Editing Book of the Dead (section)

==Discovery, translation, interpretation and preservation==
[[Image:Carl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884).jpg|thumb|right|[[Karl Richard Lepsius]], first translator of a complete ''Book of the Dead'' manuscript]]

The existence of the ''Book of the Dead'' was known as early as the [[Middle Ages]], well before its contents could be understood. Since it was found in tombs, it was evidently a document of a religious nature, and this led to the widespread but mistaken belief that the ''Book of the Dead'' was the equivalent of a [[Bible]] or [[Qur'an]].<ref>Faulkner 1994, p.13</ref><ref>Taylor 210, p.288&nbsp;9</ref>

In 1842 [[Karl Richard Lepsius]] published a translation of a manuscript dated to the [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] era and coined the name "''Book of The Dead"'' (''das Todtenbuch''). He also introduced the spell numbering system which is still in use, identifying 165 different spells.<ref name="Faulkner 1994, p.18"/> Lepsius promoted the idea of a comparative edition of the ''Book of the Dead'', drawing on all relevant manuscripts. This project was undertaken by [[Édouard Naville]], starting in 1875 and completed in 1886, producing a three-volume work including a selection of vignettes for every one of the 186 spells he worked with, the more significant variations of the text for every spell, and commentary. In 1867 [[Samuel Birch (Egyptologist)|Samuel Birch]] of the [[British Museum]] published the first extensive English translation.<ref>"Egypt's Place in Universal History", Vol 5, 1867</ref> In 1876 he published a photographic copy of the Papyrus of Nebseny.<ref>Taylor 2010, p.289&nbsp;92</ref>

The work of [[E. A. Wallis Budge]], Birch's successor at the British Museum, is still in wide circulation – including both his hieroglyphic editions and his English translations of the [[Papyrus of Ani]], though the latter are now considered inaccurate and out-of-date.<ref>Taylor 2010, p.291</ref> More recent translations in English have been published by Thomas George Allen (1974) and [[Raymond O. Faulkner]] (1972).<ref>Hornung 1999, p.15&ndash;16</ref> As more work has been done on the ''Book of the Dead'', more spells have been identified, and the total now stands at 192.<ref name="Faulkner 1994, p.18"/>

In the 1970s, Ursula Rößler-Köhler at the University of Bonn began a working group to develop the history of ''Book of the Dead'' texts.  This later received sponsorship from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Research Foundation, in 2004 coming under the auspices of the German Academies of Sciences and Arts.  Today the ''Book of the Dead'' Project, as it is called, maintains a database of documentation and photography covering 80% of extant copies and fragments from the corpus of Book of the Dead texts, and provides current services to Egyptologists.<ref>Müller-Roth 2010, p.190-191</ref>  It is housed at the University of Bonn, with much material available online.<ref>Das Altagyptische Totenbuch:  Ein Digitales Textzeugenarchiv (external link)</ref> Affiliated scholars are authoring a series of monograph studies, the ''Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch'', alongside a series that publishes the manuscripts themselves, ''Handschriften des Altägyptischen Totenbuches''.<ref>Müller-Roth 2010, p.191</ref>  Both are in print by Harrassowitz Verlag.  Orientverlag has released another series of related monographs, ''Totenbuchtexte'', focused on analysis, synoptic comparison, and textual criticism.

Research work on the ''Book of the Dead'' has always posed technical difficulties thanks to the need to copy very long hieroglyphic texts. Initially, these were copied out by hand, with the assistance either of [[tracing paper]] or a [[camera lucida]]. In the mid-19th century, hieroglyphic fonts became available and made lithographic reproduction of manuscripts more feasible. In the present day, hieroglyphics can be rendered in desktop publishing software and this, combined with digital print technology, means that the costs of publishing a ''Book of the Dead'' may be considerably reduced. However, a very large amount of the source material in museums around the world remains unpublished.<ref>Taylor 2010, p.292&ndash;7</ref>

In 2023, the Ministry of Antiquities announced the finding of sections of the Book of the Dead on a 16-meter papyrus in a coffin near the [[Step Pyramid of Djoser]].<ref name="Jarus 2023">{{cite web | last=Jarus | first=Owen | title=52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt discovered at Saqqara | website=livescience.com | date=January 26, 2023 | url=https://www.livescience.com/ancient-egypt-book-of-the-dead-papyrus-found | access-date=February 24, 2023}}</ref> This scroll is now known as the [[Waziri Papyrus I]], after [[Mostafa Waziri]].

===Chronology===
* c. 3150 BC – First preserved hieroglyphs, on small labels in the tomb of a king buried (in tomb U-j) at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]]
* c. 3000 BC – The beginning of the numbered dynasties of kings of ancient Egypt
* c. 2345 BC – First royal pyramid, of King Unas, to contain the ''Pyramid Texts'', carved precursors to the funerary literature from which the ''Book of the Dead'' ultimately developed
* c. 2100 BC – First ''Coffin Texts'', developed from the ''Pyramid Texts'' and for a time painted on the coffins of commoners. Many spells of the ''Book of the Dead'' are closely derived from them
* c. 1600 BC – Earliest spells of the ''Book of the Dead'', on the coffin of Queen [[Mentuhotep (queen)|Menthuhotep]], an ancestor of kings from the New Kingdom
* c. 1550 BC – From this time onward to the beginning of the New Kingdom, papyrus copies of the ''Book of the Dead'' are used instead of inscribing spells on the walls of the tombs
* c. 600 BC – Approximately when the order of the spells became standard
* 42–553 AD – Christianity spreads to Egypt, gradually replacing the native religion as successive emperors alternately tolerate or suppress them, culminating in the last temple at [[Philae]] (also site of the last known religious inscription in demotic, dating from 452) being closed by order of Emperor Justinian in 533
* 2nd century AD – Possibly the last copies of the ''Book of the Dead'' were produced, but it is a poorly documented era of history
* 1798 AD – Napoleon's invasion of Egypt encourages European interests in ancient Egypt; 1799, [[Vivant Denon]] was handed a copy of the ''Book of the Dead''
* 1805 AD – Jean-Marcel Cadet makes the first publication, on 18 plates, of a ''Book of the Dead'', ''Copie figurée d'un rouleau de papyrus trouvé à Thèbes, dans un tombeau des rois''<ref>{{cite book|first=Jean-Marcel |last=Cadet|display-authors=|title=Copie figurée d'un rouleau de papyrus trouvé à Thèbes, dans un tombeau des rois|location=Paris|publisher=Levrault, Schoell & Cie.|date=1805|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1520931k.image}}</ref>
* 1822 AD – [[Jean-François Champollion]] announces the key to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, subsequently developed in his later publications, the most extensive after his death in 1832
* 1842 AD – Lepsius publishes the first major study of the ''Book of the Dead'', begins the numbering of the spells or chapters, and brings the name "Book of the Dead" into general circulation<ref>{{cite book |last=Kemp |first=Barry |title=How to Read the Egyptian Book of the Dead |year=2007 |publisher=Granta Publications |location=New York |pages=112–113}}</ref>