The Book of the Dead

With around 50,000 texts, the papyrus collection held by Berlin's National Museums is one of the world's most extensive archives of ancient written sources. The Book of the Dead dates back to around 1150 B.C. It's written on a long papyrus scroll in cursive hieroglyphics, or Hieratic script, and the texts are illustrated by little drawings, or vignettes. The texts in the Book of the Dead, of which there are almost 200, deal with the transformation of the deceased into an immortal being. If you look at the coloured picture on the far left, you can see a central motif of Judgment Day, in which the heart of the deceased is weighed on the scales against the symbol for justice. The deceased makes his negative confession before Osiris, the judge of the dead:

I have done no hurt unto man, nor have I wrought harm unto beasts.
I have committed no crime in the place of Right and Truth.
I have had no knowledge of evil; nor have I acted wickedly.
Each day have I laboured more than was required of me.
I have done not that which God doth abominate. I have caused no wrong to be done to the servant by his master.
I have caused none to feel pain.
I have made [no man] to weep.
I have not committed murder nor have I ever bidden any man to slay on my behalf.
I have not wronged the people.
I have not committed fornication, nor have I defiled my body.
I have not added to the weight of the balance; nor have I made light the weight in the scales.
I have not snatched the milk from the mouth of the babe.
I have not driven the cattle from their pastures.
I have not snared the water-fowl of the gods.
I have not turned back water at its springtide.
I have not disregarded the seasons for the offerings which are appointed
I have not thwarted the processions of the God.

Everyday and cultic responsibilities are woven into a catalogue of rules of conduct, according to which the deceased will be examined on Judgment Day. If he fails, he will be consumed by the Devourer of Souls, a monster, part lion, part hippopotamus, and part crocodile. If he passes, he will enter the realm of the blessed.