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IL LIBRO DEI MORTI

Il Libro Dei Morti (The Book of the Dead) of Iuefankh is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used permanently from the beginning of the New Kingdom (circa 1550 BC) until the middle of the 1st century BC. Guarded in the Museo Egizio of Torino (Egyptian Museum of Turin), 864 cm in length makes it one of the widest papyri in the world and houses the set of funeral formulas useful to the deceased during their journey to the Hereafter.

For the Egyptian culture death was only a passage to get to the real life, the eternal one, in the Kingdom of Osiris, for this the papyrus was called the “Libro per uscire alla luce del giorno” ("Book to go out in the light of day").

To reach the Duat or the world of the dead, the deceased had to pass tests, using the magical religious formulas contained in the precious manuscript.

Almost all the sarcophagi were frescoed with scenes and phrases taken from the Libro dei Morti (Book of the Dead), or, alternatively, the papyrus was placed next to the mummy of the deceased.

Indirizzo 
Museo Egizio di Torino
Via Accademia delle Scienze, 6
10123 Torino TO
Italy