The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife

Ancient Egyptian ideas about death and the afterlife were expressed through a remarkable body of funerary literature created and adapted over thousands of years. Erik Hornung provides a concise guide to these texts, explaining their development, purpose and place within Egyptian religious thought.

The book introduces major compositions including the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead and the elaborate underworld books of the New Kingdom. Hornung considers how these works described the journey of the deceased, the realm of the gods and the regeneration of both the dead and the sun. David Lorton’s translation makes this an accessible scholarly introduction to one of the richest textual traditions of ancient Egypt.