Papyrus of Ani
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Papyrus of Ani is a papyrus manuscript written in cursive hieroglyphs and illustrated with color miniatures created in the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (1240s BC).
Egyptians often compiled an individualized book for each person at their death, called the "Book of Going Forth by Day". This book is more commonly known as the Book of the Dead. It usually contained declarations and spells to help the deceased in their afterlife. The "Book of the Dead" for scribe Ani from Thebes is the manuscript called the Papyrus of Ani.
It was purchased in 1888 by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge for the collection of the British Museum where it remains today. Before shipping the manuscript to England, Budge cut the seventy-eight foot scroll into thirty-seven sheets of nearly equal size, damaging the scroll's integrity at a time when technology had not yet allowed the pieces to be put back together.
