The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

178 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

of composition and different schools of religious thought: some
of them mount back to the remotest antiquity, others are probably
even later than the foundation of the united monarchy. Hence,
as a rule, only a selection of them was inscribed on the rolls
of papyrus that were buried with the dead, or on the coffin and
sepulchral objects deposited in the tomb; it was only the most
important of them that the Osirian was likely to need in the other
world. Indeed, in some cases only the semblance of a text seems
to have been thought necessary. The copies made for the dead
usually abound with errors, and some have actually been found
in which the text is represented by a number of unmeaning signs.
The Book of the Dead, moreover, was continually growing. The
oldest texts are the shortest and most simple, the latest are the
longest and most crowded with chapters. As fresh prayers and
formulæ for protecting the dead in the other world, or directing
them on their journey, were discovered in the local sanctuaries,
they were added in the form of chapters; no precaution, it was
felt, should be omitted which might secure the safety of those
[194] who had passed beyond the grave.

The Book of the Dead was thus a growth, and a growth it

remained. It never underwent the systematic revision which has

been the lot of most other sacred books. We look in it in vain for

traces of an individual editor. And on this account its form and

even its language were never fixed. The prayers and formulæ it

contained were, it is true, stereotyped, for their success depended

on their correct recitation; but beyond this the utmost latitude

was allowed in the way of addition or change. A Masoretic

counting of words and syllables would have been inconceivable

to the Egyptian.

In later days, more especially in the Greek period, the Book

of the Dead served as a basis for other religious compositions

which claimed divine authorship, and the authority due to such an

origin. Of these the most popular was the Book of Respirations

(Shâ-n-Sensenu), which derives its inspiration from chapters liv.