Author Description

The reprinting of the third volume of the authoritative English translation of Middle Kingdom coffin texts brings the whole set back into print. Filling the gap between the 'Pyramid' texts and the New Kingdom Book of the Dead, these writings were intended to supply the deceased with the speeches he would need to achieve a secure and important position in the next world. As such they supply valuable insights into Egyptian beliefs and mortuary practices. Concise textual notes are kept to a minimum, allowing the character of the texts to be experienced as a whole, and in the last volume indexes cover divinities, localities, celestial bodies, selected Egyptian words in translation and also the parts of boats and sailing gear that figure prominently in some spells.