The Book of the Dead is the modern term for about two hundred compositions assigned numbers in modern times for reference purposes. In 1842 Richard Lepsius assigned numbers 1-165 in his edition of the papyrus of Iufankh (Egyptian Museum Turin), the longest manuscript known to him from the period at which the sequence of compositions was most regular, the Late to Ptolemaic Period. Edouard Naville and then Wallis Budge (probably from the research by Le Page Renouf) added further numbers from New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period manuscripts. Other numbers were assigned by Pleyte from Third Intermediate Period charms with single formulae and from a Roman Period manuscript, strictly speaking outside the Book of the Dead. The list below gives a quick guide to the individual numbers.
Relatively little headway has been made in studying the principles by which the ancient Egyptian artist and writer compiled the sequence for individual manuscripts. For the New Kingdom, Gunther Lapp has noted the dominant groups of formulae in his edition of the papyrus of Nu (Lapp 1997: 42-49). In his French translation of the corpus, Paul Barguet attempted to explain the more regular Late Period sequence with the following headings:
This division of the Late Period sequence into four parts with supplement is based in part on the contents, in part on the location in the sequence of the few illustrations that occupy the full height of the papyrus roll rather than the usual upper margin or small box occupying less than a quarter of the height of the papyrus roll.
Full height illustrations
These are the regular full-height illustrations, so prominent that Lepsius gave separate 'chapter numbers' to some (16, 143, 150):
Chapters in modern numerical sequence
Titles for chapters 1-165 in this list are from the Book of the Dead of Iufankh, Ptolemaic Period
1 Start of the formulae for going out by day... There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
2 Formula for going out by day and living after death
3 Another formula, same (purpose)
4 Another formula, for crossing on the overland route
5 Formula for preventing a man from having to do work in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
6 Formula for making ushabti figures do work in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
7 Formula for crossing by the sandback of Aapep. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
8 Formula for opening the west by day
9 Formula for opening the west by day, for opening the chamber (repeated as chapter 73)
10 Formula for going out justified (repeated as chapter 48)
11 Formula for going out against one's enemy in the underworld (repeated as chapter 49)
12 Formula for going in and out (repeated as chapter 120)
13 Formula for going in after going out (repeated as chapter 121)
14 Formula for removing blindness from the heart of a man
15 (Sun Hymns). There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
16 (full-height illustration for Sun Hymns)
17 Formulae for elevation and transfiguration... There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
18 (series of invocations of Thoth to justify deceased against his enemies before various groups of deities)
19 Formula for a garland of justification
20 Another formula for a garland of justification
21 Formula for giving the mouth of a man to him in the underworld There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
22 Another formula for giving the mouth of a man to him in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
23 Formula for opening the mouth of a man in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
24 Formula for fetching the words of power of a man for him in the underworld
25 For giving the memory of a man to him in the underworld
26 Formula for giving the heart of a man to him in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
27 Formula for preventing the heart of a man being taken away from him in the underworld
28 Formula for preventing the chest of a man being taken away from him in the underworld
29 Formula for preventing the heart of a man being removed from him in the underworld
Two other versions of this formula have been called 29A (known on one New Kingdom papyrus only) and 29B (formula for a heart-amulet of seheret-stone, also from New Kingdom sources)
30 Formula for preventing the heart of a man being kept away from him in the underworld
Two other versions of this formula have been called 30A and 30B, common on heart scarabs, with the title 'Formula for preventing the heart of a man from opposing him in the underworld'. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site for chapter 30A. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
31 Formula for fighting off those that come to take the words of power of a man from him in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
32 Formula for fighting off the crocodiles that come to take the words of power of a transfigured spirit from him in the underworld
There are three versions of Chapter 32 given by Allen 1974, though none has been given separate letter-suffix.
33 Formula for fighting off any serpents
34 Formula for preventing a man from being bitten in the underworld
35 Formula for preventing a man from being eaten in the underworld
36 Formula for fighting off the beetle
37 Formula for fighting off the double Meret-snake
38 Formula for living on air in the underworld
A New Kingdom version of this formula has been called Chapter 38A. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
39 Formula for fighting off Rerek in the underworld
40 Formula for fighting off the creature that swallows the ass
41 Formula for fighting off slaughter for a man in the underworld
42 Formula for fighting off all evil stakes, and the slaughter inflicted in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site for the main part of this chapter.
43 Formula for preventing the head of a man being removed from him in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
44 Formula for preventing a second death in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
45 Formula for preventing decomposing in the underworld.
46 Formula for preventing perishing in the underworld, for being alive in the underworld.
47 Formula for preventing the place of a man being taken away from him in the underworld
48 Formula for going out justified (repeated as chapter 10)
49 Formula for going out against one's enemies in the underworld (repeated as chapter 11)
50 Formula for not entering the butchering hall of the god. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
51 Formula for not going upside down in the underworld
52 Formula for not eating excrement in the underworld
53 Formula for not eating excrement or drinking urine in the underworld
54 Formula for giving air to a man in the underworld
55 Another formula
56 Another formula. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
57 Formula for breathing air and having power over water in the underworld
58 Formula for breathing air and having power over water in the underworld
59 Formula for drinking water in the underworld
60 Another formula
61 Another formula
62 Another formula
63 Formula for drinking water and not being scorched in the underworld
64 Formula for going out by day, in a single formula
There are long and short versions of chapter 64. For the start of the chapter there is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
65 Formula for going out by day and having power over one's enemies
Allen 1974, 61 gives a variant of chapter 65 from one New Kingdom manuscript
66 Formula for going out by day
67 Formula for opening the tomb
68 Formula for going out by day
69 Another formula
70 Another formula
71 Formula for going out by day, fighting off the assailant, preventing a man being seized in the underworld, giving his ba passage out of the sacred land
72 Formula for going out by day and opening the tomb chamber
73 Formula for opening the west by day, for opening the chamber (repeated as chapter 9)
74 Formula for hastening on foot and going out from the earth
75 Formula for going to Iunu to receive a place there
76 Formula for taking any form one wishes
77 Formula for taking the form of a falcon of gold. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
78 Formula for taking the form of a divine falcon
79 Formula for taking the form of an official in the tribunal
80 Formula for taking the form of a god and receiving light in the place of darkness
81 Formula for taking the form of a lotus
82 Formula for taking the form of Ptah, eating bread, drinking beer, excreting from the anus
83 Formula for taking the form of a benu-heron. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
84 Formula for taking the form of a heron. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
85 Formula for taking the form of a ba, not entering the execution place
86 Formula for taking the form of a swallow
87 Formula for taking the form of a snake. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
88 Formula for taking the form of a crocodile. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
89 Formula for joining one's ba to one's corpse in the underworld
90 Formula for granting memory always to a man
91 Formula for preventing the soul of a man being restrained in the underworld
92 Formula for opening the tomb for the ba and shade, for going out by day, and having power over legs
93 Formula for preventing a man from being ferried to the east in the underworld
94 Formula for requesting the writing-palette and water-well from Thoth
95 Formula for being beside Thoth
96 Formula for being beside Thoth and giving transfigured status in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
97 (part of 96, separated but under the same title heading; there is a page with transliteration and translation on this site)
98 Formula for fetching the ferry in the underworld
99 Formula for fetching the ferry in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
100 Formula for causing the ba of a transfigured spirit to rest, sending him down to the boat of Ra with his following (repeated as chapter 129). There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
101 Formula for protection of the boat of Ra. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
102 Formula for going down to the boat of Ra. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
103 Formula for being beside Hathor
104 Formula for sitting between the great gods
105 Formula for making the ka of a man content in the underworld. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
106 Formula for making the heart joyful in Hutkaptah
107 Formula for going in and out from the gate of the westerners
108 Formula for knowing the powers of the west
109 Formula for knowing the powers of the east
110 (The formula for the Field of Hetep: no title in the papyrus of Iufankh)
111 Formula for knowing the powers of Pe
112 Another formula for knowing the powers of Pe.There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
113 Formula for knowing the powers of Nekhen. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
114 Formula for knowing the powers of Khemenu. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
115 Formula for going out to the sky, opening the chamber, knowing the powers of Iunu
116 Formula for knowing the powers of Iunu
117 Formula for receiving the way in Rosetau
118 Formula for reaching Rosetau
119 Formula for going out from Rosetau. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
120 Formula for going in and out (repeated as chapter 12)
121 Formula for going in after goingout (repeated as chapter 13)
122 Formula for going in after going out
123 Another formula (repeated as chapter 139: the title in other sources is 'Formula for entering the Great Temple')
124 Formula for entering the tribunal of Osiris. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
125 The book of entering the broad hall of the Two Goddesses Right.
Chapter 125 has been divided into sections 125A (negative confession before Osiris), 125B (negative confession before the 42 assessor gods), 125C (declaration in the hall), 125D (the full-height illustration of the judgement). An associated composition, with more prominent role for Anubis, has also been labelled 125A, see Allen 1974, 101-102. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site for the main sections A, B and C.
126 (address to the four baboons, illustration showing them around a lake of fire: no title in the papyrus of Iufankh)
127 Book of adoration of the gods of caverns
128 Hymn to Osiris
129 Book of making a man excellent and sending him down to the boat of Ra with his following (repeated as chapter 100).
130 Book of making the ba live for eternity, sending him down to the boat of Ra to pass the circuit of the underworld, to be performed on the day of the birth of Osiris
131 Formula for sailing to the sky beside Ra. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
132 Formula for enabling a man to go out to see his house from the underworld
133 Book of making the transfigured spirit excellent in the heart of Ra , to be performed on the day of full moon
134 Hymn to Ra on the day of the full moon, travelling in the boat
135 Another formula to be said when the crecent moon is young and on the day of full moon
136 Another ritual, on the sixth day in daytime, for sailing in the boat of Ra.
Different parts of this have been called Chapters 136A and 136B. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site for part of the full chapter.
137 Formula for raising the flame. There is a longer version in New Kingdom manuscripts, for the ritual of the four torches, with performance instructions. This has been called 137A, and a short formula in the papyrus of Nebseny (Eighteenth Dynasty) has been called 137B, see Allen 1974, 113-115.
138 Formula for entering Abydos
139 Hymn to Atum (repeated as chapter 123)
140 Book of the ritual on month 2 of winter last day, at the filling of the wedjat-eye on month 2 of winter last day
141 Book for making the transfigured spirit excellent, knowing the names of the gods of south and north, the gods whoa re in the caverns, the gods leading the underworld, performed by a man for his father or his mother on the feastdays of the west - making excellence in the heart of Ra, in the heart of the gods with whom he is
142 Book for making the transfigured spirit excellent, enabling hi to proceed free in his steps, to go out by day, in any form he wishes, to know the names of Osiris in all his places where he may wish to be
143 (illustration after the litany covering chapters 141-142)
144 Knowing the names of the keepers of the seven approaches
145 Start of the gateways of the Field of Reeds of the domain of Osiris
146 Start of the gateways of the domain of Osiris in the Field of Reeds
147 Formulae for the approaches of the domain of Osiris foremost of the west and the gods who are in their caverns to whom offerings are made on earth
148 Book for making the transfigured spirit excellent on the heart of Ra, causing him to have power before Atum, magnifying him before the foremost of the west, enabling him to go out before the Ennead, on the day of full moon, the sixth day, the fifteenth day
149 (address at fourteen mounds of the underworld: no title in the papyrus of Iufankh; there is a page with transliteration and translation on this site)
150 (illustration of fifteen mounds, a variant to the depictions of the fourteen mounds of chapter 149, always found together)
151 (no title in the papyrus of Iufankh; other sources have the title 'Formula for a face of mystery' - there is a short formula, found on the mask of Tutankhamun, and an elaborate depiction of Anubis in the embalming pavilion, with passages drawn from miscellaneous sources to accompany the different features of the scene; in the Late Period version the scene is much reduced to a narrow column, though still a full height vignette; there is a page with transliteration and translation on this site)
152 Formula for building a cult-place which is in the earth
153 Formula for going out from the net
Another version has been called Chapter 153B, see Allen 1974: 153.
154 Formula for preventing the body from perishing
155 Formula for a djed-pillar of gold placed at the neck of the transfigured spirit. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
156 Formula for a tiyet-knot of khenmet-stone placed at the neck of the transfigured spirit. There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
157 Formula for a vulture of gold placed at the neck of the transfigured spirit.
158 Formula for a broad collar of gold placed at the neck of the transfigured spirit.
159 Formula for a papyrus-sceptre of neshmet-stone placed at the neck of the transfigured spirit.
160 Formula for the papyrus-sceptre which Thoth gave at his adoration
161 (no title in the papyrus of Iufankh; other sources have the title 'formula for cleaving an opening in the sky') There is a page with transliteration and translation on this site.
162 Formula for creating heat under the head of a transfigured spirit
163 Formulae added from another roll separate from the (book) Going out by day' (heading in the papyrus of Iufankh for chapters 163-165). Formula for preventing the body of a man to perish in the underworld
164 Formulae added from another roll separate from the (book) Going out by day' (heading in the papyrus of Iufankh for chapters 163-165). Another formula.
165 Formulae added from another roll separate from the (book) Going out by day' (heading in the papyrus of Iufankh for chapters 163-165). Formula for mooring, preventing its injury, strengthening the body, swallowing their flood
The following chapters, 166-190, are additions to the Lepsius sequence 1-165
Titles follow Allen 1974, 162-214: the chapters 166-174 are the compositions so numbered by Naville for the different set of chapters 'Pleyte chapters 166-174', see Allen 1974: 215-223.
166 Formula for a headrest (occurs in more than one manuscript, New Kingdom)
167 Formula for fetching a wedjat-eye (perhaps only in the Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus of Nebseny, British Museum ESA 9900)
168 (this 'Chapter of Offerings' has been numbered Chapter 168, but forms a separate composition not found on 'Going out by day' manuscripts: it presents a litany of offerings to deities of particular caverns, and the composition is found on a papyrus from the tomb of king Amenhotep II, perhaps contemporary with his reign, as well as on other manuscript sources and inscriptions from the Ramesside Period to the Ptolemaic Period)
169 Formula for setting up the embalming-bed (the short version of a litany found in the Middle Kingdom, numbered by de Buck as Coffin Texts 1-26; the short version has Coffin Texts 1, 20-25, and as 'Book of the Dead chapter 169' is found on one New Kingdom manuscript only, that of Turi, Louvre 3092)
170 Formula for installing the embalming-bed (only found on one New Kingdom manuscript only, that of Turi, Louvre 3092)
171 Formula for tying the pure cloth (only found on two Eighteenth Dynasty manuscripts)
172 Start of the formulae for glorifications performed in the underworld (only found on one Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus, that of Nebseny, now British Museum ESA 9900)
173 Hymn to Osiris (full version only found on one Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus, that of Nebseny, now British Museum ESA 9900, variant of one section found on the papyrus of the chief archivist Khay, now British Museum ESA 9953B with fragment in the Pierpont Morgan Library New York, Papyrus Amherst 17))
174 Formula for enabling the transfigured spirit to go out from the great gate in the sky (much changed version of a litany from the Old Kingdom, numbered by Kurt Sethe as Pyramid Texts 257-268, found only on one Third Intermediate Period manuscript, the papyrus of Muthetepti, now British Museum ESA 10010; note that that papyrus presents more a collection of rituals than a book of 'Going out by day')
175 Formula for not repeating death (four sources, the main source being the papyrus of a man named Ra, from Memphis, now Leiden RMO Papyrus T5)
176 Formula for not repeating death in the underworld (more than one New Kingdom source)
177 Formula for setting up the transfigured spirit and causing the ba to live in the underworld (much changed version of a litany from the Old Kingdom, numbered by Kurt Sethe as Pyramid Texts 250-256, found on one Eighteenth Dynasty and one Third Intermediate Period manuscript)
178 Formula for setting up the corpse, [opening] the eyes, strengthening the ears, establishing the head in its place (much changed version of a litany from the Old Kingdom, numbered by Kurt Sethe as Pyramid Texts 117-133 with 638, 269 and 266, found on one Eighteenth Dynasty and one Third Intermediate Period manuscript)
179 Formula for going out yesterday and returning today, reclaiming it to his limbs (more than one New Kingdom source)
180 (last part of the Litany of Ra, one of the Books of the Underworld mainly otherwise reserved in the New Kingdom for the tomb of the king in the Valley of the Kings)
181 Formula for entering the tribunal of Osiris (more than one New Kingdom source; the second part is a hymn to Osiris frequently found on Middle Kingdom stelae)
182 Book for causing Osiris to endure .. (more than one New Kingdom source)
183 Hymn to Osiris (one Nineteenth Dynasty and one Third Intermediate Period source)
184 Formula for being beside Osiris (one source only, being a fragmentary version in the New Kingdom papyrus of Wia, Czartoryski collection)
185 (a hymn to Osiris, perhaps only in one source, the Third Intermediate Period papyrus of Sutymes, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris)
Allen 1974: 203-209 adds several other Osiris hymns as 'Chapter 185A-M', on the grounds that 'Chapter 15' covers a range of sun hymns.
186 (label to full-height illustration of deceased adoring Hathor and Ipy, at the end of many Ramesside and Third Intermediate Period papyri)
187 Formula for entering before the Ennead (only in the Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus of Nu, British Museum ESA 10477)
188 For the ba to go down, for building the chambers, for going out by day (Middle Kingdom composition; later only in the Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus of Nu, British Museum ESA 10477)
189 Formula for preventing a man from walking upside down (Middle Kingdom composition; later only in the Eighteenth Dynasty papyrus of Nu, British Museum ESA 10477)
190 (title inserted in New Kingdom sequences to describe compositions of outstanding importance, such as 'Chapter 148')
More chapters?
Some other chapters occur in prt-m-hrw books, defined as manuscripts that contain principally formulae for going out by day. However, sometimes these may have been added by the compiler of a manuscript from sources that he considered separate from the formulae for going out by day. Allen 1974 adds a 'chapter 191' and '192', but these may be extraneous items added from a separate set of religious writings, the Glorifications (Barguet 1967, 276, n.1). Before adding more 'chapters' it is important to assess whether the ancient Egyptians at any period considered the additional composition a part of the corpus of 'going out by day'. Clearly, over time, compositions from other sources might be incorporated into the corpus and then be included regularly as part of a book of 'going out by day': Late Period examples include chapters 127 (address to gods of caverns), 128 (hymn to Osiris), 140 (from the ritual of 'filling the wedjat-eye' at the midway point of the year, at Iunu), and 162-165 (from Ramesside amulets). In cases of uncertainty, it may be better to omit the chapter from the numbering system, and refer to it by its title or main source, rather than create a 'new' Book of the Dead chapter.
References
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