the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Papyrus Of Ani.
Sacred Texts Egypt Index Previous Next
THE PAPYRUS OF ANI.
General Description
The papyrus of Ani, was found at Thebes, and was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum in
1888. It measures 78 feet by 1 foot 3 inches, and is the longest known papyrus of the Theban period.[1] It
is made up of six distinct lengths of papyrus, which vary in length from 26 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 7
inches. The material is composed of three layers of papyrus supplied by plants which measured in the
stalks about 41 inches in diameter. The several lengths have been joined together with great neatness, and
the repairs and insertion of new pieces (see plates 25, 26) have been dexterously made. When first found,
the papyrus was of a light colour, similar to that of the papyrus of Hunefer (B. M. No. 9901), but it
became darker after it had been unrolled, and certain sections of it have shrunk somewhat.
It contains a number of chapters of the Book of the Dead, nearly all of which are accompanied by
vignettes; and at top and bottom is a border of two colours-red and yellow.[2] At the beginning and end
of the papyrus spaces of six and eleven inches respectively have been left blank. The inscribed portion is
complete, and the loss of the few characters which were damaged in unrolling[3] does not interrupt the
text. It was written by three or more scribes; but the uniformity of the execution of the vignettes suggests
that fewer artists were employed on the illustrations. The titles of the chapters, rubrics, catchwords, etc.,
are in red. In some instances the artist has occupied so much space that the
[1 The papyrus of Nebseni, of the XVIIIth dynasty (B.M., No. 9900), measures 76 feet 81 inches by 13 inches; and the
papyrus of Hunefer, of the XIXth dynasty (B.M., No. 9601), 18 feet 10 inches by 1 foot 3 5/8 inches; the Leyden papyrus
of Qenna, of the XVIIIth dynasty, measures about 50 feet; and the Dublin papyrus (Da of M. Naville's edition), XVIIIth
dynasty, 24 feet 9 inches.
2 In some sections the border is painted yellow and orange.
3 See plates 1, 15, 24.]
{p. cxliii}
General description.
scribe has been obliged to crowd the text (e.g., in plate 11) and at times he has written it on the border
(see plates 14, 17). This proves that the vignettes were drawn before the text was written.
All the different sections of the papyrus were not originally written for Ani, for his name has been added
in several places' by a later hand. As however such additions do not occur in the first section, which
measures 16 feet 4 inches in length, it must be concluded that that section was written expressly for him,
and that the others were some of those ready-written copies in which blank spaces were left for the
insertion of the names of the deceased persons for whom they were purchased. The scribe who filled in
Ani's name in these spaces wrote hurriedly, for in Chapter XXXB., line 2 (pl. 15), he left himself no
space to write the word "Osiris" in the phrase, "Ani victorious before Osiris" (compare pl. 1, line 5); in
Chapter XLIII., lines 1, 2 (pl. 17), he has written it twice; in Chapter IX., l. 1 (pl. 18), he has omitted the
determinative in Chapter XV., line 2 (pl. 20) he meant to write "Ani, victorious in peace (pl. 19), but
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod12.htm (1 of 9) [8/10/2001 11:24:20 AM]