Final answer:
The correct answer is c. The Book of the Dead is a collection of funerary texts serving as a guide for the afterlife in ancient Egypt, containing spells and rituals to aid and protect the deceased on their journey to the underworld.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Book of the Dead is best described as C. A guide for the afterlife. This was not a religious scripture, novel, or historical record in the conventional sense, but rather a collection of spells, charms, passwords, numbers, and magical formulas for the use of the deceased in the Egyptian underworld, which were intended to protect and guide them through the dangers of the afterlife. The Book of the Dead favored those who could afford such a costly manuscript and included prayers and illustrations depicting the deceased navigating the afterlife. The heart, considered as the seat of the soul and consciousness, played a crucial role, because it was the 'test' that individuals faced before the gods to prove their worthiness for eternal life. This concept was deeply ingrained in Egyptian religion and its funerary practices, which included mummification and burial with amulets and other items that were believed to protect and assist the deceased on their journey to the afterlife.
Egyptians also believed in various components of a person, such as the Ka and Ba, which required the preservation of the body after death. Mummification was essential because it allowed the Ka to survive along with the body, and the Ba to return to it each night after traveling during the day. Such rituals, encoded in the Book of the Dead, were an extension of the belief in life after death and the close relationship between the living and the divine.