Inventory number

General description

Textual amulet with BoD chapter 72

Cat.1821/001 is a papyrus stripe dated to the Ptolemaic period and containing a text in cursive hieroglyphs divided into columns. Following an introduction on behalf of the owner Tamedukhnum, daughter of Tasepedet, the papyrus contains chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead: "Formula to go out during day and open the regions of the Imhet". In this chapter, the deceased addresses the gods, the "Lords of Justice", asking them to protect him during the access to the netherworld and that he might receive ritual offerings.

The text is illustrated with two different vignettes. On the right, the vignette of chapter 72 depicts the deceased, adorned with a cone of incense, in the act of adoration in front of the figure of Osiris, who bears the Atef-crown on his head and holds the Was-sceptre. On the left, the vignette of chapter 100/129 represents the deceased, without ornaments, on a boat with the Benu-phoenix. The whole illustration is enclosed to the right and the left respectively by the Djed-pillar, emblem of the West, and by the Iabet-standard, emblem of the East.

The papyrus Cat.1821/002 has a protective function as an amulet for the deceased. The papyrus amulets, known as "textual amulets", were folded, or wrapped, and placed on the body of the deceased, generally tied around the neck. According to archeological evidence, they are in use since the New Kingdom until the Graeco-Romand period. The dating of Cat.1821/001 to the Graeco-Roman period and more specifically, to the Ptolemaic Dynasty is based on paleographic and typological comparisons with other papyrus amulets.