Retelling The Coffin Texts: Spells for the Dead of Middle Kingdom Egypt
Egyptian
Introduction
This is the Mythopouch retelling of the Coffin Texts: Spells for the Dead of Middle Kingdom Egypt. It is a modern educational reading of ancient Egyptian funerary spells about resurrection, breath, transformation, divine identity, the solar journey, the Book of Two Ways, judgement and the afterlife. It is written for readers aged 15 and up.
It is not the ancient Egyptian text and it is not a translation. The scholarly source editions sit separately on the Sources page. This retelling uses original Mythopouch wording.
What this retelling is
The Coffin Texts were never one continuous ancient book. Nearly 1,200 numbered spells survive across different coffins and other funerary objects, with no single coffin containing the whole corpus. This retelling organises major themes into a readable modern journey while keeping the ancient source material separate.
The retelling is divided into ten chapters:
1. Introduction: The Book Inside the Coffin
2. Death and Burial: The Resurrection Machine
3. The Breath of Life: The Hymns of Shu
4. Taking New Forms: Spells of Transformation
5. "I Am": The Spells of Self-Identification
6. The Journey of the Sun: Horus, Isis, and the Solar Barque
7. The Book of Two Ways: A Map of the Underworld
8. The Judgement: Standing Before Osiris
9. The Field of Reeds: The Afterlife Won
10. Epilogue: The Four Good Deeds of the Sun God
A full PDF is available for readers who want the complete retelling in one file.
How to use it with the Sources page
Use Coffin Texts (Sources) when you need Adriaan de Buck's scholarly spell numbering, the hieroglyphic source editions, or a specific reference such as CT 335 or CT 1130.
Use this page when you want the material arranged as a modern educational reading. Mythopouch entity pages can point to both: the source edition for the ancient witness and this retelling for a readable modern version.
The ancient Egyptian material is not owned by Mythopouch. The modern wording on this page is.
Summary
A 15+ Mythopouch retelling of the Coffin Texts: ten chapters following the dead from the inscribed coffin through resurrection, transformation, the Book of Two Ways, judgement and the Field of Reeds. Original Mythopouch wording, 2026.
Copyright Note
Mythopouch original educational wording. Copyright Mythopouch 2026. Ancient Egyptian funerary texts are not owned by Mythopouch. This retelling is not a translation of the Egyptian and does not reproduce later copyrighted English translations.