The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife
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Book Overview
Ancient Egyptians held a rich and complex vision of the afterlife and codified their beliefs in books that were to be discovered more than two millennia later in royal tombs. Erik Hornung, the world's leading authority on these religious texts, surveys what is known about them today.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. Hornung 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--drawings that illustrate the nocturnal course of the sun god through the realm of the dead.Originally published in German and now available in a fluid English translation, this volume offers an accessible and enlightening introduction to a central element of ancient Egyptian religion.
Customer Reviews
Rated 4 starsThe Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife
How does one exactly "review" a source text? Professor Erik Hornung has translated these various "books" that the elite among the Ancient Egyptians brought with them into the afterlife in their tombs and such places into his native German. From there, a certain David Lorton has translated it into English, for all those monoglots out there who only speak the language of dreaded globalization; English. Throughout the book it...
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Rated 5 starsEgyptian Hieroglyphs inturpretted
great sequence of hieroglyphs - from the oldest tombs to new - forgotten knowledge stayed forgotten - read Sitchin's collection for the Truth... man's last 1/2 million years of history...
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Rated 5 starsexcellent introduction to various religious Egyptian texts
Egyptologists tend to focus mostly on the Book of the Dead, ignoring lesser known texts to a large degree. Here the author offers a concise and detailed summary and explanation of other ancient Egyptian texts. Included here are the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead, the Books of Breathing, the Amduat, the Spell of the Twelve Caves, the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, the Book of the Earth, the Book...
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Rated 4 starsOutstanding effort
Hornung presents us with a fascinating wealth of Egyptian lore. The texts present in the book are fully translated into layman's English, and almost all portions are followed with the copies of the accompinying reliefs and frescoes. This is a magnificent work that allows the reader, whatever his background, to gain some insight into the oft-misunderstood religion of the Ancient Egypt.
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Rated 5 starsIntriguing and in-depth review of Egyptian Underworld Books
Erik Hornung has done a great service in making the ancient Egyptian Books of the Underworld understandable to both the average and trained reader with an interest in ancient Egyptian religion and its texts. David Lorton's translation of Hornung's original German text is excellent,and reflects both Hornung's written German and English lecture styles in describing such concepts as the reuniting of the ba of Osiris with Ra,...
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