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The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE.〔Taylor 2010, p.54〕 The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated ''rw nw prt m hrw''〔Allen, 2000. p.316〕 is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day.〔Taylor 2010, p.55; or perhaps "Utterances of Going Forth by Day" - D'Auria 1988, p.187〕 Another translation would be Book of emerging forth into the Light. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts〔''The Egyptian Book of the Dead'' by Anonymous (2 Jun 2014) ...with an introduction by Paul Mirecki (VII)〕 consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the ''Duat'', or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1000 years. The ''Book of the Dead'' was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which were painted onto objects, not papyrus. Some of the spells included were drawn from these older works and date to the 3rd millennium BCE. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BCE). A number of the spells which made up the Book continued to be inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as had always been the spells from which they originated. The ''Book of the Dead'' was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased. There was no single or canonical ''Book of the Dead''. The surviving papyri contain a varying selection of religious and magical texts and vary considerably in their illustration. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the ''Book of the Dead'', perhaps choosing the spells they thought most vital in their own progression to the afterlife. The ''Book of the Dead'' was most commonly written in hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a papyrus scroll, and often illustrated with vignettes depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife. == Development == The ''Book of the Dead'' developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th dynasty, around 2400 BCE.〔Faulkner p. 54〕 These texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the Pharaoh (and, from the 6th dynasty, the Queen). The Pyramid Texts were written in an unusual hieroglyphic style; many of the hieroglyphs representing humans or animals were left incomplete or drawn mutilated, most likely to prevent them causing any harm to the dead pharaoh.〔Taylor 2010, p. 54〕 The purpose of the Pyramid Texts was to help the dead King take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him with his divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described in the ''Book of the Dead''.〔 Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be an exclusively royal privilege, and were adopted by regional governors and other high-ranking officials. In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the Coffin Texts. The Coffin Texts used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The Coffin Texts were most commonly written on the inner surfaces of coffins, though they are occasionally found on tomb walls or on papyri.〔 The Coffin Texts were available to wealthy private individuals, vastly increasing the number of people who could expect to participate in the afterlife; a process which has been described as the "democratization of the afterlife".〔D'Auria et al p.187〕 The ''Book of the Dead'' first developed in Thebes towards the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, around 1700 BCE. The earliest known occurrence of the spells included in the ''Book of the Dead'' is from the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep, of the 13th dynasty, where the new spells were included amongst older texts known from the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells introduced at this time claim an older provenance; for instance the rubric to spell 30B states that it was discovered by the Prince Hordjedef in the reign of King Menkaure, many hundreds of years before it is attested in the archaeological record.〔Taylor 2010, p.34〕 By the 19th dynasty, the ''Book of the Dead'' had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, though occasionally they are found written on coffins or on papyrus.〔Taylor 2010, p. 55〕 The New Kingdom saw the ''Book of the Dead'' develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the 'Weighing of the Heart', is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c.1475 BCE. From this period onward the ''Book of the Dead'' was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the 19th dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, sometimes at the expense of the surrounding text.〔Taylor 2010, p.35–7〕 In the Third Intermediate Period, the ''Book of the Dead'' started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a cheaper version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning, and were produced on smaller papyri. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, for instance the ''Amduat''.〔Taylor 2010, p.57–8〕 During the 25th and 26th dynasties, the ''Book of the Dead'' was updated, revised and standardised. Spells were consistently ordered and numbered for the first time. This standardised version is known today as the 'Saite recension', after the Saite (26th) dynasty. In the Late period and Ptolemaic period, the ''Book of the Dead'' remained based on the Saite recension, though increasingly abbreviated towards the end of the Ptolemaic period. New funerary texts appeared, including the ''Book of Breathing'' and ''Book of Traversing Eternity''. The last use of the ''Book of the Dead'' was in the 1st century BCE, though some artistic motifs drawn from it were still in use in Roman times.〔Taylor 2010, p.59 60〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Book of the Dead」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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