House of Life

Inscriptional and textual evidence indicates that there were several ancient Egyptian institutions associated with storing documentation. Among them were the ‘House of Life’ (pr anx), ‘House of Books’ (pr mDAt), and ‘Hall of Written Documentation’ (xA n sSw) – the latter serving as an archive for official state-related documents. The remains of what may have been the House of Life attached to the Ramesseum temple. Image: Kerry Webb The role of the House of Life One of the more intriguing of these foundations was the House of Life, a structure often alluded to in Egyptian texts, but a designation that remains difficult to define. Little is known about the House of Lifeâ