The Book of the Dead is a collection of Egyptian funerary literature. The collection consists of spells, charms and magical formulas that were placed in tombs and were believed to protect and aid the departed in the afterlife, and it contains many basic ideas of the Egyptian religion. The texts were first inscribed in the stone of the sarcophagi, and were later written on papyrus and placed in the mummy case.
The Book of the Dead also contains two important collections of previous Egyptian religious literature, the Coffin Texts from the Middle Kingdom dating from about 2000 BCE and the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, dating back to about 2600-2300 BCE. Many authors, sources and compilers contributed to the creation of this work of Egyptian literature. Scribes copied the texts in rolls of papyrus and sold them to people to use burials. There have been found many copies of the book in numerous Egyptian tombs, but none include all of the estimated 200 known chapters. Several of these copies are very valuable due to their impressive artwork. Some of the most remarkable ones are the Papyrus of Ani and The Book of the Dead Hunefer.
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Grace Acosta