The Book of the Dead

audiobook (Unabridged) History of the Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Texts Collection

By Kelly Mass

cover image of The Book of the Dead
Audiobook icon Visual indication that the title is an audiobook

Sign up to save your library

With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability. Find out more about OverDrive accounts.

   Not today

Find this title in Libby, the library reading app by OverDrive.

Download Libby on the App Store Download Libby on Google Play

Search for a digital library with this title

Title found at these libraries:

Library Name Distance
Loading...

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.


The ancient Egyptian mortuary text known as the Book of the Dead had its heyday from the onset of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) until approximately 50 BCE. Crafted on papyrus, this collection of magical spells, coined as the "Book," aimed to guide the departed through the Duat, or underworld, into the realm beyond. It represented an amalgamation of texts contributed by various priests over nearly 1,000 years.

Stored within the deceased's coffin or burial chamber, the Book of the Dead marked a continuation of funerary literature, succeeding the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which were inscribed on items rather than papyrus. Some spells within the book dated back to the third millennium BCE, while others emerged during the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 7th centuries BCE). These spells, once inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, eventually found their place in the Book of the Dead.

The Book of the Dead