Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Kha and His Wife Meryt Before Osiris (detail) from the Book of the Dead
Artist / Origin Unknown artist, Egypt
Region: Africa
Date New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1567 BCE–320 BCE
Period: 3000 BCE – 500 BCE
Material Pigment on papyrus
Medium: Painting
Location Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy
Credit © Gianni Dagli Orti/CORBIS, The Picture Desk Limited
A page from the Ars Moriendi
Artist / Origin: Unknown artist, Germany
Region: Europe
Date: ca. 1466
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Woodcut
Medium: Prints, Drawings, and Photography
Dimensions: H: approx. 11 in. (28.7 cm.)
Location: Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Both the Book of the Dead and the Ars Moriendi functioned to a degree as instructional manuals meant to ensure eternal life in the Underworld and in Heaven, respectively. These texts used illustrations both to clarify the steps one must take to achieve this goal and to help the individual visualize carrying out those steps. Like many works dealing with death and dying, both were deeply rooted in the religious practices, spiritual beliefs, and cosmologies of the cultures that produced them.