Customer Reviews

The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
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1)The main thing is that not only are translations matched with vignettes (pictures of the actual pages), but the text is not British English.... it is Americanized...... This makes it very easy to understand. 2)An interesting point to the translations is that, if you know anything about the actual vignettes, the translations of not just the black text, but the red text, is well defined. 3)Helps to understand the ancient Egyptian culture and gets rid of some myths about their actual religious structure, which was less an adoration than to make the gods serve someone that proclaimed themselves worthy.

The Book of the Dead, translated by Raymond Faulkner, is thouroughly interesting and equally informative, as Mr. Faulkner translates many deceased ancient Egyptians' spellbooks for traveling through the realm of the dead. It gives a slight glimpse at some lesser-known religous characters of ancient Egypt and a small insight to the ancients' daily life. I believe this book could be read and easily understood by any level Egyptologist, as there is a helpful glossary of people (well, gods mostly), places, and things described in the spells. This is a wonderfully translated book, based on an ancient book, and good for anyone interested in ancient Egyptian life, literature, or religion.

I found the work to be highly accessible not only in the translations and the prints of the actual source texts but also in the organization, especially the table of contents. It made the following of exactly what was being done in particular sections very easy, and also allows me to go straight towards particularly interesting sections without having to page through the work.

Barnes & Noble continually publishes excellent Egyptian-themed books and this is no exception. The cover alone should be given an award for having a "jewel" embedded right in it!

Unlike Faulkner's partial, but excellent, work in the translation of the papyrus of Ani The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day this book contains the entire 189 chapters in an unbroken format from beginning to end. There is a wealth of color photographs on almost every page, including copies of the Ani papyrus (among others!), statues, jewelry, ritual instruments and tomb paintings, all designed to enhance the experience of the texts, many never seen before, putting this book above any other. It's a complete and up-to-date translation.

This is a great book full of wonderfully strange and beautiful images. Anyone interested in ancient Egypt should get it. For the suggested retail price of $14.95 it is simply unsurpassed. The best "bang for the buck" you'll ever find on the subject! Was given the highest rating by KMT magazine! Kmt

Please look at the SECOND image to see how this particular volume (the Barnes & Noble publishing version) appears. It is a gorgeous volume with a very precise translation and explanations throughout. Lovely!

I found the images to be beautiful and the translation easy to understand. I think anyone who is interested in ancient Egypt would enjoy this book.

A compendium of intriguing mythology and occult spells intended to guide those 'beyond the grave', as well as an explanation of the pyramids' mazes of prognostication, various gods' attributes, and beautiful artistry from cover to cover. The cover itself features a very elegant 'grimoire'-like quality with its black on black heiroglyphs, and scarab beetle {symbol of immortality} complete with phosphoprescent red 'gem'. Great for reference material, and a must for the Occultphile's library.

This is a fair translation accompanied by a great series of artwork. The author is careful to demonstrate parallels between the given text and the wall/sarcophagi paintings he inserts. As I say, the translation is fair--not especially interesting or poetic, but readable.

As a practitioner of ancient Egyptian religion interested in calligraphy, this edition is quite a remarkable find, as it abounds with real photo samples of manuscript papyri. It enables a paleographer or artist to compare features of semi-cursive hieroglyphic script by various scribes in a way never before possible under one cover and at an affordable price.

Decent book, the pictures are very helpful. Definitely a must for beginners on this topic.