Book of the Heavens
A group of New Kingdom compositions charting the sun's passage across the sky and through the body of the sky goddess Nut. No author is recorded.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- Date not recorded
- Form
- Other works
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
The authorship story
The Books of the Heavens are royal funerary compositions of the late New Kingdom, including the Book of Nut, the Book of the Day, and the Book of the Night, which map the sun's course through the sky goddess's body from swallowing at dusk to rebirth at dawn. They decorate ceilings in tombs of the Ramesside period. As with the other Egyptian cosmological books, the tradition records no author. The texts were the product of temple scholarship sustained over generations.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Book of the Heavens?
Nobody knows. No author for Book of the Heavens has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read Book of the Heavens for free?
Yes. Book of the Heavens is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at the Internet Archive.
Related works
- Still unknown
Amduat
An ancient Egyptian netherworld book describing the sun god's journey through the twelve hours of night. Like all Egyptian funerary literature, it names no author.
- Still unknown
Book of Caverns
An ancient Egyptian netherworld book depicting the sun god's passage over six caverns of the underworld. No author is recorded in the tradition.
- Still unknown
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.
- 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.