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This chapter discusses the iconography of the vignette of BD 32 in the tomb of Karakhamun. One of the key objectives of the South Asasif Conservation Project team is to rebuild the walls of Karakhamun's tomb. This will allow secure analysis of the place of Karakhamun's Book of the Dead (BD) versions in the history of this composition. Devoting a closer look at the vignettes seems an appropriate way to further deepen knowledge about BD in the first part of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. BD 32 occupies columns 48 to 403 of the north wall in the First Pillared Hall of Karakhamun's tomb. The chapter describes the spell and vignette of BD 32 in the tomb, along with the models of BD V31 and BD V32. It shows that models V31.6 and V32.6 became the illustration of their respective spells in the Saite recension.

The manuscript which is the topic of this chapter contains the first literary text in abnormal hieratic, a script used mainly for documentary texts in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Dynasties. As far as it is preserved and comprehensible, the plot seems to revolve around a court proceeding between two priests at the Heliopolitan temple of Atum-Re-Harakhty. The text contains oaths by the sun-god, as well as an interesting dialogue between a king called Usermaatre and the chief god of Heliopolis. The story ends with a verdict, declaring one of the priests ‘not guilty’ and his opponent the opposite. One of the main characters is the prince of Heliopolis-Athribis called Hem-na-nefi, a pseudonym for one of the several Twenty-fifth Dynasty holders of this title in the 12th and 13th Lower Egyptian nomes named Bak-en-na-nefu. The text's style and rhetoric suggest it is at least a semi-literary juridical narrative.

This chapter considers the difficulties of dating uninscribed and unprovenanced ancient Egyptian sculpture, by examining stylistic characteristics. The author explores this issue through the example of a small three-dimensional head, which he compares to an inscribed relief representation and thus dates to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. He seeks to demonstrate the importance of art history in Egyptology, making the case for it as a principle tool for study of this field.

Despite the collapse of the ceiling that destroyed much of the Second Pillared Hall of the Tomb of Karakhamun, the recovery of thousands of fragments has allowed over 90 per cent of the texts used to be identified. The Book of the Dead appears extensively in this tomb, and this chapter looks at the placement and choice of the texts and spells. It also considers peculiarities and possible alterations, their current condition, and the level artisanship used to inscribe them. The excavation of this tomb makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Book of Dead in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.

This chapter focuses on the Kushite sacred landscape and Twenty-fifth Dynasty finds at Karnak. It is based on the results of archaeological excavations undertaken by a team from the Supreme Council of Antiquities directed by the author in the western and southern parts of the Karnak temple complex. The chapter examines textual, iconographical, and archaeological sources that provide evidence of important movements of the Nile during the New Kingdom until the abandonment of the site. The excavations revealed a great embankment at least 6.5 meters high, roughly running on a north–south axis, parallel to the Nile. It was built of rough-cut blocks of sandstone and connected with two quays constructed in front of the temple. Based on the evidence, the chapter draws hypotheses as to the historical evolution of the embankments in front of the temple from the New Kingdom to the Kushito-Saite period.

This chapter examines the Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Control of the resources of Nubia, stretching from Aswan to deep into modern Sudan, had been a key Egyptian foreign policy objective since Early Dynastic times. Nubia had been under direct Egyptian rule for half a millennium by the end of the New Kingdom, and apart from a handful of royal items, no names are known of Kushite rulers until the appearance of a king named Alara early in the eighth century. Nothing is known of Alara himself, but his successor Kashta is a more rounded personality, and the immediate ancestor of what was to become the Egyptian Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Kashta was succeeded by Piye—whose reign and that of his son Taharqa is discussed in more depth in this chapter.