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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileMünchen SMAEK 2019-03-23i
This Egyptian papyrus fragment features a scene in black ink on a textured, light-brown substrate. To the left, the goddess Isis, wearing a sheath dress and a headpiece topped with a falcon figure, places her hand on the back of Horus, who is depicted with a human body and falcon head, crowned with a complex headdress featuring a sun disk and two plumes. Between them and the male worshiper on the right stands a large Djed pillar, an ancient Egyptian symbol of stability. The worshiper, shown in profile, wears a pleated kilt and has his hands raised in a gesture of reverence; a small offering stand with floral elements sits before the pillar.
This scene is characteristic of the Book of the Dead, an ancient Egyptian funerary text intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld. The Djed pillar is frequently associated with Osiris, representing his backbone and symbolising permanence, stability, and resurrection.
Hieroglyphic text appears in vertical columns above the figures and in a dense block on the right margin.
Translation
The text consists of standard funerary offering formulas and invocations common to the Book of the Dead, addressed to the deities pictured.
Book of the Dead
The image is a vignette from an ancient Egyptian funerary papyrus consistent with the instructional content of the Book of the Dead.
Object
ink drawing
papyrus
Ancient Egyptian
Egyptian
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
3408 × 4619 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.