Egyptian religious poetry

INTRODUCTION 53

ments the oral tradition was continued and many of the Texts are found again in the so-called Book of the Dead, sometimes rather confused but still recognizable.

It is in the xiith dynasty that writing became sufficiently common for papyri to be placed in the tombs. Many of these are secular literature but there are a certain number of religious texts and poems. The most important find of religious texts of this period were from the Library of the Ramesseum, showing that Rameses II of the xixth dynasty had collected ancient manuscripts for his library and valued them partly for their contents and partly for their ancientry.

The Book of the Dead, like the Pyramid Texts, is a great store-house of religious literature. It consists of a series of isolated sections—now called chapters—recording hymns, prayers, legends of the gods, and spells for reincarnation or against the evils that might be encountered in the next world. No complete copy has ever been found. The number of chapters found together varies so considerably that it is clear that each owner of a manuscript took only his favourite chapters into the grave with him. The number also possibly varied according to the amount the relatives could afford to pay for the copies.

It is to the xviiith and xixth dynasties that the greater number of copies of the Book of the Dead belong. The exquisitely painted miniatures with which these chapters are illustrated show the beliefs of the people as to what they expected to happen after death. Here, as in the Pyramid Texts, there are spells to save the dead from certain specific perils and dangers. It is clear, however, that the beliefs expressed in this compilation are derived from more than one source. There were two main schools of thought ; the more important of the two was the belief that after successfully passing the dread Judgment of Osiris, where the heart of the dead man was weighed in the