The Pyramid Texts are a collection of Ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom, mostly inscriptions found in pyramids. They depict the Egyptian view of the afterlife, and the ascent into the sky of the divine Pharaoh after death. They are the oldest collection of religious spells known to us from Ancient Egypt, dating back to the 5th and 6th Dynasty, approximately 2350 B.C. We do have, however, difficulties of absolutely dating the texts. They are written in Old Egyptian, and later evolved into the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead. The texts were non-illustrated funerary inscriptions written on the walls and sarcophagus of the early Ancient Egyptian pyramids at Saqqara. Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... // Most religions have religious texts they view as sacred. ... The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization complexity and achievement – this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley (the... Inscriptions are words or letters written, engraved, painted, or otherwise traced on a surface and can appear in contexts both small and monumental. ... A pyramid is any three-dimensional structure where the upper surfaces are triangular and converge on one point. ... For the Notorious B.I.G. Album, see Life After Death. ... Divinity has a number of related uses in the field of religious belief and study. ... Italic textIf youre interested in IAMX theater see, the mystery of the river Nile Pharaoh was the ancient Egyptian name for the office of kingship. ... Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Fifth Dynasty. ... The Sixth Dynasty of Egypt is considered by many authorities as the last dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, although The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (ed. ... Old Egyptian is one diachronic part of Egyptian language and Egyptians spoke it from 2600 BC to 2000 BC (after Archaic Egyptian and before Middle Egyptian). ... The Coffin Text, which basically superseded the Pyramid Texts as magical funerary spells at the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, are principally a Middle Kingdom phenomenon, though we have found examples as early as the late Old Kingdom. ... The Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is the common name for ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day. ... Stone sarcophagus of Pharaoh Merenptah Detail of a stone sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archeological Museum showing a hunting scene Anthropoid sarcophagus discovered at Cádiz A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. ... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ... This is about the polyhedron. ... Saqqara (Arabic: سقارة) is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the worlds oldest standing step pyramid. ...

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The oldest of these text come from the Pyramid of Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty, other texts were discovered in the pyramids of the 6th Dynasty kings Pepi I, Pepi II, and Teti. There are between 714 and 759 spells, depending on how duplicate spells are counted. The main theme in the Pyramid Texts is the king's resurrection and ascension to the Afterworld. The texts were first discovered by Gaston Maspero, and translations were made by Kurth Sethe (in German), Louis Speelers (in French), Raymond O. Faulkner, and Samuel Alfred Browne Mercer. Built in the pyramid field at Saqqara, the pyramid complex of king Unas of the Fifth Dynasty is famous for incorporating several innovative features, but is most recognized for the inclusion of vertical lines of hieroglyphs on the walls of the vestibule and burial chamber. ... This article is about the Pharaoh, Unas. ... Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332 - 2283 BC) was the third king of the Sixth dynasty of Egypt. ... nomen or birth name Pepi II was a ruler of the Sixth dynasty in Egypts Old Kingdom. ... Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (June 23, 1846 - June 30, 1916), French Egyptologist, was born in Paris, his parents being of Lombard origin. ... Kurt Heinrich Sethe (1869-1934), a student of Adolf Erman, was a German Egyptologist and philologist. ... Dr Raymond Oliver Faulkner, FSA, (26 December 1894 —- 3 March 1982) was an English Egyptologist and philologist of the ancient Egyptian language. ...

Pyramid texts from Teti I's pyramid.

Another famous example of an utterance from the Pyramid Texts is the Cannibal Hymn, in which the deceased Pharaoh hunts and devours the gods. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2272 × 1704 pixel, file size: 1. ... Utterances 273-4, commonly known as the Cannibal Hymn is a verse of the Pyramid Texts. ... Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In the first scene of Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten, the phrase "Open are the double doors of the horizon" is a quotation from the Pyramid Texts. More specifically, it seems to come from Utterance 220. Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an Academy Award-nominated American composer. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ... Akhnaten is an opera based on the life and religious convictions of the pharaoh Akhenaten (a. ...

See also

• Coffin Texts
• The Book of the Dead
• Opening of the mouth ceremony

The Coffin Text, which basically superseded the Pyramid Texts as magical funerary spells at the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, are principally a Middle Kingdom phenomenon, though we have found examples as early as the late Old Kingdom. ... The Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is the common name for ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day. ... The Opening of the mouth ceremony (or ritual) was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts. ...

Reference

• Raymond O. Faulkner, "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts", ISBN 0-85668-297-7, 1969. Oxford University hardcover reprint ISBN 0-19-815437-2.
• James P. Allen, "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts", ISBN-10: 90-04-13777-7, 2005. Society of Biblical Literature

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External links

• Samuel A. B. Mercer translation of the Pyramid Texts
• Egyptian Pyramid Texts from Aldokkan
• The Complete Pyramid Texts of King Unas, Unis or Wenis.
• Pyramid Texts Online - Read the texts insitu. Hieroglyphs & translation.