The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom and the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. In total, the spells in the Book of the Dead provide vital information regarding ancient Egyptian beliefs on death, interment, and the afterlife.
The spells served a range of purposes, such as giving the deceased mystical knowledge in the afterlife, guiding them past obstacles in the underworld, or protecting them from various hostile forces. At present, some 192 spells are known, though no single manuscript contains all of them.
The text, placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, consisted of magic spells intended to assist a deceased person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife. The original Egyptian name is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day," or "Book of Emerging Forth into the Light." According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, it was the ba (the free-ranging spirit aspect of the deceased) that went "forth by day" into the underworld and afterlife, while the ka (life force) remained in the tomb.ĭespite the word "book" in the common title, the Book of the Dead was actually printed on scrolls, as opposed to bound texts. The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE.
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