Egyptian Book Of The Dead

So there are a TON of translations and books on this subject. The egyptians and there concept of the after life fascinate me so much so I really want to read this book. But I have no idea what book I should read that has the correct translation and what book also does a good job explaing the meanings. Does anyone here have any suggestions ?

Login or Signup to reply to this post.

I do not have any suggestions but look into sacred text website they offer good resources as well as try multipel sources. Unless you learn the proper language it is from you will always lose the piece from the language that cannot be put into english or your dominant language.

I don't think you think the Egyptian Book of the Dead is what you think it is. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (EBoD) is a book of incantations and rituals performed by high priests and priestesses on royal, noble, or notable people after they died so they they could try and ensure passage to the after life. I think the best you can do is do what I did and look up a free PDF online. I've been plugging away at the book for the last few years and every once in awhile I'll start reading it again, constantly googling and trying to further understand some of the Egytpian words, terms, and names.

That is exactly what I am looking for. There are so many books about it by different publishers so I was wondering if there is a better one then the others.

I was going to read the one on sacred text but was scared due to how old it is. The age scares me because what if there are mistakes or new things learned since the late 1800s since it was published.

According to some friends of mine who are Egyptian reconstructionists, the best translations out there right now are:

Faulkner, R. O., The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Oxford University Press, 1969)

Faulkner, R. O., The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day (Chronicle Books, 1999) Ogden Goelet (Editor), Eva Von Dassow, James Wasserman.

Faulkner, R. O., The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, Vol. I, Spells 1-354 (Aris & Phillips, Ltd. 1973)

Faulkner, R. O., The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, Vol. II, Spells 355-787 (Aris & Phillips, Ltd. 1977)

Thank you so much lark !

I concur with the Faulkner translations being the overall best. Budge is cheap and often free, but his translations are so old and influenced by his own beliefs that you don't really get the subject matter in quite the same way.