File:Book of the Dead of Hunefer sheet 5.jpg

English: Book of the Dead of Hunefer (Hw-nfr) sheet 5; the main vignette from the funerary papyrus of the Royal Scribe Hunefer illustrates the ceremonies carried out at the entrance of the tomb on the day of burial. The officiating priest, clad in a panther skin, offers incense and purifies with water as he stands beside a heap of offerings. Other priests present containers and raise ritual implements to Hunefer's mummy which is held upright by a priest wearing a jackal's mask impersonating Anubis, god of embalming. The deceased's widow Nasha laments before him. Behind is a round topped funerary stela containing a prayer on Hunefer's behalf, it stands before his pyramid capped tomb chapel on the west bank at Thebes. Below, officiants carry a heart and foreleg cut from a still bleating calf towards a table heaped with offerings, a chest and ritual implements laid out ready for the Opening-of-the-Mouth ceremony which, will reincorporate Hunefer's spirit into his mummified corpse and enable him to enjoy the afterlife to the full. The finely written semi-cursive hieroglyphs above the vignette are the text of Chapter 23 of the 'Book of the Dead' containing ritual utterances for the ceremony. The beginning of Chapter 17, a text so obscure in content that the Egyptians themselves added explanatory glosses. In the accompanying vignettes Hunefer is depicted leaving the sign for "the West" in two directions, indicating his ability to roam at will in the afterlife. The scene showing him seated in a booth playing the board game senet is partly to ensure his continued enjoyment of a favourite leisure pursuit, but also has an underlying funerary significance: victory probably symbolized the overcoming of any obstacles which prevented entry to the afterlife.