The name generally given to a large collection of funerary
texts of various dates, containing magical formulas, hymns, and prayers
believed by the ancient Egyptians to guide and protect the soul (Ka) in its
journey into the region of the dead (Amenti). Egyptians believed that the
knowledge of these texts enabled the soul to ward off demons attempting to
impede its progress, and to pass the tests set by the 42 judges in the hall of
Osiris, god of the underworld. These texts also indicated that happiness in the
afterlife was dependent on the deceased's having led a virtuous life on earth.
The earliest religious (funerary) texts known were found cut in hieroglyphs on
the walls inside the pyramids of the kings of the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the
Old Kingdom; these became known as the Pyramid Texts. A famous example is found
in the pyramid of Unas (reigned about 2356-2323 BC), the last king of the 5th
Dynasty. In the first Intermediate Period and in the Middle Kingdom private
individuals had these texts painted on coffins, from which the alternate name
Coffin Texts is derived. By the 18th Dynasty the texts were inscribed on papyri
placed in the mummy case; these papyri were frequently from 15 to 30 m (50 to
100 ft) long and illustrated in color.
This vast collection of mortuary texts has survived in three
critical revisions, or recensions: the Heliopolitan Recension, edited by the
priests of the College of Anu (Heliopolis), and containing texts in use between
the 5th and the 12th Dynasties; the Theban Recension, used from the 18th to the
22nd Dynasties; and the Saite Recension, used from the 26th Dynasty, about 600
BC probably to the end of the Ptolemies, 31 bc. The title “Book of the Dead” is
misleading; the texts do not form a single connected work and do not belong to
one period. Egyptologists have usually given this title to the last two
Recensions. Translations of some sections (chapters) were made under various
titles; one celebrated English translation of the Book of the Dead was made by
Sir E. A. Wallis Budge in 1895. (Encarta Encyclopedia)
