Nesiamun's Book of the Dead

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Said to have been discovered in a tomb on the west bank at Thebes, this funerary papyrus would have been an important element of the burial equipment of the owner, the priest Nesiamun. The deceased is shown in the vignette on the right, offering incense to a figure of the god Osiris, who is seated before table piled high with offerings of food and drink. The text on the papyrus, written in black ink with titles highlighted in red, includes several spells from the Book of the Dead (Chapters 23 to 28 and 162) that were meant to enable Nesiamun to speak, to know magic formulas, to maintain control over his memory and his heart (the center of emotions and thought), and to provide his head with warmth.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art