Zugl.: Diss. Univ. Heidelberg, 2006. / Buchhandelsausg. der Diss. Heidelberg 2006. Literaturverz.: S. 566-603.

Diplomarbeit Hochschule für Angewandte Psychologie Zürich, 2005.

Ein Totenbuch ist ein Jenseitsführer bzw. ein Korpus an unterschiedlichen Sprüchen, welches den Verstorbenen auf seinem Weg ins Jenseits mit Wissen austatten soll. Nur durch die Kenntnis der Topographie und der Gefahren sowie magischem Wissen und dem Wunsch nach fortdauernder Versorgung konnte er unbeschadet ins Jenseits gelangen und dort weiterexistieren. Ziel der Dissertation war zum einen die Erstedition des Totenbuches des Chonsiu, das aufgrund seines stark fragmentierten Zustandes bisher nur am Rande und in wenigen Details erforscht, aber dennoch gerne als Vergleichshandschrift hinzugezogen wurde. Zudem handelt es sich bei diesem um eines der wenigen genau datierbaren Totenbücher, die es gibt – nach Chonsius Totenstele verstarb er im Jahr 249 v. Chr. Zum anderen sollte eine Art Überblickswerk geschaffen werden, in dem die grundlegenden Punkte der memphitischen Totenbuchredaktion der Ptolemäerzeit zusammengefasst sind. Die memphitischen Totenbücher besitzen ein einprägsames Layout sowie eigene charakteristische Vignettenvarianten, eigene Spruchsequenzen und variieren innerhalb des verwendeten Spruchguts. Einige Eigenarten und Varianten beschränken sich auch auf die Handschriften die in der Werkstatt angefertigt wurden aus der das Totenbuch des Chonsiu stammt. / A Book of the Dead is an ancient egyptian Guide to the Netherworld or rather a collection of different spells which should provide the deceased on his journey to the afterlife. Only by applying a thorough knowledge of the topography accordingly and a profund magical understanding he was able to pass the underworld with all its dangers unharmed and continue to exist. Objective of this thesis is the first edition of the Book of the Dead of Khonsiu which wasn’t studied intensively yet in detail because of its very fragmentary condition. Nevertheless it was taken very often as parallel for other Books of the Dead from Memphis. As well is Khonsius Book of the Dead one of few existing manuscripts which can be dated exactly. The stela of Khonsiu states the date of his burial in the year of 249 BC. The thesis is also be intended as a summary of all the main issues of the memphite Book of the Dead tradition in the ptolemaic period. The memphite manuscripts show a remarkable layout and characteristic variants of their vignettes. They also applied some special sequences in the order of the spells. Some characteristics and variants are restricted only to Books of the Dead which were produced in the same workshop as the manuscript of Khonsiu.

Die zu Totenbuch-Kapitel 110 gehörige Illustration (Vignette) beinhaltet die Darstellung verschiedener Jenseitsvorstellungen der Ägypter. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich in erster Linie mit der ikonographischen Entwicklung und den Darstellungstraditionen der Vignette von der 18. Dynastie bis in die Spätzeit, sowie der Interpretation der abgebildeten Szenen. Über den gesamten Zeitraum können Veränderungen in der Szenenabfolge, dem Szenenverständnis und er Stilistik der Vignette belegt werden. Es kann auch aufgezeigt werden, dass neben dem zugehörigen Tb-Spruch 110 Elemente weiterer Totenbuchsprüche in die Vignettendarstellung mit einfliessen. Andererseits kann die Darstellung einer einzelnen Szene durchaus als Assoziation zur Vignette 110 aufzufassen sein. Daneben lassen sich auch lokale Darstellungstraditionen feststellen, die als Datierungskriterium herangezogen werden können. Die Grundlage der vorliegenden Arbeit bildet ein chronologisch und alphabetisch geordneter Katalog, in dem eine große Auswahl von Vignetten zusammengestellt ist.

The Book of the Dead-Project Bonn started in the early 1990s. Prof Ursula Rößler-Köhler, who had previously laid the foundation for modern Book of the Dead studies by her work on BD chapter 17 applying the method of textual criticism, achieved a 10-year funding from the German Research Society (DFG). In 2004 the project was granted another 9-year funding by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia. One aim of the project was to gather all available evidence of Book of the Dead manuscripts spread across collections around the world. Today, the archive comprises approximately 3000 records of BD sources. In 2012 the corresponding database, after undergoing a transfer from FileMaker to XML format in collaboration with the department of e-Humanities at the University of Cologne, was launched and made publicly available online. The data sets include various different kinds of information about the objects and the sets of BD spells and vignettes found on them. These are now easily accessible for statistic analyses such as evaluations of neighbouring spells and sequences or occurrences in specific locations or time periods. Furthermore, the database includes several metadata such as bibliographical information, translations of spells and a motif index. It is cross connected with other Egyptological databases such as Trismegistos and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae. After the project was completed at the end of 2012, the online database has been operating for a considerable amount of time with scholars using it and trying the several opportunities it provides. Now is the time for a first evaluation to actually see which functions of the database work well, which might have been ignored by users and what information the database could provide scholars with for their actual research. Naturally, there is a need for a continuous maintenance and update on new findings and the latest research. Furthermore it is important to understand which possibly missing functions or information the users wish to be included and if this is actually realisable. On the other hand, there might be opportunities for analyses that have not been fully understood and therefore have not been made use of. This presentation aims to address some of these issues concerning the BD online database and to gather ideas and possible collaborators for future BD project plans.

The Book of the Dead-Project Bonn started in the early 1990s. Prof Ursula Rößler-Köhler, who had previously laid the foundation for modern Book of the Dead studies by her work on BD chapter 17 applying the method of textual criticism, achieved a 10-year funding from the German Research Society (DFG). In 2004 the project was granted another 9-year funding by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia. One aim of the project was to gather all available evidence of Book of the Dead manuscripts spread across collections around the world. Today, the archive comprises approximately 3000 records of BD sources. In 2012 the corresponding database, after undergoing a transfer from FileMaker to XML format in collaboration with the department of e-Humanities at the University of Cologne, was launched and made publicly available online. The data sets include various different kinds of information about the objects and the sets of BD spells and vignettes found on them. These are now easily accessible for statistic analyses such as evaluations of neighbouring spells and sequences or occurrences in specific locations or time periods. Furthermore, the database includes several metadata such as bibliographical information, translations of spells and a motif index. It is cross connected with other Egyptological databases such as Trismegistos and the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae. After the project was completed at the end of 2012, the online database has been operating for a considerable amount of time with scholars using it and trying the several opportunities it provides. Now is the time for a first evaluation to actually see which functions of the database work well, which might have been ignored by users and what information the database could provide scholars with for their actual research. Naturally, there is a need for a continuous maintenance and update on new findings and the latest research. Furthermore it is important to understand which possibly missing functions or information the users wish to be included and if this is actually realisable. On the other hand, there might be opportunities for analyses that have not been fully understood and therefore have not been made use of. This presentation aims to address some of these issues concerning the BD online database and to gather ideas and possible collaborators for future BD project plans.