The Religious Books of Ancient Egypt
The Religious Books of Ancient Egypt
These are a collection of religious texts that express the Egyptians' conception of the life of the dead in the other world. They include a group of spells that are recited at the preparation of the body for burial, at the feeding of the deceased and the presentation of offerings to him, in addition to spells for his protection from all the evils expected in the other world.
The Pyramid Texts
The oldest of these religious books are those known as the Pyramid Texts, which were recorded for the first time on the internal walls of the chambers and corridors of the pyramid of King Unas at Saqqara, and then continued to be recorded inside the pyramids of the kings of the Sixth Dynasty and their wives in South Saqqara.
The fact that these texts were recorded for the first time in the pyramid of Unas does not mean that they represent the product of the religious thought of his reign; rather they represent in reality the product of the religious thought of Egyptian man since the most ancient times, even though they were recorded for the first time in the reign of King Unas.
Beginning with the Middle Kingdom, these texts, with some development, passed to the internal surfaces of the coffins and became known as the Coffin Texts.
From the New Kingdom onwards these religious texts began to be recorded on the walls of the tombs of the kings and queens and certain individuals, and were also recorded on rolls of papyrus, and became known as the Book of the Dead, the Book of What is in the Other World, the Book of Gates, etc. The Pyramid Texts – as the oldest – are the most expressive of the authenticity of Egyptian religious thought.
It is clear that the Pyramid Texts are not characterised by homogeneity; rather they may represent contradictory ideas and visions at times, and express remote ages and originate from different places. They do not concern only the deceased king, but sometimes refer to the living king as well. They also differ in their details from one pyramid to another. For example, certain of the spells that appear in the texts of the pyramid of Unas do not appear in the pyramids of the kings of the Sixth Dynasty and their wives – a matter that expresses a development in Egyptian religious thought.
The French scholar Maspero discovered these texts (between the years 1880–1881) in the pyramids of Unas, Teti, Pepi I, Merenre and Pepi II.
The Pyramid Texts varied between dramatic and magical texts, hymns and prayers, spells, offering texts and rituals, and others.
The Pyramid Texts – which aim in the first degree at protecting the deceased from the evils that confront him in the other world – throw light on the composition of the other world and the manner in which the deceased reaches it. The influence of the different beliefs that appeared on the stage of ancient Egyptian religion is evident in them, such as the doctrine of Heliopolis, which makes the god Re the axis of this other world, which this doctrine considered to be in the sky.
It depicts how the deceased meets the Ennead and becomes sacred like them, how he ascends to the solar barque and sails in the sky where the underworld is. When he reaches the sky he changes his form into a bird such as the falcon or the kite or the goose, and makes use of the forces of nature – winds, storms and the like.
There is another conception that it lies beneath the earth and is presided over by the god Osiris, and that the deceased is transformed into Osiris.
Rituals play a large role in the Pyramid Texts, such as the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, the presentation of offerings, and the rituals of purification, censing and anointing, which makes them appear as if they were a collection of rituals connected with the burial of the deceased and with his existence in the other world. Then there are those among the researchers who regard them as a collection of spells that describe the ascent of the deceased to the sky, or assist him to be transformed into a spirit in the other world.
Although the Pyramid Texts (whose spells number nearly 800) were confined in their recording to the pyramids of the kings at the end of the Fifth Dynasty and throughout the Sixth Dynasty, they passed throughout the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom to the tombs of certain individuals, and they also intermingled with the Coffin Texts.
The recording of the Pyramid Texts continued in certain tombs of individuals of the New Kingdom, and likewise in the Late Period, where they were recorded on the walls of certain tombs and coffins.
The Coffin Texts
The number of the spells that make up this type of texts reaches 1,200 spells, recorded throughout the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom on the surfaces of the coffins from the inside and the outside, on the chests for the canopic jars, on stelae and on papyri. These texts have been found at numerous sites in Egypt, among them: Lisht, Beni Hasan, Assiut, El-Bersha, Qau el-Kebir, Sedment el-Gebel, Akhmim, Abydos, Thebes, Gebelein, Saqqara, Abu Sir, Dahshur, etc.
The aim of the Coffin Texts was to guarantee eternal life for the deceased. They were influenced by certain religious doctrines such as the doctrine of Heliopolis (Ain Shams) and the doctrine of Heracleopolis. Just as the Pyramid Texts differed at times and were homogeneous at others, so the Coffin Texts did the same thing. In the Coffin Texts the deceased assumes several forms, each form being accompanied by a text different from the others.
These texts highlight the attempts of the deceased to avoid the hard labour in the other world in the field and elsewhere; it was for the shabti statues to perform this task. Both the gods Re and Osiris played a balanced role in the beliefs of the Coffin Texts.
The Book of the Dead
This is one of the most important of the religious books that dominated religious thought in the period of Dynasties 18–21. It consists of 200 chapters, as the German scholar Lepsius stated. The chapters of the Book of the Dead were recorded on papyrus, on the walls of the tombs of the New Kingdom and Dynasty 21, on coffins, shrines, mummy bandages and certain amulets.
These texts were recorded in the simplified hieroglyphic script and in the hieratic script, and the texts were sometimes provided with scenes.
The texts of the Book of the Dead were influenced by what appears in the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts, although they showed great interest in the texts of the judgement of the deceased in the other world through the court of Osiris (especially Chapter 125, which relates to the negative confession of the sins that the deceased had committed).
The Book of the Dead aims in the first degree at helping the deceased to go forth from his tomb by day. It is known that the two centres for the preparation of the components of the Book of the Dead in the New Kingdom were Thebes and Memphis. It is also known that certain chapters of the Book of the Dead changed from one dynasty to another.
The Book of What is in the Other World (Amduat)
It is also known as the "Book of What is in the Underworld," and the books of the underworld in the New Kingdom are referred to, the oldest of them being the "Book of the Secret Chambers."
The book consists of 12 hours representing the hours of the night. The ancient Egyptian observed that the sun rises for 12 hours and sets for the same period, and that it rises from behind the eastern mountains known as "Manu," then sets behind the western mountains known as "Bakhau," then rises anew. The journey of the sun during the night lasts 12 hours until it rises again in the underworld that is full of good things and rivers. The great god crosses the river in the evening barque known as "Mesektet."
Two ranges of mountains surround the two banks of the great river, one in the east and the other in the west, and its water flows, directed from west to north for half the time, then returns and runs from north to east in the second half of the night.
It is clear that the priests of the god Amun played a large role in the preparation of this book. Although this god was depicted in the form of a man with the head of a ram, he is not mentioned explicitly as Amun, but rather as "Iuf," that is, "the body," in reference to the setting sun – that is, the one that has died and from which the spirit has departed.
Researchers believe that this book appeared from the reign of King Amenhotep I, although some have traced its first origins to the Middle Kingdom. The oldest example of this book is that recorded on the walls of the burial chamber in the tomb of Thutmose I in the Valley of the Kings – the first king to cut a tomb for himself in the Valley of the Kings. This book was recorded in full in the tombs of the kings Thutmose III, Amenhotep II and Amenhotep III, and partially in the tombs of Tutankhamun and Ay. The texts of this book were also recorded in the tombs of the kings of Dynasty 19, beginning with the reign of King Seti I until Ramesses IX, and partially in the reign of King Ramesses III. Beginning with Dynasty 21 it began to be recorded only on the walls of the tombs of individuals, as well as on coffins and papyri.
The texts of this book revolve around the "Hidden Chamber," which is the house of Osiris (or his tomb) in the other world, which his son Horus prepared for him so that it might be his eternal abode. The walls of this chamber were decorated with scenes that determine the course of the sun during the twelve hours of the underworld in an attempt by Horus to guide his father Osiris to the secrets of this world.
Each hour of the Book of What is in the Underworld is associated with a particular geographical direction: the first, second, third and fourth hours are recorded on the western wall of the Hidden Chamber; the fifth and sixth on the southern wall; the seventh and eighth on the northern wall; and the hours from the ninth to the twelfth are recorded on the eastern wall.
The course of the barque of the god Iuf differs from the geographical determination indicated: in the second and third hours the barque reaches the north opposite Abydos; in the fourth and fifth hours it reaches what corresponds to Saqqara in the underworld, etc.
Opinions have multiplied concerning the content and aim of the texts of this book. It is a description of the beings of the underworld, an orientation of the deceased through the regions of the other world, teachings special to the other life, and the participation of the deceased in the journey of the solar barque that lasts 12 hours in the underworld. The first hour represents the twilight after the rays of the sun have disappeared. The second and third hours are associated with the god Osiris as the leader of the dead who settle in the west. The third hour is considered the dwelling of the god Osiris and is known by the name "She who cuts off the spirits."
The fourth hour is the hell of the god Sokar (the god of the necropolis), and this hour is called "She of the Great Power."
The fifth hour is considered an extension of the hell of the god Sokar, whose abode exists inside the sand hill.
In the sixth hour the barque of the god Iuf sails northwards, towards "Djedu," the centre of the cult of the god Osiris in the Delta (Abu Sir Bana, centre of Basyoun, Gharbiya).
The seventh hour is that which is called "She who confronts the serpent Apophis," and it is the hiding-place of the god Osiris.
The eighth hour is known by the name "Lady of Darkness," and it is the hour in which the gods appear as if they were mummies, their bandages and coffins accompanying them. There is also a group of shrines inhabited by gods.
The ninth hour is called "The Gods who protect their Lord."
In the tenth hour the great god sails southwards, where he reaches Heliopolis (On) and enters the region of the Giza necropolis of which the god Re is considered the master, where he takes the form of the god Khepri, who will unite in this hour with the body of the god Iuf.
The eleventh hour represents hell, where there is severe torment, and where the flame burns the guilty persons.
The twelfth and last hour represents the region in the underworld where the god is born, emerges from the primordial waters "Nun," and unites with the belly of the goddess Nut, the goddess of the sky.
This hour represents the twilight before the rising of the sun, where the morning sun-god Khepri begins to appear.
The Book of Gates
One of the books of the underworld, it is almost a copy of the Book of What is in the Other World. It appeared in most of the tombs of the New Kingdom side by side with the Book of What is in the Other World, and it also appeared in a single tomb as far as individuals are concerned.
This book is distinguished from the Book of What is in the Other World by the fact that it includes the court of Osiris. At the end of each of the twelve hours there was a gate guarded by a serpent.
In the hall of the court of Osiris, where the process of the judgement of the deceased takes place, we find 42 judges, the Ennead, Horus and Thoth.
After the judgement the righteous proceed to the Fields of Iaru, while the fate of the guilty is annihilation, where the mythical creature Ammit swallows their hearts. The deceased recites before the god Osiris the negative confessions (Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead), among which are:
I have not oppressed any man.
I have not treated the animal badly.
I have not diminished the measures.
I have not held back the waters of the inundation.
I have not been niggardly in presenting the offerings to the temples.
I have not stolen.
I have not killed … etc.
The Book of Caverns
This designation was given to these texts by the French scholar Lefébure; he also called it the "Book of Hell."
The texts of this book are divided into two sections, each section containing three parts, and each part comprising three registers.
In this book the sun-god took the place of the solar barque that used to appear at the end of the scene. The damned are depicted in the lower register, while the blessed appear frequently together with the solar disk. This book contains many hymns directed by the sun-god to the inhabitants of the other world. This book concentrates on the earth-gods (Geb, Tatenen and Aker). Perhaps the most complete recording of it is that which we see in the tomb of Ramesses VI.
The Book of the Earth
This is one of the books of the underworld. Its texts and scenes treat the subject of the "rebirth of the sun." This book has a connection with the Book of Caverns. It was recorded on the walls of the tomb of Ramesses VI and other kings.
Then there are other books, such as the Book of the Two Ways, the Book of Traversing Eternity, the Book of Day and Night, the Book of the Sky, and others.
Overview of the Religious Books
| Book | Period / Dynasty | Key Features | Recording Medium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pyramid Texts | Late 5th–6th Dynasties | Oldest; ~800 spells; dramatic, magical, hymns, offering rituals | Internal walls of pyramid chambers and corridors |
| Coffin Texts | First Intermediate Period & Middle Kingdom | ~1,200 spells; influenced by Heliopolis & Heracleopolis doctrines; deceased assumes multiple forms | Coffin surfaces, canopic chests, stelae, papyri |
| Book of the Dead | 18th–21st Dynasties | ~200 chapters; judgement of deceased; negative confessions (Chapter 125); going forth by day | Papyrus, tomb walls, coffins, shrines, mummy bandages, amulets |
| Book of What is in the Other World (Amduat) | New Kingdom | 12 hours of night; solar barque journey; Hidden Chamber; god Iuf | Tomb walls, coffins, papyri |
| Book of Gates | New Kingdom | Similar to Amduat; court of Osiris; 42 judges; gates guarded by serpents | Tomb walls |
| Book of Caverns | New Kingdom | Two sections, three parts each, three registers; sun-god replaces solar barque; earth-gods | Tomb walls (e.g., Ramesses VI) |
| Book of the Earth | New Kingdom | Rebirth of the sun; connected to Book of Caverns | Tomb walls (e.g., Ramesses VI) |
Module Key Takeaways
- The Pyramid Texts are the oldest religious compositions, first recorded in the pyramid of Unas, and express Egyptian religious thought from the most ancient times.
- The Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead developed from the Pyramid Texts, shifting focus to the judgement of the deceased before the court of Osiris and the negative confessions.
- The Underworld Books (Amduat, Gates, Caverns, Earth) map the sun-god's 12-hour nocturnal journey through the other world, guiding the deceased toward rebirth.