1. The Book of the Dead is a translation of the papyrus scroll of Ani; it was a guide for Ani, and all other humans, to get to the afterlife. The book contains magical spells and chants which are used to guide the spirit after death, allowing it to achieve immortality. The book provides its owner with the necessary information to pass the barriers in front of the forty two doors that lead to the Hall of Truth; upon entering the Hall, the individual’s soul would be weighed against a feather by Anubis.
2. The origins of the tales of ethereal life and the Gods that ruled both the earth and the underworld originated in the Old Kingdom. Located at Memphis, the Old Kingdom contains the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and modern Cairo. The capital was later changed from Cairo to Thebes. Ani resided in what was known as the New Kingdom.
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3. Papyrus is created using marshland plant pulp; plants that grew by the Nile were pulped and beaten together in layers in order to make sheets. These sheets were used as paper to tell a story or event, in the case of The Book of the Dead it was used to provide instruction for its owner on achieving immortality. Papyrus was also used in the creation of boats and as rope, and was used by other civilizations, including Rome. Papyrus is associated with many divine and spiritual texts similar in type to the Bible, and was often associated with religious artifacts.
4. At the time of the findings of Budge, Egypt was under colonial rule of two different powers of the time, Britain and France. These two countries colonized the African continent from the 1870s to the 1900s, though these dates are subject to earlier colonization and years past 1900. Queen Victoria was the ruler of Britain during this time and Napoleon the III was the ruler over France until he was overthrown.
5. Ra, the sun god, was at the head of the Egyptian Pantheon; he was the highest ranked deity. As ancient civilizations from this time period feared the night, the night was often associated with evil. The sun overthrew the darkness each day, bringing back all that was good and right with the world; as such, it became a mortality symbol destroying the night and shining on the truth, illuminating it.
