Dead
BOOK OF THE, the great funerary work of the ancient Egyptians, who themselves entitled it "Per-em-Hru," "to go forth from (or by) day." It is a collection of prayers and exorcisms composed at various periods for the benefit of the Pilgrim-soul in his journey through Amenti (the Egyptian Hades); and it was in order to provide him with a safe conduct through the perils of that terrible valley that copies of the work, DEAD-NETTLE or portions of it, were buried with the mummy in his tomb. Such copies constitute fully one-half of the thousands of extant papyri. A pure text has been published by Edouard Naville in "The Egyptian Deadbook of the 18th and 20th Dynasties" (Berlin, 1886). Dr. Birch's English translation ("Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. v. 1867), is based on Lepsius' imperfect Turin text (1842).