Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead term used to describe Egyptian funerary literature. The texts consist of charms, spells, and formulas for use by the deceased in the afterworld and contain many of the basic ideas of Egyptian religion . At first inscribed on the stone sarcophagi, the texts were later written on papyrus and placed inside the mummy case. The earliest collection, known as the Heliopolitan Recension, dates from the XVIII dynasty (1580-1350 BC). It also contains selections from the two previous collections of Egyptian religious literature—the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom (c.2000 BC) and the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (c.2600-2300 BC). The Theban Recension, a text that may be contemporary or slightly later, has a distinctive format. There are several noteworthy papyruses, valuable for their art. Among them are the Papyrus of Ani and The Book of the Dead of Hunefer. The two most celebrated English translations were made by Sir Peter le Page Renouf (1892-97) and Sir E. Wallis Budge (1895, repr. 1967).

Book of the Dead Collection of Old Egyptian texts probably dating from the 16th century bc. The papyrus texts, which exist in many different versions and incorporate mortuary texts from as early as 2350 bc, were placed in the tombs of the dead in order to help them combat the dangers of the afterlife.