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| Egypt Flights Home » Egyptian Mythology » Pyramid Texts |
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Pyramid Texts |
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Pyramid Texts - Overview –
The pyramid texts are a compilation of old religious texts of Ancient Egypt, which were written during the Old Kingdom. The pyramid texts were written in old Egyptian language. These were actually engraved on the sarcophagi and walls of the Saqqara pyramids in the 5th/6th Dynasties (Old Kingdom).
The Pyramid Texts were kept exclusively for the pharaoh and contained no illustration. These historical texts of Egypt have the first mention of Osiris, Egyptian god of fertility, death and life, in writing. Osiris was supposed to be the main god related to afterlife
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Spells of the pyramid texts -
The “utterances” or spells of the pyramid texts are focused mostly on safeguarding the remains of the pharaohs, revival of his dead body and offering assistance to him in rising to the heavens. These gave importance to afterlife in the Old Kingdom. The spells outline all possible ways for the pharaohs to travel like the use of ladders, stairs, ramps and by flying. The spells could be useful in calling the gods for help and even pressuring them if they did not act in accordance with the pharaohs.
Versions of the pyramid texts -
In 1881, Gaston Maspero, a renowned French Egyptologist, explored pyramid texts for the first time. Kurth Sethe translated the pyramid texts in German whereas these texts were translated in French by Louis Speelers.
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Translations of these texts in other languages were made by Samuel Alfred Browne Mercer and Raymond O. Faulkner.
The first version of the pyramid texts contains 228 “spells” and belongs to the pyramid of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh – Unas. He was the last pharaoh, who belonged to the 5th Dynasty. The pyramids of Pepi I and Pepi II also have been known to contain other old Egyptian pyramid texts. These texts had also been explored in the pyramids of Teti and three queens of Pepi II. The first translation of pyramid texts by Kurt Sethe comprised 714 separate spells. After this first version other spells were also explored. The total number of spells discovered was 759. All the spells that have been discovered in contained in a single collection.
Pyramid texts in popular culture -
Akhnaten, an opera by Philip Glass present a phrase from the pyramid texts in its first scene, probably from “Utterance 220”. The popular death metal band of the United States created “Unas Slayer of the Gods”, a song that had mentions of the spells of the pyramid texts like the Cannibal Hymn.
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