...]

British Museum Announces “Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead” Exhibition

LONDON.- The British Museum’s major Autumn exhibition, supported by BP, will present and explore ancient Egyptian beliefs about life after death. Journey through the afterlife: ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead will showcase the rich textual and visual material from the British Museum’s unparalleled collection of Book of the Dead papyri. The ‘Book’, used for over 1500 years between c. 1600 BC and 100 AD, is not a single text, but a compilation of spells thought to equip the dead [...]