The Book of the Dead: Ani Before the Deities

This scene from the Papyrus of Ani features two distinct registers of figures painted on papyrus. To the left, Ani and his wife, wearing white linen garments and elaborate beaded collars, raise their hands in a gesture of reverence toward offerings and deities. In the center, the mummiform deity Sokar-Osiris stands in a shrine, followed by the hippopotamus-headed goddess Taweret, who holds an ankh and a ritual staff. On the far right, the cow-headed goddess Hathor emerges from a landscape of lush papyrus reeds, with her head adorned with a sun disk and feathers, symbolizing her role as a protective mother figure in the afterlife.

This image is a seminal illustration from the 'Papyrus of Ani', one of the most complete and artistically sophisticated manuscripts of the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead' (or 'Book of Coming Forth by Day'), dating to the New Kingdom.