The literature that makes up the ancient Egyptian funerary texts is a collection of religious documents that were used in
ancient Egypt, usually to help the spirit of the concerned person to be preserved in the
afterlife
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
.
They evolved over time, beginning with the
Pyramid Texts
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...
in the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700โ2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
through the
Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial ...
of the
Middle Kingdom and into several books, most famously the
Book of the Dead
The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ป๐
๐๐๐
ฑ๐ณ๐ค, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
, in the
New Kingdom
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
and later times.
Old Kingdom
The funerary texts of the
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700โ2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
were initially reserved for the king only. Towards the end of the period, the texts appeared in the tombs of royal wives.
Middle Kingdom
These are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the
First Intermediate Period
The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181โ2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious ...
. Nearly half of the spells in the Coffin Texts derive from those in the Pyramid Texts.
New Kingdom
*
Book of the Dead
The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ป๐
๐๐๐
ฑ๐ณ๐ค, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
*
Amduat
The Amduat ( egy, jmj dw๊ฃt, literally "That Which Is In the Afterworld", also translated as "Text of the Hidden Chamber Which is in the Underworld" and "Book of What is in the Underworld"; ar, ูุชุงุจ ุงูุขุฎุฑุฉ, Kitab al-Akhira) is an imp ...
*
Spell of the Twelve Caves
The Spell of the Twelve Caves (also called the Wandering of the Soul; ar, ุชุนููุฐุฉ ุงููููู ุงูุงุซูู ุนุดุฑ, Taewidhat al-Kuhuf al-Iathnay Eashar) is an ancient Egyptian funerary text from the New Kingdom. The earliest known copy is o ...
*
The Book of Gates
The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night ...
*
Book of the Netherworld
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334โ1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers a ...
*
Book of Caverns
The Book of Caverns is an important ancient Egyptian netherworld book of the New Kingdom.Hornung (1999) p.83 Like all other netherworld books, it is also attested on the inside of kingsโ tombs for the benefit of the deceased. It describes the ...
*
Book of the Earth
The Book of the Earth is an Ancient Egyptian funerary text that has been called many names such as The Creation of the Sun Disk and the Book of Aker. The Book primarily appears on the tombs of Merneptah, Twosret, Ramesses III, Ramesses VI, and Ra ...
*
Litany of Re
The Litany of Re (or more fully "''Book of Praying to Re in the West, Praying to the United One in the West''") is an important ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom.Hornung (1999) p.136 Like many funerary texts, it was written on the ...
Late New Kingdom
*Books of the Sky
After the
Amarna Period
The Amarna Period was an era of History of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the ...
, a new set of funerary texts began to be used.
[Hornung 1999, p.113] These centre on representations of
Nut (goddess)
Nut ( egy, Nwt, cop, โฒโฒ), also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over ...
, the sky goddess. They represent the nighttime journey of the sun into and through her body, with her giving birth to the rejuvenated sun in the morning. From the
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, ฯฯฮผฮฒฮฟฯ ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...
of
Ramesses IV
Heqamaatre Setepenamun Ramesses IV (also written Ramses or Rameses) was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. He was the second son of Ramesses III and became crown prince when his elder brother Amenherk ...
onwards two of these ''Books of the Sky'' were usually placed next to each other on the ceiling of royal tombs.
*
Book of Nut
The ''Book of Nut'' (original title: ''The Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars'') is a collection of ancient Egyptian astronomical texts, also covering various mythological subjects. These texts focus on the cycles of the stars of the decan ...
*
Book of the Day
*
Book of the Night
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many page (paper), pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bookbinding, bound together and protected by a book cover, cover. Th ...
*
Book of the Heavenly Cow
The ''Book of the Heavenly Cow'' ( ar, ูุชุงุจ ุงูุจูุฑุฉ ุงูุณู
ุงููุฉ '), or the ''Book of the Cow of Heaven'', is an Ancient Egyptian text thought to have originated during the Amarna Period and, in part, describes the reasons for th ...
Late Period
*
Books of Breathing
The Books of Breathing ( ar, ูุชุงุจ ุงูุชููุณ, Kitab al-Tanafus) are several late ancient Egyptian funerary texts, intended to enable deceased people to continue to exist in the afterlife. The earliest known copy dates to about 350 BC.Hornung ...
Ptolemaic
*
Book of Traversing Eternity The Book of Traversing Eternity is an ancient Egyptian funerary text used primarily in the Roman period of Egyptian history (30 BC โ AD 390). The earliest known copies date to the preceding Ptolemaic Period (332โ30 BC), making it most likely ...
References
Further reading
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*{{cite book , last=Smith , first=Mark , title=Following Osiris: Perspectives on the Osirian Afterlife from Four Millennia , year=2017 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-958222-8
ko:์ฌํ์ธ๊ณ์ ์