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The Egyptian Book of the Dead contains the oldestknown religious writings in the world. As it comes tous it is mainly Osirian, but the Osirian group of godswas the latest of all the divine dynasties, althoughthese, as shown at Abydos (by Prof. Flinders Petrie),will account for some ten thousand years of time inEgypt. The antiquity of the collection is not to bejudged by the age of the coffins in which the papyrusrolls were found. Amongst other criteria of length intime the absence of Amen, Maut, and Khunsusupplies a gauge. The presence and importance ofTum affords another, whilst the persistence of Aptand her son Sebek-Horus tells a tale of timesincalculably remote.