Coffin Texts

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The Coffin Texts, which basically superseded the Pyramid Texts as magical funerary spells at the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, are principally a Middle Kingdom phenomenon, though we have found examples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. In effect, they democratized the afterlife, eliminating the royal exclusivity of the Pyramid Text.

Mostly, as the modern name of this collection of spells implies, the text was found on Middle Kingdom coffins of officials and their subordinates. However, we may also find the spells inscribed on tomb walls, stelae, canopic chests, papyri and even mummy masks.

Coffin Texts were used on coffins of both, royalty and common people who could afford them. The texts were inscribed on the actual coffin, usually painted in columns of cursive hieroglyphs inside the deceased's coffin. There are over a thousand spells, and many of these texts were derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts. The Coffin Texts were intended to provide a guarantee of survival in the afterworld, and included such titles as "Spell for not dying a second death". Many of these Coffin Texts would eventually evolve into the New Kingdom Book of the Dead.

Coffin Texts

Further Reading