Egypt Museum

Bakenmut Papyrus

The British Museum notes that the “name of owner [was] painted over,” meaning the original name inscribed on the papyrus has been intentionally covered and replaced with another. This signals that the papyrus was possibly reused in antiquity, a common practice.

This vividly painted fragment comes from a Book of the Dead scroll dating from 19th Dynasty. The scene depicts a male scribe, identified by his title “Scribe of the House of the King”, offering incense and homage to the enthroned god Osiris, who is flanked by Isis. Behind the scribe stands a female figure bearing ritual objects, possibly his wife.

The identity of the deceased remains uncertain. The original name was deliberately painted over in antiquity, a practice often undertaken when funerary papyri were reused or acquired by later individuals. The surviving name, Bakenmut, a feminine name meaning “Servant of Mut”, may belong to the woman depicted behind the male (likely his wife), or to a later owner who claimed the scroll.

This deliberate overwriting, though practical in intent, reflects the profound Ancient Egyptian conviction that to be named was to be granted eternal life. Even when appropriating the image or legacy of another, it was believed that inscribing one’s own name ensured survival in the afterlife. Such acts of usurpation were not limited to private individuals; even pharaohs, most notably Ramesses II, frequently re-carved their names over those of earlier kings on statues and monuments, asserting both spiritual and political dominion across time.

British Museum. EA 10478,1

Summary:

Papyrus Fragment from the Book of the Dead of an Unnamed Scribe

New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1292–1189 B.C.

From Thebes, Egypt. Purchased from Rev. Chauncey Murch, 1890

British Museum. EA 10478,1

Tags: