Pyramid Texts
Also known as: Utterances of the Pyramids, Old Kingdom Pyramid Inscriptions, Texts of the Pyramids
The Pyramid Texts are the earliest large corpus of ancient Egyptian funerary spells, hymns, and rituals inscribed in Old Kingdom royal pyramids to secure the deceased king’s ascent, protection, and eternal life among the gods.
Description
Inscribed on the inner chambers of 5th–6th Dynasty royal pyramids, the Pyramid Texts comprise hundreds of ‘utterances’—short ritual formulas, hymns, and liturgical instructions. Their aims include protecting the king’s body, empowering his resurrection, and effecting his ascent to the sky as an imperishable star, united with Ra and Osiris. The corpus preserves multiple theological strands: solar ascent and celestial navigation; Osirian rebirth and victory over death; and cosmogonic affirmations linking the king to Atum’s creative power and the Ennead. Many pieces are dialogic, featuring priests, deities, and the king; others are performative invocations tied to doors, crowns, offerings, and processions. Later funerary literatures—the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead—adapt and democratize these formulas, but the Pyramid Texts retain the most archaic royal voice of Egyptian afterlife theology.
Historiography
First discovered and copied in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from the pyramids of Unas, Teti, Pepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II, the corpus was systematically edited in the 20th century (notably by Sethe and Faulkner) and retranslated with updated philology (e.g., James P. Allen). Numbering systems (PT 1–759) facilitate cross-pyramid comparison, revealing redactional variation and local theological emphases. The texts’ transmission continues into the Middle Kingdom via adapted Coffin Texts and temple inscriptions, shaping later mortuary books and Egypt’s ritual lexicon.
Date Notes
Earliest extensive attestations in the Pyramid of Unas (late 5th Dynasty); expanded and recopied in pyramids of Teti, Pepi I, Merenre, Pepi II, and queens of Pepi II in the 6th Dynasty; antecedent formulas likely predate their stone inscriptions.
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Osiris
- Ra
- Horus
- Isis
- Seth
- Geb
- Nut
- Nephthys
- Anubis
- Thoth
Myths
- Royal Resurrection and Ascension
- Union with Osiris
- Stellar Afterlife among the Imperishables
- The Cannibal Hymn
- Protection against Serpents and Chaos
Facts
- The Pyramid Texts are the earliest large Egyptian funerary corpus, carved directly into pyramid chambers.
- Scholars conventionally number the utterances PT 1–759 across multiple pyramids.
- The earliest full corpus appears in Unas’s pyramid; later kings expanded and rearranged selections.
- The texts blend solar ascent theology with Osirian rebirth and archaic cosmogonies.
- Many spells are performative rubrics keyed to architectural features like doors, niches, and sarcophagi.
- The Coffin Texts adapt and democratize Pyramid Text formulas for non-royal use in the Middle Kingdom.
- James P. Allen and R. O. Faulkner produced standard modern translations and numbering concordances.
- The ‘Cannibal Hymn’ (in Unas) depicts the king consuming gods to absorb their power—a rare mythic motif.
- Iconography implied by the texts includes the ladder to the sky, solar barks, crowns, and the djed pillar.
- The corpus preserves multiple speaker voices: officiants, deities, and the apotheosized king.