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Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe. The Book of the Dead, a hallmark type of artefact from ancient Egypt,

a collection of spells designed to help guide the deceased through the underworld.

Sometimes written on papyrus, other times on the mummy wrappings of the dead person themselves,

these books were high fashion items in ancient Egypt for centuries.

The spells they included and the quality of these books differed from tomb to tomb, from

century to century. And yet, many ancient Egyptians considered these guides are vital

for their burials. Thousands of fragments of ancient books of the dead have been discovered,

some better preserved than others.

And one such book is about to take centre stage in a brand new exhibition at the Brooklyn

Museum in the United States.

Beautifully conserved and preserved, the 21-foot papyrus is a complete version, holding nearly

all 162 spells known from the longest versions of

the Book of the Dead. What's more, it's rich in gleaming vignettes and gilded decoration,

a stunning artifact, originally owned by an Egyptian called Angmerwer over 2,000 years ago.

Today, we'll explore the wider story of ancient Egypt's Book of the Dead before focusing in on this particularly special artefact with our guest,

Dr. Yakaterina Barbash, curator of Egyptian art at the Brooklyn Museum. Welcome to the ancients. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host,

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