STaTbS21D Project
Synoptic Edition of Book of the Dead Spell Sources from the 21st Dynasty
Open RepositoryAbout the project
An important number of Egyptian funerary papyri have been published since the late nineteenth century, and growing particularly within the last two decades, favored by enhanced methodological approaches in the Book of the Dead studies area. To that endeavor have added up material particularly, among others, the series: Handschriften des Altägyptischen Totenbuches [HAT] (born from the Totenbuch Projekt at Bonn University, with 15 sources published so far); Totenbuchtexte [TbT] (with 12 volumes published to date, comprising 87 spells, produced here at the University of Basel, within the project Synoptische Textausgabe nach Quellen des Neuen Reiches); and Book of the Dead Saite Through Ptolemaic Periods [SPBDStudies] (having 10 volumes published, including 144 spells). Yet, a large number of papyri from the Third Intermediate Period, and particularly the 21st Dynasty, which include rare spells and vignettes, remain unpublished.
The current project aims partly to cover this gap, by means of a synoptic study of selected Book of the Dead spells from 21st Dynasty sources. The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices from the end of the New Kingdom to the beginnings of the Third Intermediate Period.
As a complement, it provides the Egyptological community with edited and digitalized Book of the Dead spell sources from the end of the New Kingdom and the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period (particularly the 21st Dynasty).
The incentive to this research endeavour comes from a recently finished project, the Book of the Dead papyrus Havana edition, published in 2021 in the series Handschriften des altägyptischen Totenbuches (HAT) by Harrassowitz, and whose editorial peculiarities (the papyrus’) turned the attention into this direction.
A broader scope project on Book of the Dead sources from the New Kingdom is in progress, by professors Günther Lapp & Barbara Lüscher in the University of Basel (Synoptische Textausgabe nach Quellen des Neuen Reiches). Our project will revisit Ramesside sources only as a starting point to compare and trace the origins of 21st Dynasty versions of selected spells.
The current project aims partly to cover this gap, by means of a synoptic study of selected Book of the Dead spells from 21st Dynasty sources. The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices from the end of the New Kingdom to the beginnings of the Third Intermediate Period.
As a complement, it provides the Egyptological community with edited and digitalized Book of the Dead spell sources from the end of the New Kingdom and the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period (particularly the 21st Dynasty).
The incentive to this research endeavour comes from a recently finished project, the Book of the Dead papyrus Havana edition, published in 2021 in the series Handschriften des altägyptischen Totenbuches (HAT) by Harrassowitz, and whose editorial peculiarities (the papyrus’) turned the attention into this direction.
A broader scope project on Book of the Dead sources from the New Kingdom is in progress, by professors Günther Lapp & Barbara Lüscher in the University of Basel (Synoptische Textausgabe nach Quellen des Neuen Reiches). Our project will revisit Ramesside sources only as a starting point to compare and trace the origins of 21st Dynasty versions of selected spells.
We’re looking for collaborators!
This project was launched in 2022 without institutional support, yet we are open to collaboration from interested researchers and institutions worldwide. So, don't hesitate and join us today!
Project Workflow
Selection of sources
- Aided by Totenbuch Projekt database.
Selection criteria:
For the moment, only sources on papyrus from the Theban area (like papyrus Havana) are included, whether from the 21st Dynasty (incorporated to the synoptic edition) or the Ramesside Period (tracing spell transmission).
Editorial process
- Digital transliteration to Manuel de Codage (MdC / Gardiner codes) Unicode.
- Transcription.
- Bilingual translation (English &Spanish).
- Philological commentary.
- Visual transcript of the sources in tabular form (using VisualGlyphPlus software).
Final outputs
- Digital transcriptions (in JSesh *.gly files Unicode *.md files) available in Open Access via Github (regular basis) and Zenodo (end of project).
- Journal articles and other publications from parallel lines of research.
- Synoptic edition in book format (SAT or TbT series).
Use our tools!
Move through the spell sources and visualize them with our Unicode file viewer (no need to fetch the project files in our GitHub repository) and transcribe your own JSesh files using our online, responsive, Manuel de Codage to Egyptian hieroglyphs Unicode PHP batch converter. Unleash the power of this unique tool, designed to make the conversion process seamless and efficient, following ORAEC recommendations (for the encoding of characters, not glyphs).
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