Wednesday, February 7, 2018

A puzzling scroll turned up in the Egyptian tomb of a young girl.

THE EGYPTIAN PRINCESS Who Lost Her Scroll of the Dead

A NOTE FROM HISTORY:

A puzzling scroll turned up in the tomb of a young girl.

Archaeologists found a totally blank, rolled up scroll, nothing marking its surface, except the faintly ribbed grain of the papyrus and a few stains of age.

Fine quality papyrus, yet an unused scroll. A mystery. But from the scroll’s container, we know it was supposed to contain the written texts of the Book of the Dead, a guide for the soul of the dead in the underworld, a sort of passport filled with magical spells.

Without it, a soul could not hope to pass through gateways guarded by fearsome gatekeepers and so reach the heavenly Fields of Aaru.

What had happened? Had a greedy scribe secretly tricked the young girl, exchanging her costly scroll, filled with hieroglyphic spells, for a blank one, so that he could sell it again to another family?

Imagine her dismay when she found herself alone and unprotected in the dangers of the Egyptian underworld, clutching an empty scroll of papyrus?

Amazon Kindle - for younger readers (as Roy Pond)