The Book of the Dead

http://www.crystalinks.com/bookdead2.jpg

The Egyptian religion was heavily based on an afterlife. They spent a great deal of time alive preparing for death. The Book of the Dead was a funerary text used by the Egyptians, but also provided the basic concepts and ideals of their religion. It is not considered a bible because it was not from the divine; it was a changing document of their religion. The Egyptians used this book for spells, hymns, and as instruction for the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that there were trials and challenges that one must complete before making it to the afterlife; this book provided the answers to these tests.

The book of the dead was originally in the early Egyptian kingdom carved on the walls of the tomb and later in the Middle Kingdom it was carved inside the coffin itself. By the New Kingdom the Book of the Dead was being written on papyrus or scrolls and placed with the sarcophagus. Although the Book of the Dead was used for the religious purposes of the afterlife it was still popular well into the Roman era. The original books were not written in a specific order or chapter, instead they were organized in order of importance to each individual based on class or family. Later however the book did become more organized into a set chapters of spells know as the Saite version.

The Book of the Dead was published with the help of numerous scribes and artist whose work was put together into one copy. The cost of the book was very expensive so planning for the purchase would have been considered well before the person’s death. During the height of this books importance words were far less significant than the illustrations. Often the words are squeezed in or poorly written, even occasionally having the wrong or misspelled word. The most complete example of the Book of the Dead surviving today is known as the Papyrus of Ani.

The picture above is of one of the trials the Egyptians believed one must complete before arriving at the afterlife. It is the depiction of the weighing of the heart. Where the heart was weighed against a feather to see how much sin the individual held.

http://www.thenazareneway.com/index_egyptain_book_dead.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead

Runes

http://www.crystalinks.com/futhark.gif

Runes were a Germanic script used before the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Runes were found in hard surfaces such as wood, metal, or stone. There are no horizontal lines in ancient runes which might be because of the surface or tools used to write them. Runes were mostly used from 150 A.D to Christianization in 700 by 1100 had mostly faded into the Latin system but were still used in some specific languages in Sweden until 1800 AD. Surprisingly however in northern Europe runes were being used as late as the early 20^th century for decoration.

Runes most likely descended from the Old Italic system of writing. Early runes had 24 characters while the later systems of runes called Younger Futhark had only 16. Runes are divided up into 3 lines of 8 letters called an ætt. Each letter has a specific place within the ætt. For example the S for Sarah is the 8^th rune in the second ætt.

The name rune comes from a gothic word meaning secret or whisper, probably because the original use of runes was most likely something for the elite, wealthy or educated. This is why many today believe that runes had some magical or ritual use. However there is no known knowledge that suggests they were used in such a way. Although early runic alphabets may have been only used by the elite or wealthy it has been proven by the Bryggen Inscriptions that later in runes history it was a common writing system. The Bryggen Inscriptions were found in the 1950s and contained 100s of rune writing including letters, personal notes, prayers, and tokens of love.

Although there are more than 5 different kinds of rune variations it is the medieval rune scripts that have widely survived till today. Medieval Runes were used up into the 15^th century. The Bryggen inscriptions are of the medieval style. The Dalecarlian version of the rune alphabet was used between the 16^th and 19^th century, in a region of Sweden. It has been unclear whether or not it was a custom still being used from medieval times or if it was a resurgence of the writing system.

Contemporary uses of runes have are widely for fantasy or fiction. J.R.R. Tolkien invented his own runes called Cirth for his novels the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Hermione Granger also uses ancient runes in the Harry Potter novels. There are at least 2 other modern writers who wrote about runes creating occults based on the ancient symbols. The Nazis used one of these writers’ runes when designing the swastika, which is not an original ancient rune, but fabricated. Some pagans and wiccans have also adapted runes into certain practices and ceremonies, which isn’t surprising because after all Runes originated in the birth place of the pagans in northern Europe.

Runes have been widely studied but are still somewhat a mystery when compared to other early writing systems such as hieroglyphs. While we may now know how to read runes their original use and purpose remains a mystery.

http://www.ancientscripts.com/

http://www.wikipedia.com/

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery was created in 1990 to celebrate the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Some 118 internationally recognized artist and groups came to the 0.8 mile long stretch of wall to communicate in paint their reaction and celebration of the fall of the wall. There are a total of 105 artworks most of wish express the joy and hope for a future much more humane and tolerant. They also express hope for a unified Germany, and hope to be free prejudices. The East Side Gallery is located on the Spree River near the Ostbahnhopf (or east train station); it is the world’s longest open air gallery.


The idea for an open gallery to commemorate the coming down of the wall happened when the artist groups from both sides of Germany the VBK’s and the BBK’s joined together. Over the years much of the wall has been tagged with graffiti or vandalized as well as fallen victim to nature pollution. Many had considered tearing the wall down, but much effort has been made by local community members to keep it in tack. There have been many efforts to restore the Gallery, but the cost proved too much for any major improvements. However, in 2009 the wall underwent a complete renovation just in time for the 20th anniversary of the taking down of the wall. In 2008, 20 of the original artist came to Berlin for the kick off of the revitalization project. The total cost of the project was 2.2 million dollars, most of which came from the EU lottery and other federal German agencies.


The East Side Gallery has now been completely revitalized and renewed, and is in beautiful condition. It has also become somewhat of a symbol for Berlin, with prints of the works on souvenir shirts and mugs, even appearing in movies, and mentioned in the Bloc Party hit Kreuzberg. To many Germans the transformation of the wall into art works is a reminder that the ugly past can transform into a better less prejudice future, if only we remember.

http://www.german-way.com/east-side-gallery-berlin.html


http://www.eastsidegallery.com/historyesg.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Gallery