In Egypt middle kingdom ( 2030-1650 BC), the Coffin Texts which is like an update of the Pyramids Texts started to spread as it had a new version of the language, new spells, and illustrations for the first time. Their goal was to act as a guide book to provide all the necessary information and instruct the deceased on how to survive in the afterlife and ascend with the gods. These texts were written on the walls of the burial chamber of the pharaohs within their pyramids in an unusual hieroglyphic style. The book of the dead goes all way back to the old kingdom where it was developed from the tradition of funerary manuscripts called the pyramid texts around 2400 BCE.

The book of the dead was never fully codified and no copies of the book are exactly the same as each copy of the book is unique because it was created for each individual passed on his own life. The original title was translated to “ Book of Coming Forth by Day” or “ Book of Emerging Forth Into the Light” by the famous German Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius who published the first collection of the texts in 1842. They were in common use for 2500 years from Egypt old kingdom (2575-2150 BC) till the Greco-roman period (332 BC-642 AD). The book is simply a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts made up of spells and magical formulas located within tombs to protect and help the deceased during their journey in the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians were aware of the possibility of the existence of an afterlife and for that sole purpose, they invested a great deal of the time of imagination into creating the mysterious book of the dead.

Book of the dead with spacing pdf