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Original fileSpell 17 from the Papyrus of Ani
Bookofthedeadspell17
About This Work
The papyrus fragment is divided into two sections: a top register of painted vignettes and a bottom register of dense black and red hieroglyphic text. In the vignettes, a blue-skinned god kneels before a seated figure, followed by an architectural shrine, a large Eye of Horus (Wedjat), and the cow-goddess Mehet-Weret reclining on a platform. Further right, a row of deities, including Anubis and Horus, stand in a procession, with four small human-headed figures emerging from a rectangular shrine. The figures are rendered in profile, wearing traditional Egyptian attire, such as shendyt kilts and elaborate headdresses, against a muted, light-brown papyrus background.
This artwork belongs to the 'Book of the Dead' (or 'Book of Coming Forth by Day'), a collection of funerary spells intended to assist the deceased's journey through the Duat to the afterlife. Spell 17 is one of the most important and complex spells, functioning as a theological treatise that identifies the deceased with the creator god Atum-Ra.
Inscriptions(Egyptian (Hieroglyphic))
The lower portion contains a long, continuous column of vertical hieroglyphic text consisting of the liturgical spells corresponding to the vignettes above.
Translation
The text contains a series of theological statements and identification formulae, such as 'I am Atum, who became alone,' and 'I am the Great God who created himself.'
Connected Texts
Book of the Dead
This is a direct illumination of the 17th spell of the Egyptian Book of the Dead from the Papyrus of Ani.