Reviving the Book of the Dead: New Insights into Ancient Egyptian Religious Literature
Foy Scalf
Research Associate, Oriental Institute
Saturday, November 4, 2017
5:00 pm
LaSalle Banks room of the Oriental Institute
With the amount of attention devoted to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, few would fault those who believe there is little new to say about this well known compilation. However, research into the Book of the Dead has blossomed over the last 10-20 years as the results of major publication projects and corpus driven analyses have come to fruition. In the process, common myths and superficial interpretations have been cast aside as scholars have reached new conclusions about how the Book of the Dead developed, what it consisted of, who compiled it, how it was produced, what was involved in its transmission, how it worked, what it meant, and ultimately what happened to it. Few areas of research have been left untouched by these contributions. This talk will offer a portrait of what we now know about the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and what are some fruitful avenues for future research.
A curator-led tour of the Oriental Institute's current special exhibit "Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt" will take place prior to the talk, followed by a brief book signing for the exhibit catalog.
4:15-4:45 pm - Exhibit tour
4:45-5:00 pm - Catalog Signing
5:00-6:00 pm - Lecture
Sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt.
