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| 70 feet Imhotep book of the dead mounted in the MET |
The artifacts were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's study of Imhotep's Book of the Dead. From the 27th century BC, the papyrus book depicted the funeral, afterlife, and judgment procession of Imhotep, Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser. Written in scroll form, the Met museum flattened and encased it in a special frame with the help of Paper Conservator Rebecca Capua and a team of other experts. Mounded at the average person's height, the frame measures 219m in length and 35cm in height. the article authored by the Associate Curator, Department of Egyptian Art Janice Kamrin in 2016, dates the artifacts to the early Ptolemaic period ca.332-200 B.C. This period was ruled by a Macedonian Greek general named Ptolemy and his kin who established the Ptolemic dynasty after Alexander the Great passed away. The book was meant to be read from right to left. Featuring Inhotep’s, burial, afterlife processions until the judgment by the god of the underworld Osiris, who would grant eternal life or death by having his heart eaten.
There was no specific order of curation for the
artifacts reviewed in the article. Imhotep is judged first, then his funeral
procession moves ahead without the afterlife procession. In the afterlife
scenes, the Associate Curator selected segments that conveyed the quality of
the author's craftsmanship. Afterward, we see how he lived in the afterlife,
how he kept himself safe until his judgment and casting spells that prevented
his body from decaying. Most people are intrigued by the visual communication
of the story despite not having the ability to read the test. In addition to
being unreadable, scholars are unsure if the drawings came before or after the
text. “The bit of smeared black ink that runs
over a line of the text suggests that at least the final version of the
baseline on which the images were drawn was added after the spells were
written. However, in other places, a figure overlaps this line, as if added
later. We do not really know whether the illustrations or the texts were
completed first” (Kamin, 2016).
4. (Scenes in the Afterlife) Depicting the skills of the book crafters
The final artifact depicts a woman but leaves more questions as it is unclear whether she was Imhotep's mother or wife.
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5. A conflicting scene with a woman unknown
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These artifacts give an insight into how early Egyptians viewed the afterlife and why funeral processions were of great importance.
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