BRITISH MUSEUM PRESENTS EXHIBITION ON EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

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 GUIDE OFFERED EGYPTIANS A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO THE JOURNEY FROM THIS LIFE TO THE NEXT. A STUNNING NEW EXHIBITION AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM HOPES TO SHED NEW LIGHT ON THE BOOK, WHICH WAS NOT A SINGLE VOLUME, BUT A SERIES OF SPELLS AND ILLUSTRATIONS INKED ONTO PAPYRUS SCROLLS AND DESIGNED TO HELP THE DEAD MAKE THE PERILOUS JOURNEY TO THE AFTERLIFE. THE SHOW SEEKS TO DISPEL THE MODERN NOTION, PARTLY CREATED BY ALL THE TOMBS, MUMMIES AND FUNERAL MASKS, THAT ANCIENT EGYPTIANS WERE OBSESSES WITH DEATH. THE SHOW, WHICH OPENS THURSDAY AND RUNS TO 6.MARCH, IS THE FIRST OF THREE BRITISH MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS LOOKING AT DEATH AND SPIRITUALITY THROUGH THE AGES. A SHOW NEXT YEAR LOOKING AT DEVOTION IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE. THE EGYPTIAN EXHIBITION REVEALS A HIGHLY DEVELOPED SOCIETY WITH A COMPLEX THEOLOGY, AND AN EYE FOR COMMERCE. IT WINDS, LABYRINTH-LIKE, THROUGH THE MUSEUM'S CIRCULAR READING ROOM, MIRRORING THE JOURNEY HUMANS WERE THOUGHT TO TAKE AFTER DEATH. IT WAS A SPIRITUAL OBSTACLE COURSE THAT SAW THE SOUL LEAVE THE MUMMIFIED BODY OF THE DEPARTED AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE NETHER WORLD. THERE IT COULD BE WAYLAID BY SCORCHING FIRES, POISONOUS SNAKES, WILD ANIMALS AND WORST OF ALL THE DEVOURER, A DEMON WITH THE HEAD OF A CROCODILE, THE BODY OF A LION AND THE HINDQUARTERS OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS. THE FINAL OBSTACLE WAS A TRAIL, AT WHICH THE HEART WAS PLACED ON A SET OF SCALES AND WEIGHED AGAINST A FEATHER. A LIGHT HEART MEANT SUCCESSFUL PASSAGE TO THE AFTERLIFE. A HEAVY HEART, WEIGHED DOWN WITH SIN, MEANT BEING THROWN TO THE DEVOURER. THE BOOK'S SPELLS AND ILLUSTRATIONS, DEVELOPED OVER CENTURIES FROM ABOUT 1,500 BC, WERE INTENDED AS A GUIDE TO OVERCOMING THESE OBSTACLES. THERE WERE 200 SPELLS IN ALL, FROM WHICH WEALTHY EGYPTIANS COULD PICK AND CHOOSE FOR THEIR OWN CUSTOM-MADE BOOKS OF THE DEAD. THE EXHIBITION BRINGS TOGETHER SOME OF THE TREASURES FROM THE MUSEUM'S WORLD-FAMOUS COLLECTION OF EGYPTIAN ARTIFACTS. THERE ARE MUMMIES, GILDED FUNERAL MASKS AND CEDAR COFFINS COLOURFULLY DECORATED IN RED AND BLUE. THE STAR OBJECTS ARE THE SCROLLS THEMSELVES, LONG ROLLS OF PAPYRUS COVERED WITH NEAT BLACK AND RED HIEROGLYPHIC COLUMNS AND ILLUSTRATED WITH SCENES OF THE AFTERLIFE. THEY WERE ROLLED UP AND PLACED ALONGSIDE MUMMIES IN THEIR COFFINS. SPELLS ALSO WERE INSCRIBED ON COFFIN WALLS. MUMMIES' SHROUDS AND EVEN THEIR LINEN BANDAGES. FRAGILE AND EASILY DAMAGED BY LIGHT, THE SCROLLS ARE RARELY DISPLAYED. THE LONGEST, A 120 FOOT SCROLL MADE FOR THE DAUGHTER OF A HIGH PRIEST ABOUT 3,000 YEARS AGO, HAS NEVER BEEN SHOWN IN PUBLIC BEFORE.
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