the New Kingdom. Another striking characteristic of the work is the section of Chapter CXXV which is known as the Negative Confession. This enshrines the moral and religious code of Osiris, and makes quite plain the high standard of morality and the exalted character of the personal religion of which Osiris demanded proof before applicants were admitted into his kingdom. In our limited space here it is impossible to describe even briefly the general contents of the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead, and the reader is referred for a summary of them to the Monograph, The Book of the Dead, with 25 illustrations, which the Trustees of the British Museum published in 1820.

The Egyptian text of the Theban Recension is derived from copies of the Book of the Dead which were written on papyri for scribes and high officials under the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties. No two papyri contain the same Chapters or the same number of Chapters ; in no two papyri is the order of the Chapters the same, and it is tolerably certain that a person selected the Chapters for his papyrus for himself. And in no two codices is the treatment of the Vignettes exactly the same. In 1874, under the auspices of the Second International Congress of Orientalists, a Committee was formed to discuss the possibility of publishing the text of the Theban Recension, and its members, Birch, Lepsius, Chabas and Naville, made arrangements for carrying out the work. Naville undertook to prepare the edition, and his Committee thankfully accepted the services of this distinguished scholar. At the instance of Lepsius the Berlin Academy voted a sum of 3,000 marks for preliminary expenses, and the Prussian Government voted 4,800 thalers for its publication. Twelve years later Naville, having meanwhile examined all the papyri in all the great libraries and museums in Europe, published in two volumes, folio, Das Aegyptische Todtenbuch der XVIII bis XX Dynastie, Berlin, 1886. The first volume contains the hieroglyphic texts, which were beautifully drawn by Madame Naville; and the second contains the variant readings. In a small quarto volume, published a few months later, Naville gave a history of the Theban Recension, and discussed its importance, and described its palaeography and the papyri that he had used, and gave a list in hieroglyphs of the Chapters. This work is, and always will be, invaluable for the study of the Book of the Dead.

With the view of providing material for the great work the Trustees of the British Museum published a complete photographic reproduction of the Papyrus of Ñebseni (B.M. 9900), London, 1876, fol., and a coloured lithographic reproduction of texts on the coffin of Amamu (XIth or XIIth dynasty), entitled Egyptian Texts of the Earliest Period, London, 1886 (Translations by Birch). Other editions of single papyri, published in France and Holland, were : Guieyesse, Le Papyrus Funéraire de Soutimes, Paris, 1877; Devéria, Le Papyrus de Neb-qed, Paris, 1872; Mariette, Papyrus of Åmenḥetep,

Paris, 1876; Leemans, Papyrus of Qenna, Leyden, 1882. In 1888 the British Museum acquired the Papyrus of Ani, which contained Chapters that were in no other papyrus of the Theban Recension and a comprehensive series of Vignettes, which for completeness, accuracy, and beauty of colour is, to this day, unique. This papyrus was written in the latter part of the XVIIIth dynasty, and is of exceptional importance. A facsimile edition of the papyrus was prepared for the Trustees by Mr. W. Griggs, but the text was faulty, for the films of some of the negatives perished in places. The edition was sold out and a second, which was more accurate in every way, was prepared by Mr. F. C. Compton Price,1 and as this was soon sold out Mr. P. Lee-Warner obtained permission from the Trustees to issue a facsimile of the papyrus in a smaller size, together with a transcript of the text printed in hieroglyphic type and a translation and introduction.2

In 1890 the British Museum acquired the Papyrus of Nu, 000, the steward of the keeper of the king's seal, the son ୪୪୪ of Amenḥetep and the lady Senseneb, who flourished in the early part of the XVIIIth dynasty. This papyrus contains 131 Chapters of the Theban Recension, including two versions each of Chapters XXXB, LXIV, CXXXVI and CLIII; it is as old as the papyrus of Nebseni, if not older, and is therefore the first authority for the text of the Theban Recension. As it contained a large number of Chapters that were wanting in the later papyri I prepared an edition of the unmutilated Chapters, 3 adding to them the Chapters that were

Soon after its publication the Trustees instructed me to prepare an edition of the Egyptian text with interlinear transliteration and translation, a running translation and introduction, etc. This appeared in a 4to. volume in 1895.

2 Budge, The Book of the Dead, Papyrus of Ani, Medici Society, 2 vols., London, 1913.

A complete transcript of the hieroglyphic text was published by me in The Papyri of Hunefer, Änhai, etc., London, 1899, fol.

The Weighing of the Heart of Ani, the scribe, in the Great Scales in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. From the Papyrus of Ani. B.M. No. 10470.

I Horus, the son of Isis, introducing the scribe Ani, who has been declared to be a "speaker of the truth" by Thoth, into the presence of Osiris.

2 The scribe Ani kneeling before Osiris. From the Papyrus of Ani. B.M. No. 10470.

extant in the other great Theban papyri, and published it with an English translation and Egyptian Vocabulary, under the title The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, 3 vols., London, 1897. This edition ran out of print quickly, and two editions of the translation, each in three volumes, were issued in 1901 and 1909 respectively; and a revised and enlarged edition of the Egyptian text was issued in three volumes in 1910 and a revised edition of the Vocabulary in the following year. A translation of portions of the Theban Recension was published by Renouf in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vols. XII-XIX.1

Under the XIXth, XXth and XXIst dynasties many fine copies of the Theban Recension were written in hieratic, and those which were made for the wives and daughters of the high priests of Amen-Ra are of special interest. Among such may be mentioned the Papyrus of Queen Netchemet, the Papyrus of Nesi-Khensu,3 and the Papyrus of Nesitanebtashru. The hieratic papyrus published by de Rougé belongs to a somewhat later date. 5

Under the XXVIth and following dynasties many copies of the Book of the Dead were made, and these contain what is commonly known as the Saïte Recension. Under the XXVIth dynasty it was usually written in hieroglyphs, but in the Ptolemaïc and Roman Periods the texts were commonly written in hieratic. One of the finest copies known to belong to the Roman Period, written in hieratic, is B.M. 10558; the Vignettes in it are drawn in black outline and are remarkable for their delicacy and accuracy.

Curiously enough the Book of the Dead became known to scholars first of all through the latest Recension of it-that is to say, the Saïte. The earliest publications of parts or whole copies of it were made by J. Marc Cadet, Copie figurée d'un rouleau de papyrus, trouvé à Thèbes, dans un tombeau des Rois, Strassburg, 1805; Fontana, Copie figurée d'un rouleau de papyrus trouvé en Égypte, publiée par Fontana et expliquée par Joseph de Hammer, Vienna, 1822; Senkowski, Exemplum Papyri Aegyptiacae quam in peregrinatione sua repertum Universitati Cracovienski dono dedit, Petropoli, 1826; Young, Hieroglyphics, London, 1823, fol., Plates I-VI; Hawkins, Papyri in the Hieroglyphic and Hieratic Character from the Collection of the Earl of Belmore, 23 plates, London, 1843, fol.;?

1 These were reprinted in his Life Work, edited by W. H. Rylands, Maspero and E. Naville, 1st Series, Vols. I-IV, Paris, 1904.

2 Published in facsimile, with translation by Budge, Papyrus of Hunefer, London, 1899.

Published by Naville, Papyrus Funéraires de la XXIe Dynastie, Paris, 1912. 4 I.e., the Greenfield Papyrus. Published by Budge, The Funerary Papyrus of Princess Nesitanebtashru, daughter of Painetchem II, London, 1912, 4to. ↳ Rituel Funéraire des Anciens Égyptiens, Paris, 1861, fol.

5

This book was published at the expense of the Academy of St. Petersburg and never came into the market.

The descriptions, etc., were the work of Birch, but Hawkins was his official superior, and as such signed the Preface.