Ramses II Helps the Dead: An Interpretation of Book of the Dead Supplementary Chapter 166 *

Abstract

As opposed to other studies, the authors approach the interpretation of Book of the Dead supplementary chapter 166 by taking the introductory part of the text—stating that it has been found ‘on the neck of king Ramses II'—at face value. This has the implication that the text was found on the king's mummy, something that could only have happened on one of the several occasions it was reburied after the initial robbings around the end of the New Kingdom. The authors argue that the original text was probably not part of the original tomb contents of Ramses II, but that it was added to it during one of the earliest reburials, and discovered during a later one, probably shortly before the death of Pinodjem II. In this connection they pay special attention to the term ḥm=k, which seems to be used in this text, not to refer to the private papyrus owner, but to the original royal one. This considerably affects the way the textual content can be interpreted. A new transliteration, translation and linguistic commentary are also provided. The analysis of the text illustrates the method of ‘sequencing’ which seems to prove very useful in reducing the number of interacting characters by disclosing shared structural patterns.