The Book of the Dead, the modern name given to a popular compilation of ancient Egyptian spells, empowered the reader to overcome the dangers lurking in the Otherworld and to become one with the gods that governed. Barry Kemp selects a number of spells to explore who and what the Egyptians feared and the kind of assistance that the book offered them, revealing a relationship between the human individual and the divine quite unlike that found in the major faiths of the modern world.

This new edition of Barry J. Kemp's popular text, now revised to include the latest developments in the field, presents a compelling reassessment of what gave ancient Egypt its distinctive and enduring characteristics.

Ranging across Ancient Egyptian material culture, social and economic experiences, and the mindset of its people, the book also includes two new chapters exploring the last ten centuries of Ancient Egyptian civilization and who, in ethnic terms, the ancients were.

Fully illustrated, the book draws on both ancient written materials and decades of excavation...

This new edition of Barry J. Kemp's popular text, now revised to include the latest developments in the field, presents a compelling reassessment of what gave ancient Egypt its distinctive and enduring characteristics.

Ranging across Ancient Egyptian material culture, social and economic experiences, and the mindset of its people, the book also includes two new chapters exploring the last ten centuries of Ancient Egyptian civilization and who, in ethnic terms, the ancients were.

Fully illustrated, the book draws on both ancient written materials and decades of excavation...