The belief that dead people could assume non-human forms is attested
in Egyptian texts of all periods, from the Old Kingdom down to
Graeco-Roman times. It was thought that assuming such forms enhanced
their freedom of movement and access to nourishment in the afterlife,
as well as allowing them to join the entourages of different deities
and participate in their worship. Spells referring to or enabling the
deceased’s transformations occur in the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin
Texts, and the Book of the Dead. But it is not until the Graeco-Roman
Period that we find entire compositions devoted to this theme. Two of
the most important are P. Louvre N. 3122 and P. Berlin P. 3162, both
written in hieratic and dating to the 1st century AD. Both texts have
been known to Egyptologists for more than a century, but neither is
currently available in an up-to-date comprehensive edition. This book
provides such an edition, including high-resolution images of the
manuscripts, hieroglyphic transcriptions, translations, descriptions
of their material aspects, studies of their owners, their titles, and
their families, reconstructions of their context of usage, analyses of
their orthography and grammar, and detailed commentaries on their
contents.
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The Spells of P. Louvre N. 3122 and P. Berlin P. 3162
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9783111098876
Publisert
2023
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
De Gruyter
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter