Author Description

This volume shows the hieroglyphic text and English translation of each of the first ten spells from The Egyptian Coffin Texts 1: Texts of Spells 1-75 by Adriaan De Buck, published by the Oriental Institute and Chicago University Press in 1935. In 1973, nearly 4 decades later, R. O. Faulkner published the first volume of a three volume summary translation of spells 1 to 1185. Now we have begun to take a fresh look at the coffin texts in this translation and commentary, which includes the historical background of the coffin texts as told by James Henry Breasted. The introductory material includes a history of the Egyptian calendar that suggests its beginning may date to the eleventh millennium B.C.E., and commentary on the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead and how some of the ideas from these ancient texts have been preserved in the Holy Bible.