Book of the Dead of Neferoubenef

More than 3,400 years ago, an Egyptian royal chamberlain named Neferoubenef commissioned a beautifully illustrated Book of the Dead to accompany him into eternity. Today, twelve surviving fragments of this remarkable papyrus are preserved in the Louvre Museum, offering a vivid glimpse into how one man hoped to overcome the dangers of the afterlife and be reborn alongside the sun god.

Dating to the 18th Dynasty, around 1425–1349 B.C., the papyrus is written in elegant hieroglyphs and contains a selection of spells from the Book of the Dead; not a single fixed book, but a collection of sacred texts intended to guide the deceased safely through the Duat, the mysterious realm between death and eternal life.

What makes Neferoubenef’s papyrus especially captivating is its rich and sometimes puzzling artwork.

One vignette shows Neferoubenef leaning over a rectangular pool, cupping cool water in his hands. This illustration accompanies one of the spells ensuring that the deceased would never suffer from thirst.

Water represented life itself, and the ability to drink freely in the next world was considered one of the greatest blessings awaiting the justified dead.

One of the papyrus’s most enigmatic vignettes depicts three baboons hauling an elaborate fishing net, while Neferoubenef sits just behind them, seemingly perched upon the upper edge of the net or perhaps shown in the background according to the conventions of Egyptian art.

Although the scene resembles an everyday fishing expedition, its meaning is almost certainly symbolic. Baboons were sacred to Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing, and were also closely associated with the rising sun, suggesting they represent divine beings rather than ordinary animals.

The unusually ornate net, rendered with a striking criss-cross pattern and bordered by regularly spaced golden projections, is far more elaborate than a practical fishing net. While these curious elements may represent floats or reinforced attachments, they could equally have been deliberately emphasised to convey the net’s sacred nature.

Egyptian funerary texts describe magical nets that could ensnare dangerous forces or test the knowledge of the deceased, and this elaborate net may allude to those symbolic motifs, representing divine protection, cosmic order, or the overcoming of perils during Neferoubenef’s journey through the afterlife.

Although the precise meaning of the scene remains uncertain, it stands as one of the most distinctive and intriguing illustrations within his Book of the Dead, transforming the familiar act of fishing into a powerful expression of rebirth and safe passage into eternity.

Another section depicts sacred emblems arranged upon shrines: the jackal of Anubis reclining watchfully upon his shrine, the Djed pillar symbolising stability, the tyet knot associated with Isis, and other powerful ritual objects.

Beside them, repeated figures of Thoth, with an ibis head, emphasising the continual ceremonies required to renew and protect the deceased.

These illustrations accompany spells now known by chapter numbers such as 54, 60, 61, 62, 110, 138, 151, 153, 155, 156 and 161, each intended to overcome a particular obstacle.

Some ensured that Neferoubenef could breathe, drink and move freely; others offered protection against dangerous beings, restored his senses, or united him with the gods.

Together they formed a spiritual handbook, equipping him with both the knowledge and divine assistance required to reach eternal life.

Although modern readers often refer to these manuscripts collectively as the Book of the Dead, the Ancient Egyptians knew them as the Book of Coming Forth by Day; a far more hopeful title. Rather than dwelling upon death itself, the text celebrates renewal: the soul emerging once more into the light, reborn each morning like the rising sun.

More than three millennia later, Neferoubenef’s papyrus still captures that extraordinary vision. Its colourful illustrations remind us that the Egyptian afterlife was imagined not as a place of silent darkness, but as a living landscape filled with sacred waters, divine guardians, mysterious rituals and the eternal promise of resurrection.

Summary:

Book of the Dead of the royal chamberlain Neferoubenef

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1425–1349 B.C.

Formerly in the collection of Antoine Barthélémy Clot, better known as Clot Bey. Musée du Louvre. N 3092 f 05 ; E 854 f 05