Aspects of the Ancient Egyptian First and Second Books of Breathing

Abstract

This thesis examines the ancient Egyptian First and Second Books of Breathing – a collection of hieratic funerary papyri dating from the Greco-Roman Period that largely superseded the Book of the Dead. It aims to determine the general purpose of these works, their origins and ultimately the reasons for why they came to be. Using exemplars of the papyri themselves, this thesis first examines their physical characteristics, vignettes and written content. The analysis of these features will show that both works are derived from texts known already from tomb walls, coffins, stelae and earlier forms of funerary literature. This thesis then discusses the religious functions of the texts in an attempt to ascertain their purpose. Drawing from the themes expounded upon in the works, it will show how both compositions comprise utterances catering to several different aspects of ancient Egyptian eschatology and could have a multitude of functions – from perpetuating the name of their beneficiaries to protecting them in the burial. However, the analysis of the word snsn “breathing” in their titles will show that their main purpose was to reanimate their beneficiaries after death. Finally, this thesis examines the owners of the papyri, the redaction of the texts and their genesis. Utilising a more object-oriented and diachronic method of analysis, it intimates that the First and Second Books of Breathing also functioned as replacements for other texts, and were created to allow compositions from objects such as coffins and sarcophagi to be included in the burial, since many of these objects were unavailable to the deceased at the time. In this way, they were created for the same reasons as a number of other funerary texts known only from the last historical periods of ancient Egyptian civilisation.