The
Book of the Dead is an
ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the
New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated
rw nw prt m hrw is translated as
Book of Coming Forth by Day. Another translation would be
Book of emerging forth into the Light. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the
Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1000 years.