The find of what appears to be the world’s oldest illustrated ‘book’, more than 4,000 years old , underscores the dedication and sophistication with which the Egyptians approached the enigma of their own mortality.
Because the book is a guide to the underworld.
The Book of Two Paths
At least there were two roads to Rostau: one by land, one by sea. Both were arduous enough to require a guide, the so-called Book of Two Paths : its name refers to the two ways by which the dead can navigate to the underworld, seek protection from supernatural beings and enter the kingdom of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead.
This guide, an intricate map of the ancient Egyptian underworld, may be the first illustrated "book" in history. And archaeologists have unearthed a 4,000-year-old copy, possibly the oldest version ever found .
In 2012 archaeologists opened a tomb in the Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha . They discovered that one of the sarcophagi was inscribed with text from the so-called Book of Two Paths , unique graphic representations of the world beyond. Various versions of the Book of Two Paths have previously been discovered in sarcophagi, tombs, papyri, funerary masks, etc. However this version would be the oldest text found so far.
The book is part of a larger work known as the Sarcophagus Texts , which includes 1,185 spells, incantations, and religious writings on life after death.
The finding, described in a study published recently in the Journal of Egyptian Archeology , underscores the dedication and sophistication with which the ancient Egyptians approached the enigma of their own mortality. Researchers know this because the tomb contains inscriptions mentioning Djehutinakht I , a former governor who lived between the 21st and 20th centuries BC Although the coffin was previously supposed to contain his body, the study reveals that it actually belonged to a woman from the elite called Ankh.