Introduction

This is the first of three volumes, first published in 1906, which explore the Egyptian theology of the afterlife. It contains the complete hieroglyphic text of the Book Åm-Tuat, with translations and reproductions of all the illustrations. This text, at least in the form that we have it, was produced by the priests of Åmen-Rā at Thebes, with the intention of demonstrating that their god was the overlord of all the gods, and the supreme power in the universe.

The object of all the Books of the Other World was to provide the dead with a ‘guide’ or ‘handbook,’ containing a description of the regions through which their souls would have to pass on their way to the Kingdom of Osiris, and which would supply them with the words of power and magical names necessary for an unimpeded journey from this world to the next.