Book of the Dead
The ancient Egyptian collection of funerary spells guiding the dead through the afterlife. Tradition associates such texts with the god Thoth; no historical author exists in the record.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- Date not recorded
- Form
- Other works
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Religious
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
The Book of the Dead is the modern name for the New Kingdom corpus of funerary spells, copied on papyri and placed with the dead to guide them past the dangers of the underworld to judgment and vindication. Egyptian tradition associated sacred writing with Thoth, the ibis-headed god of scribes, but that is a religious framing rather than an authorship record. The spells evolved from the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts through centuries of priestly compilation. No individual author was ever recorded, and none could be: the work is a tradition, not a book by one hand.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Book of the Dead?
Nobody knows. No author for Book of the Dead has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read Book of the Dead for free?
Yes. Book of the Dead is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at Project Gutenberg.
Related works
- Still unknown
Book of the Earth
An ancient Egyptian funerary composition showing the sun's night journey through the earth god Aker. Anonymous, like all Egyptian netherworld books.
- Still unknown
Coffin Texts
The Middle Kingdom corpus of Egyptian funerary spells painted on coffins, ancestor of the Book of the Dead. Composed anonymously within priestly tradition.
- Still unknown
Key of Solomon
The most famous of the grimoires, attributed by its own tradition to King Solomon. Its actual medieval and Renaissance compilers are unknown.
- Still unknown
Litany of Re
A New Kingdom Egyptian funerary text invoking the sun god in seventy five forms. Produced by priestly tradition; the record names no author, only 'the clergy'.