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Book of the dead

LC control no.n 80020646
Descriptive conventionsrda
Uniform title headingBook of the dead
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Variant(s)Per-m-hru
Reu nu pert em hru
Ṡāt per em heru
Kitāb al-Mayyitūn
Livre des morts
Libro de los muertos
Libro dei morti
Totenbuch
Todtenbuch
Księga umarłych
Chapters of coming forth by day
Book of coming forth by day
Rw prt m hrw
Ru pert em heru
Book of going forth by day
Egyptian book of the dead
Livre des morts égyptien
Ägyptisches Totenbuch
Sifr al-khurūj ilá al-nahār
Kitāb al-mawtá lil-Miṣrīyīn al-qudamāʼ
See alsoPyramid texts
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Coffin texts
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Biography/History noteBook of the dead is the common name for an ancient Egyptian collection of funerary texts made up of spells or magic formulas, placed in tombs and believed to protect and aid the deceased in the hereafter. Probably compiled and re-edited during the 16th century B.C., the collection included Coffin texts dating from approximately 2000 B.C., Pyramid texts dating from approximately 2400 B.C., and other writings. Later compilations included hymns to Re, the sun god. Numerous authors, compilers, and sources contributed to the work. Scribes copied the texts on rolls of papyrus, often colourfully illustrated, and sold them to individuals for burial use. Many copies of the book have been found in Egyptian tombs, but none contains all of the approximately 200 known chapters. The collection, literally titled "The Chapters of Coming-Forth-by-Day," received its present name from Karl Richard Lepsius, German Egyptologist who published the first collection of the texts in 1842. The Papyrus of Ani is a well-known manuscript embodying this work.
Special noteAmong Egyptian religious texts three distinct groups may be correlated: The Pyramid texts, The Coffin texts, and The Book of the dead--Cf. Breasted, J.H. The Oriental Institute, 1933, chapt. VII. The uniform title Book of the dead to be used as heading for ancient Egyptian funerary texts found in excavated tombs. The heading represents the text of the Book of the dead; for the manuscript as a physical entity use the appropriate heading for the physical manuscript, e.g. Papyrus of Ani.
Found inKarenga, M. The Book of coming forth by day, c1990: p. 19 (Rw prt m hrw; Ru pert em heru)
The Egyptian Book of the dead, 1994: CIP t.p. (the Book of going forth by day, being the Papyrus of Ani)
Das Ägyptische Totenbuch, 1999.
Sifr al-khurūj ilá al-nahār, al-mashhūr bi-ism, Kitāb al-mawtá lil-Miṣrīyīn al-qudamāʼ, 2004
Il libro dei morti di Ptahmose (Papiro Busca, Milano) ed altri documenti egiziani antichi, 2008.
Associated languageegy