An ancient Egyptian collection of magical and religious texts. Copies were often buried with the dead as a protection and comfort in the after-life.
Book of the Dead is the common name for ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day.
Versions
The earliest known versions date from the 16th century BC during the 18th Dynasty (ca.
The text was often individualized for the deceased person - so no two copies contain the same text - however, "book" versions containing similar features are generally categorized into four main divisions – the Heliopolitan version, which was edited by the priests of the college of Annu (used from the 5th to the 11th dynasty and on walls of tombs until about 200); a hieroglyphic and hieratic character version, closely related to the Theban version, which had no fixed order of chapters (used mainly in the 20th dynasty);
Spell 125
Spell 125 is probably the best-known segment of the Book of the Dead.
The deceased soul must recite the "declaration of innocence" which is addressed to Osiris and consists of the denial of a series of wrong-doings in order to assure Osiris that he has lived a decent life.
The content of some of the statements of denial (I have done no falsehood, I have not robbed, I have not killed men) has led scholars to hypothesise that Spell 125 may be the basis for the Biblical Ten Commandments.
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