The Ancient Egyptian Books Of The Earth

Collections of scenes and texts designated variously as the "Book of the Earth," "Creation of the Solar Disc," and "Book of Aker" were inscribed on the walls of royal sarcophagus chambers throughout Egypt's Ramessid period (Dynasties 19-20). This material illustrated discrete episodes from the nocturnal voyage of the sun god, which functioned as a model for the resurrection of the deceased king. These earliest "Books of the Earth" employed mostly ad hoc arrangements of scenes, united by shared elements of iconography, an overarching, bipartite symmetry of composition, and their frequent pairing with representations of the double sky overhead. From the Twenty-First Dynasty and later, selections of programmatic tableaux were adapted for use in private mortuary contexts, often in conjunction with innovative or previously unattested annotations. The present study collects and analyzes all currently known Book of the Earth material, including discussions of iconography, grammar, orthography, and architectural setting.

First published in its English translation during World War II in 1944, the first part of this book is composed of lectures originally delivered (in German) during the pre-war period, whilst the second part of the book represents author Franz Werfel’s present point of view, arriving at the difficult conclusion that “complete human detachment is the first psychological symptom of spirituality...” “The outstanding contribution of this book is its frank rejection of the materialistic philosophy and an emphasis in favor of the spiritual interpretation of life. There are beautiful passages written with characteristic artistry.”—Kirkus Review

This volume offers a survey about what is known about the Ancient Egyptians' vision of the afterlife and an examination of these beliefs that were written down in books that were later discovered in royal tombs. The contents of the texts range from the collection of spells in the Book of the Dead, which was intended to offer practical assistance on the journey to the afterlife, to the detailed accounts of the hereafter provided in the Books of the Netherworld. The author looks closely at these latter works, while summarizing the contents of the Book of the Dead and other widely studied examples of the genre. For each composition, he discusses the history of its ancient transmission and its decipherment in modern times, supplying bibliographic information for any text editions. He also seeks to determine whether this literature as a whole presents a monolithic conception of the afterlife. The volume features many drawings from the books themselves.

Reissue of the legendary 3,500-year-old Papyrus of Ani, the most beautiful of the ornately illustrated Egyptian funerary scrolls ever discovered, restored in its original sequences of text and artwork.

The Egyptian civilization, which flourished along the banks of the Nile for about 3000 years, was one of the most extraordinary and enduring of the ancient world. Even today, after two thousand years since its setting, it continues to exert considerable charm. The Egyptians left many traces of their culture, thanks to the climate dry desert that has preserved over the centuries. The Sphinx and many pyramids, mummies, funerary masks, funerary decorations, the papyri, have thus been preserved from destruction, the common fate of many ancient remains. Egypt is in fact also known as the "gift of the Nile", because the flooding of the river deposited on the fields a layer of fertile silt, vital for the growth of crops. Already in prehistoric times, the first settlers learned to sow and plant their crops in the fields still covered by mud after the waters had receded. I collected, almost always abundant, they allowed that civilization to thrive and achieve a brilliance never known before. The ancient Egyptians called the fertile valley of the Nile kemet, "black earth", and themselves remet-en-kemet, "the people of the black earth", while the desert surrounding the town was said deshret, "red earth."

In "Ancient Egypt, " eminent Egyptologist Silverman and a team of leading scholars explore the cultural wealth of this civilization in a series of intriguing and authoritative essays based on the latest theories and discoveries. 200+ color photos, maps, and charts.

Provides 25 hands-on projects, activities, and games to teach about ancient Egyptian homes, food, money, toys, games, makeup, clothes, kings, mummies, and more.