Coffin Texts

notes

The Coffin Texts are a collection of approximately 1,185 ancient Egyptian religious spells inscribed on coffins during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BCE). They developed from the earlier Pyramid Texts, which had been restricted to royalty, and represent a democratisation of the afterlife — now non-royal Egyptians could access the same magical protections and transformative powers as pharaohs. The spells were intended to protect the deceased in the underworld, enable them to transform into various divine forms (falcon, heron, scarab, serpent), navigate the obstacles of the Duat (the realm of the dead), and achieve union with the sun god Ra on his nightly journey. The concept of the "two ways" — a water route and a land route through the underworld — appears prominently and may reflect geography of the Nile. The Coffin Texts anticipate the Book of the Dead (New Kingdom, c. 1550 BCE onwards), which standardised and papyrus-inscribed many of the same spells. Together these texts represent the most sustained ancient Egyptian theology of death and resurrection. Spell numbering follows the standard edition of Adriaan de Buck, The Egyptian Coffin Texts (7 vols., 1935–1961). Translation draws on E.A. Wallis Budge's renderings (1895) and the composite scholarly tradition; all public domain. Presented here as selected spells.

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