The earliest Egyptian funerary texts comprised some 759 spells according to the translation by R.O. Faulkner. These utterances were written in columns on the walls of the corridors and burial chambers of nine pyramids of the late Old Kingdom (2375-2181 BCE) and First Intermediate Period (2181-2055 BCE). The modern translators usually number these utterances in a sequence relating to their usual position in the pyramid, progressing from the burial chamber outwards, though it has been suggested that the opposite order from the entrance to the burial chamber may be more logical. It has been argued, for example, that the texts make up a ritualistic description of the funereal progress of the king’s dead body from its arrival in the valley temple to its placement in the burial chamber.

The earliest surviving Pyramid Texts are inscribed in the 5th Dynasty pyramid of King Unas (2375-2345 BCE) at Saqqara, but there are texts in the pyramid of Pepi I, and in the tombs of four more kings including Pepi II, (all buried at Saqqara between the 6th and 8th Dynasties), as well as in the three pyramids of Pepi II’s queens.

In modern translation, the texts are very beautiful and frequently, even in their more incomprehensible (to the modern mind at least) passages, they are more truly suggestive of the central mysteries of the ancient faith. All the texts were composed in a landscape filled with the imagery of the Nile Valley, its landscapes, flora and fauna. They tell of customs which were an integral part of the religion, which today are left to us only as artifacts.

The king might transform into incense smoke, a cloud of dust, flying like a bird, walking up a ladder, or jumping like a grasshopper, and in these guises he would meet the gods. The Texts also describe the king taking on the identity of various animals, such as the crocodile emerging from the flood or a bull, that had the special attributes of virility and power, essential for self-regeneration.

The constant references to the sun-god suggests that these texts were probably composed by the priests of Heliopolis. There are magical spells aiming to prevent harm to the deceased and perhaps recount ideas stemming from Predynastic times-for example, Utterances 273-4, called the “Cannibal Hymn,” which appear only in the pyramids of Unas and Teti.

The Opening of the Mouth ceremony is also first recorded in these ritual texts along with the early offering ritual. These and other rituals were probably performed at the royal funeral, with the deceased addressed as Wesir (Osiris). Another category of spell apparently was intended to be uttered by the tomb owner personally.