Book of the Dead of Nehem-es-Rataui [SEP] collection
Book of the Dead of Nehem-es-Rataui
The Book of the Dead of Nehem-es-Rataui is, along with the Papyrus Brocklehurst, the most important papyrus in the collection of the Museum August Kestner in Hanover. It contains one of the many traditional versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which differs most significantly from similar papyri in the style of the central scene of the Judgement of the dead.
The papyrus was part of the collection of August Kestner and is now located in the Museum
August Kestner in Hanover (inventory number 3454), where it is displayed in Room II of the Egyptological collection with other gravegoods and artefacts from the death cult.
The book derives from Thebes and is dated to the Ptolemaic period, probably around 200 BC. The papyrus was among the grave goods of the Singer of Amun, Nehem-es-Rataui. The Papyrus was written in Hieratic script, completely in black ink. Originally the 21 centimetre high document had a length of 715 centimetres - that is, 15 pages