The Egyptian Book of the Dead: A guidebook for the underworld - Tejal Gala

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead-tejal-gala Ancient Egyptians believed that in order to become immortal after death, a spirit must first pass through...

==========
Ani stands before a large golden scalewhere the jackal-headed god Anubis is weighing his heartagainst a pure ostrich feather.Ani was a real person,a scribe from the Egyptian city of Thebeswho lived in the 13th century BCE.And depicted here is a scene from his Book of the Dead,a 78-foot papyrus scroll designed to help him attain immortality.Such funerary texts were originally written only for Pharaohs,but with time, the Egyptians came to believeregular people could also reach the afterlifeif they succeeded in the passage.Ani's epic journey begins with his death.His body is mummified by a team of priestswho remove every organ except the heart,the seat of emotion, memory, and intelligence.It's then stuffed with a salt called natronand wrapped in resin-soa...