In the Book of the Dead—a manuscript custom-created for ancient Egyptians who could afford one—the crucial moment comes after the owner dies, when the gods weigh his or her heart against a feather. In the millennia-old papyrus that belonged to an Egyptian named Pasherashakhet, the feather test comes with a large ink drawing showing minor and major gods, and Pasherashakhet himself. It’s one of the highlights of “The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” an exhibition that opens on November 1 at the Getty Villa. To Sara E. Cole, the exhibition’s curator, what’s most poignant in the Book of the Dead is how it reflects the undying anxieties of the living. She believes the manuscripts were linked to oral religious practices that answered the needs of daily life while reassuring those who—then and now—ask what will happen to them after they die. As for Pasherashakhet, the illustrators of his papyrus made sure that things worked out. —Peter Saenger