The Egyptians created a world of supernatural forces so vivid, powerful and inescapable that controlling one's destiny within it was a constant preoccupation. In life, supernatural forces manifested themselves through misfortune and illness,and after death were faced for eternity in the Otherworld, along with the divine gods who controlled the universe. The Book of the Dead empowered the reader to overcome the dangers lurking in the Otherworld and to become one with the gods who governed. Barry Kemp selects a number of spells to explore who and what the Egyptians feared and the kind of assistance that the Book offered them, revealing a relationship between the human individual and the divine quite unlike that found in the major faiths of the modern world.

For beginners being a series of historical, funereal, moral, religious and mythological texts printed in hieroglyphic characters, together with a transliteration and complete vocabulary.

Describes the techniques and the reasons for the use of mummification in ancient Egypt.

Gain insights into a vanished world with this unique look at powerful Egyptian hieroglyphs. Barry Kemp presents one hundred of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, their pronunciations, their history, and meanings, revealing aspects of day-to-day life in ancient Egypt. Kemp explains the myriad meanings behind symbols for physical objects such as “Sun” and “Serpent,” and concepts such as “Truth” and “to love,” building a picture of the historical and mythological references that were the cornerstones of Egyptian thought.