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Egyptian Book of the Dead

majorattestedc. 1550 BCEEgyptian religion

Funerary texts guiding the soul through the afterlife.

Influence86

Antiquity98

Wisdom74

Mystery73

✦Signature powerThe WordIts verses bind, guide, and outlive the hands that wrote them.

Read the story

Illustrated chapters where Egyptian Book of the Dead appears. Start reading in a click.

Illustrated storyThe Death of OsirisThe good king is tricked into a coffin measured to his own body, sealed in at a banquet by his brother Set, and carved into fourteen pieces scattered the length of the Nile. Isis, the great enchantress, finds thirteen of them and rebuilds her husband with words of power. He does not come back to life; he becomes the reason there is life after it, first mummy, judge of the dead, father of his own avenger.Begin reading →