Customer Reviews

The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife

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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 of Nut, the Book of the Day, the Book of the Night, the Litany of Re, the Book of the Heavenly Cow and the Book of Traversing Eternity. The glossary and extensive bibliography are useful. Well translated by David Lorton, illustrated in black and white, this is a recommended book for all searching for details on important Egyptian texts.

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, the development of the idea of salvation of the deceased from the ancient Egyptian context, and the movement of time in the afterlife.

Hornung engages in little speculation in this work, citing solid texual or imagery bases for his statements. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs, line drawings, and pertinent hieroglyphic texts, which makes it a useful tool for the professional in the field as well.

Each set of underworld books (five sets in all) are reviewed in this work. Of the New Kingdom set, twelve such books are reviewed. Hornung structures the discussion of each book, citing their sources, research, structure and language, and content in a manner that is both informative and a pleasure to read.

Like Hornung's similar German work, Tal der Könige:Die Ruhestätten der Pharaonen/Valley of the Kings, very complex concepts of Egyptian religion are carefully explained, illustrated from original texts and tomb scenes, and are discussed in the context of history and evolution of the ancient Egyptian funerary ritual.

This work is destined to become an invaluable sourcebook for the understanding of Egyptian funerary beliefs, and is a valuable addition to the library of any reader in ancient Egyptian history and culture.

Hornung takes a fascinating topic and renders it fairly dry and academic, but that's probably his purpose here. Unfortunately, everything is touched on only sketchily, so that you only get tantalizing hints without any real depth.

I will likely have to get a second resource now since this was too general for my purposes. It was, however, wonderfully illustrated, and is probably a great 'quick guide' if you need some information fast.

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.

If you're like me, you didn't know there were more than one Egyptian Book of the Afterlife. I was familiar with the famous Book of the Dead but ignorant of the numerous other Egyptian funeral texts described in this book.

Author Erik Hornung begins with the oldest of the Egyptian "books"--which are not actually books at all, but sets of spells engraved on the walls of tombs. Among these oldest are the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, all of which are essentially spells meant to be read by the deceased in the afterlife. As time went on, the sets of spells became more elaborate and carefully attentive to the possible incidents that could occur beyond the grave, and Hornung charts the development of these different "books" carefully. As an ardent student of Dante, I was perhaps most interested in the Amduat, which is an hour-by-hour description of the sun's journey through the Netherworld to be reborn at dawn the next day. The Amduat catalogs every obstacle and opponent the dead king--identified with the sun-god--may meet in the afterlife and how he may overcome them. The pharaoh must rely on friendly gods and certain spells in his journey.

The book is lavishly illustrated--almost half of it is made up of illustrations of the various books. In fact, this is where my only complaint comes up--the way in which the illustrations are arranged makes for difficult reading. Rather than placed over the text concerning the individual scenes Hornung describes, each book is printed whole in a section following Hornung's description. This arrangement results in a lot of flipping, turning, and diligent searching when what he describes is not readily apparent.

But this issue aside, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife is a fascinating and detailed catalog of the funerary texts so sacred to the Egyptians.

Recommended.

This book elucidates how ancient Egyptians believed that the sun had a position in the center of a cosmography in the afterlife. When Man died, he entered the cosmography of eternity, but faced obstacles anterior to the sun. For example, a gated wall might have obstructed a person's entry into the delectable area close to the sun. Additionally, after death, a person experienced the transmigration of the soul. Thus, a person might have reincarnated into an animal. Altogether, a fascinating look into Egyptian afterlife with detailed illustrations to complement the text. This author used excellent sources, including the pyramid texts, which greatly contributed to the book's historical accuracy. At the end of the book, a useful glossary aids the reader for insight into Egyptian technical terms.

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...

Only 5 pages on the Pyramid Texts? Egypt tells its own story it does not need someone elses unfortuate views and omissions. The premise is great the result sterile.