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Zahi Hawass is a contributing authors to A Contemporary Book of the Dead.His life as an Egyptian archaeologist, an Egyptologist and the current Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities takes to him to many exciting places.Here is an update he sent to John.=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Zahi Hawass—going down! 
The head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities [SCA] for Egypt, Dr. Hawass goes down past the false door of Shendwa to check out the burial chamber at a depth of 20 meters [65 feet] —seven stories!The burial chamber itself is about 30 square meters [1000 square feet] And Zahi—not bad form—for a man of 63, although he doesn’t look overly thrilled or comfortable with the task!What Zahi Passed:
This is the false door from the newly discovered 4200 year-old tomb of Shendwa, showing his name, titles and a standard prayer.Shendwa is shown above the door lintel. False doors—solid stone but looking like a doorway—were believed to be the way the deceased’s ‘spirit’ went between the worlds of the living and the dead.he inscription to the right has a cartouche—a pill-shaped ring—with three hieroglyphs inside.Those three symbols read Nefer-ka-ra—the throne name of pharaoh Pepi II, so archaeologists deduce from this that Shendwa lived during Pepi’s reign—over 4200 years ago!More than food for thought
Royal scribe Khonsu, son of Shendwa, sits by an offering table above the false door in his tomb in Saqqara. While priests and relatives were to bring him food, should they not, the food on the offering table would magically ‘come to life’ to sustain him.
Ay - Part II have not been dead for very long. At this moment I am stretched out on a table naked, face down. I seem to be alone. My hair keeps growing. Also my fingernails, but I can’t tell about my toenails: I can’t see them.My heart was the last to give up after most of my other organs turned over to expire. Breathing had been difficult during my last week and I sense my lungs did not want to continue. Nor did my liver, weighted down by cirrhosis despite remedies of pomegranate and wormwood. My stomach, however, had still great quantities of half- digested fruits (some nuts as well) within its perimeters and was not quiescent. It is spring and I still contemplate melons and dates just waiting to be consumed. My belly knows this, I am sure. Having trained tongue and teeth to pulverize these morsels to an acceptable pulp to aid its own digestive juices, there was residual frustration in addiction to shock.But no anger could match what my intestines expressed. Foul mumblings continued long after my eyes closed forever (was this a death rattle?) . It was only later that I perceived that of all my interior organs apparently only my intestines knew intimately what would follow death: dismemberment, mummification, entombment and enlightenment.Am I getting ahead of myself? I need you to know who I am so that I can live in memory. Maybe even yours.To be continued . . .
I Am Followed By The Spirit Of Sustenace
Watercolor on paper - 2006
New Life - John is selling his house in Egypt.
He has finished with his "lives" in Egypt and will pursue other "lives" in China.
Artist's Villa for Sale - Luxor, Egypt
http://www.artistvilla.net/The villa is on the western bank of Luxor beautifully located directly across the Nile from Luxor Temple&Winter Palace Hotel ( 5 minute ride by motorboat )& 3 minute walk to the villa , and 20 min taxi ride to all the important monuments on West bank ( Villa of Kings , etc).
He plans to visit China next fall
King Tut, former Pharaoh Tutankhamun, is enjoying an extended visit of New York City, He is staying in midtown Manhattan, New York until February of 2011. But he has yet to comment on John Phillips' two books based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead, even though Zahi Hawass Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities has not only commented he has contributed an essay to one of the books.See: http://phillipsbookofthedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/hawass-praises-phillips-papyrus.html
Many of the images like this can be found in Going Forth By Day”a small compilation from a larger work titled Contemporary Book of the Dead.Order From:Going Forth By Day - AmazonBreathing 2 - Watercolor on Papyrus
From A Contemporary Book of the Dead
"As these images pile up on your retina they reinforce one another in ways that make you feel that everything has its reflection and its shadow, that one life is always doubled in another. At the same time, the medium, painting on thin pieces of papyrus, suggests the fragile wrappings of mummies, the shrouds of tombs, the survival of ancient wisdom."
Wendy Doniger Co- Author of A Contemporary Book of the Dead
Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago
My Left Eye In A Canopic Jar - Watercolor on Papyrus
The head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities [SCA] for Egypt, Dr. Hawass goes down past the false door of Shendwa to check out the burial chamber at a depth of 20 meters [65 feet] —seven stories!
This is the false door from the newly discovered 4200 year-old tomb of Shendwa, showing his name, titles and a standard prayer.
Royal scribe Khonsu, son of Shendwa, sits by an offering table above the false door in his tomb in Saqqara. 
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