The Coffin Texts and the Democratization of Religion in the Middle Kingdom

The Coffin Texts and the Democratization of Religion in the Middle Kingdom

Megan Moulos

2 December 2014

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The Old Kingdom of Egypt disintegrated at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, when the power

of the nomarchs encroached on and eventually superseded that of the pharaohs. The pharaohs

themselves had been granting these local nome leaders more and more power, which ultimately

resulted in the nomarchs asserting themselves to compete with the central administration. When

Pepy II died leaving no apparent heir to the throne, Egypt entered a period of upheaval in the

Seventh and Eighth Dynasties, now known as the First Intermediate Period.1 During this time

Egypt was no longer unified under the rule of a single king, and power was decentralized. The

Old Kingdom rulers had produced some of the most stunning tombs in the world, and although

the importance of proper burial practice and an intense interest in the afterlife remained, there

was a marked decline in both the quality of tomb decoration and contents beginning in the late

Old Kingdom and continuing down through the First Intermediate Period. As the decoration of

the tomb proper declined, there was an increase in the painting of coffins and other funerary

objects such as the canopic chest.2 The distribution of the skill of reading and writing also

changed dramatically at this time. In the Old Kingdom, the written word was used exclusively by

the royal family and their entourage, but by the beginning of the Middle kingdom writing had

spread to the leading noble families of the nomes, officials, and eventually even the lower classes

of Egyptians.3 This shift is evident in burials, where text and image were increasingly found on

non-royal coffins during the Middle Kingdom, including abundant texts which are now known as

the Coffin Texts. This paper will explore how the Coffin Texts appeared in the Middle Kingdom,

with regards to the history of writing vis-à-vis burials, and the so called democratization of

religion. It will also explore the vicissitudes of the texts and the format in which they were

1 Much of the background history is indebted to the lectures of Dr. Daniel J. Pullen, in his course on Egyptian

Archaeology, Fall 2014. 2 Taylor 1989, 8.

3 Allen 1952, 177.

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depicted and used. It is evident that the Coffin Texts were the logical successor to the royal

Pyramid Texts and an important step towards the Book of the Dead, and their use by non-royal

patrons attests to the democratization of Egyptian religious practices.

As early as the Predynastic period, there is evidence that the Egyptians had a high regard

for the dead, and a firm belief in an existence after death.4 The careful burial of deceased persons

with grave goods points to a serious consideration of the individual after death. The Egyptian

obsession with the afterlife would help to explain the Great Pyramids at Giza. It would continue

over the generations and culminate in elaborate burial practices and texts in the New Kingdom.

Mud-brick mastabas were constructed for royalty and the upper classes beginning in the Naqada

II phase and continuing through the First and Second Dynasties. Mastabas had evolved from

simple, rectangular burial pits into multi-room 'houses for the dead'.5 Instead of allowing for

natural mummification as was customary in the Predynastic period, bodies in the Old Kingdom

were intentionally preserved. The careful preparation of the corpse was important for the ba

spirit which would need to return to the corpse at night, and the ka which required constant

nourishment after death. The Egyptians developed a dehydrating agent to achieve their goal.6

Pyramids followed the introduction of mastabas in the Third Dynasty with the step pyramid

complex of Djoser, although the mastaba would continue for high officials and was the burial

choice for various royalty throughout the Middle Kingdom.

The continued existence of the deceased was of utmost importance, and although this was

not a new concept, the importance of nourishing the body and soul of the dead took on new

forms in art and architecture, not to mention an expansion of religious rites. Provisions for the

deceased's afterlife included real food offerings and painted and carved "magical provisions" to

4 David 2002, 59.

5 Grajetzki 2003, 7; David 2002, 71.

6 David 2002, 73.

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supply the deceased with eternal nourishment.7 A religious role for the coffin and tomb appeared

very early, and it became extremely important to protect the corpse of the deceased in order to

ensure his or her continued existence in the afterlife, even more than mummification alone

allowed. Thus, increasingly elaborate rituals and decorations were invented to protect the body

and the soul of the interred person. Wealthy Egyptians made very expensive provisions to ensure

their survival in the afterlife, "by building, decorating, inscribing, and furnishing their tombs, in

some cases even drawing up complex legal contracts with the priests who would look after their

cults."8 The Opening of the Mouth ceremony, for example, would render painted, carved, and

model objects magically 'real' enough for the deceased to use. There was a so-called

"democratization of the afterlife" in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom, where

non-royal people could afford (and were allowed) to indulge in once-royal funerary practices.9

Even commoners could ensure their continued existence in the hereafter if they had the necessary

wealth. The idea of humans having a ba - a spirit able to move around between worlds after

death - was expanded to include all Egyptians, not just the king.10

The ba was the soul or spirit

which could leave the body after death and travel about the worlds of the living and the dead,

while the ka was a vital force which allowed an individual to continue to survive and receive

sustenance in the afterlife. The ka needed ongoing offerings, while the ba needed to be protected

from the dangers of the afterlife.11

The tomb was, as Shaw writes:

[The] location where the living and dead could continue to interact.

Surviving death to be reborn in the afterlife was thought to be a

complicated process requiring a group effort on the part of the gods, the

7 David 2002, 72.

8 Freed et al. 2009, 39.

9 Shaw 2000, 180.

10 Shaw 2000, 181.

11 Kanawati 2001, 20.

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king (who served as an intermediary between the gods and humans),

mortuary priests, the deceased, and their survivors.12

With the continued existence of the ba and ka, there was a particular Egyptian obsession

with ensuring that the deceased had multiple modes of attaining the same goal of everlasting life

after death. Willems writes:

In order to understand the Egyptian attitude to death, it is necessary to

comprehend that the living and the dead were regarded as members of one

community, and thus the dead continued to play an important part in

influencing the daily events of the living. Provisioning a tomb was an

essential duty.13

There were many types of offerings, often all occurring in a single burial: actual offerings left by

family and priests, texts describing offerings that would magically provide sustenance, and the

pictorial representations of the offerings which would also 'become' offerings themselves through

ritual and magic. There were also depictions of the production of food and drink as well as

workers who would perpetually create nourishment for the deceased in the afterlife. There was

sometimes even a serdab sculpture, which could receive offerings as a proxy for the deceased if

the corpse were destroyed. In the First Intermediate Period, wooden models of servants, boats,

animals, houses, granaries, workshops and other production facilities were placed in tombs as

substitutes which would presumably work for the deceased in the afterlife just as they did in life.

Willems observed: "To us, such models may look almost like toys, but they were really magical

instruments, substitutes for actual people who might fail to bring offerings, and for actual

workshops which would supply the deceased with victuals."14

In the Middle Kingdom, these

wooden models, as well as the ubiquitous offering stele and elaborate false door from the Old

Kingdom, would all become parts of the painted decoration of an individual's coffin.

12

Freed et al. 2009, 39. 13

Willems 1988, 114. 14

Willems 1988, 46.

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The earliest true coffins appeared in the Pre-Dynastic period, when rectangular chests

would be fashioned of roughly hewn pieces of wood doweled together. The burial chest was

known as a hn n 'nh ('Chest of Life') or a neb ankh ('Lord of Life').15

The coffin was essentially a

container to protect the body from destruction by tomb robbers, animals, or the elements. The

integrity of the body was crucial to the Egyptians, even during prehistoric times.16

The corpse

would be placed in the coffin in a contracted position with the knees drawn up to the chest,

which made these early coffins considerably smaller than their Middle Kingdom successors.17

Many of these coffins were plain, rectangular boxes, although some had a curved or vaulted lid

which would become popular on later wooden chests and boxes.18

By the late Second or early

Third Dynasty, some of the coffins were decorated on the exterior with a painted paneled façade

which imitated the niches and projections of the walls of royal palaces and mastabas. Embalming

techniques had advanced by the beginning of the Fourth dynasty, when the evisceration of the

corpse was introduced. This allowing for better preservation of the body. Coffins were made

longer to incorporate the new practice of placing the corpse on its back with the legs extended.19

At this time, coffins also became more expensive and finely made, using woods such as cypress.

fir, juniper, pine, and even cedar imported from Lebanon (Ficus sycomorus).20

During the Old Kingdom, high-ranking officials began to have themselves buried in one

or two wooden coffins, the smaller nestled inside of a slightly larger one. Sometimes both of the

wooden coffins were covered with an enormous stone sarcophagus. Wooden coffins found at

Giza and Saqqara fell into two distinct types. The first style of coffins had vaulted lids and sides

15

Willems 1988, 47; Freed et al. 2009, 105. 16

Grallert 2007, 35. 17

See Taylor 1989, Fig. 3. 18

Taylor 1989, 13. 19

Taylor 1989, 14. 20

Taylor 1989, 15.

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painted to represent the paneled façades of palaces or the mythic "white walls of Memphis." An

example is the coffin of Seshahotep from the Fifth Dynasty. The second style coffin had a flat lid

with a painted inscription running down the center and an ornamental, horizontal band of

hieroglyphic text running around the sides containing an 'offering formula.' The coffin of Idu II

from Giza is a fine example of this type.21

There was a shift in the Middle Kingdom, and

funerary texts were moved from the carved stone walls of tombs directly onto the painted coffin.

For the first time in Egyptian history, there is a combination of texts and images painted directly

onto a single funerary object - the coffin.22

The offering formulae commonly found on the coffin

sides would ask the gods to provide the deceased with food, drink, and other necessities in the

afterlife. This was functional decoration to aid and nourish the body interred within. A frequent

type of phrase found is called the pri.t.hrw formula which reads, "an invocation offering for the

revered one [Name of Deceased]."23

Even in the early dynasties, the orientation of the corpse

was crucial. Just as the entrance to a mastaba would always be found at the southeastern end, the

head of the mummy would always be placed pointing north, and the head or body would be

turned to face the east. This pattern would remain throughout the Old and Middle Kingdoms

until the advent of anthropomorphic coffins in the late Middle Kingdom which would have the

face of the deceased facing upwards, out through the 'eyes' of the sarcophagus. The painted or

carved eyes wedjat, the eyes of the falcon god Horus, were always on the east side of the coffin

where the mummy's face would lie so that the deceased could look out towards the east where

the land of the living was located. At some point in the Old Kingdom the wedjat became one of

the most important features of the coffin decoration, and perhaps of the entire burial. The eye

21

Taylor 1989, 15. 22

Grallert 2007, 37. 23

Willems 1988, 124.

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panel always maintained its importance on coffin decor (see Figure 1 for continual depiction of

wedjat).24

In the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom, there were some common or

standard features in addition to the wedjat eyes on coffins discovered. Inscriptions were found

down the center of the lid and in a band around all four sides, normally painted in blue or green

hieroglyphs on a white or yellow background.25

This color scheme may represent hieroglyphs

written on light colored papyrus. Sometimes the painting of these hieroglyphs was exquisite,

each glyph a work of art onto itself. The text on the lid was normally an offering formula to

Anubis, while the sides had invocations and prayers to Osiris, Anubis, Isis, and Nephthys. Osiris

was the god of the underworld and an important symbol for rebirth, so his appearance on a coffin

is sensible. Anubis was an important god for the mummification and burial, and thus is also

referenced very early on in coffin decoration. Isis and Nephthys were Osiris's sisters who put his

body back together and invented mummification in the process - again it is entirely reasonable to

find these goddesses referenced in the ornamental texts of coffins. The utterances to or of Osiris

were placed on the East, and those of Anubis on the West, where one would request a good

burial in the Western Desert of which he was the patron.26

A traditional formula would read: "An

offering which the king and Anubis, Foremost of the God's Booth, who is on his mountain, who

is in w.t., Lord of the Holy Land, give: a good burial in his tomb in the necropolis in the Western

Desert for [Name of Deceased]."27

Within a few generations the sides became even more intricate, adding vertical

inscriptions in bands along the sides with added spells to Geb, Nut, Shu, Tefnut, and the Four

24

In fact, Horus eyes were present on the east side of all coffins in Willem's sample; See Willems 1988. 25

Taylor 1989, 17; Willems 1988, 119. 26

Willems 1988, 124. 27

Willems 1988, 124.

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Sons of Horus (Figure 2).28

These ornamental bands of text normally concerned the material

welfare of the deceased. They served to ensure a good burial and requested the perpetual

offerings necessary to survive in the Netherworld.29

External decoration of coffins became more

complex over time, evolving from single bands of ornamental hieroglyphic texts to multiple lines

of vertical and horizontal inscriptions, detailed paintings of deities, and the appearance of

features painted to imitate architecture (Figure 1). Sometimes there would even be a painted

cavetto cornice which was reminiscent of Egyptian architecture of small temples and shrines.30

The horizontal and vertical edges of most coffins were lined with an ornamental frame that was

gilded, had monochrome bands, or bands of colored rectangles.31

Willems attempted, quite

successfully, to create a typology of Middle Kingdom Coffins in 1988, noting this increase in

decoration over the course of the Middle Kingdom.32

The Coffin Texts would normally appear

on the interior of the inner coffin, presented in vertical bands of text written in hieratic or cursive

hieroglyphs. The interior of the coffin would be painted with the following elements, although

many coffins did not contain the entire repertoire: a false door with the Horus eyes above it,

object friezes, Coffin Texts, offering friezes, 'menus' of offerings, offering tables, and depictions

of the deceased and people bringing offerings. The layout of these various elements could occur

in varying combinations, and not every element appeared on every coffin (see Figures 3, 4 and 5

for typical layouts, and Figure 8 for an example coffin interior). When new elements were

introduced to the coffin's schema, they were added to the old repertoire, that is, no older elements

were thrown out entirely, and, as Willems explains, "[a]s time went by, this 'additive principle'

28

Taylor 1989, 17. 29

Willems 1988, 122. 30

Taylor 1989, 23. 31

Willems 1988, 120. 32

See Willems 1988.

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tended to produce increasingly intricate patterns" (Figure 1; see Figure 6 for a late Middle

Kingdom coffin that is extremely intricate and includes many of these elements).33

There were regional styles apparent in the painting of the coffins, with a northern type

found in Beni Hasan, El Bersha, and Meir, and a southern type popular at Asyut, Akhmim,

Thebes, Gebelein and El Moalla.34

In the north, coffin interiors are far more elaborately

decorated with brighter colors than those of the south. Object friezes and offering lists are quite

popular and fill most of the decorated space that is not taken up by the Coffin Texts. Conversely,

southern type coffins from Upper Egyptian artists confined the decoration mostly to the exterior,

and depict far more human figures. It is in the south that we see the earliest depiction of deities

on coffins, with the Four Sons of Horus shown as squatting figures on the short ends of coffins.35

Coffin Texts are found in both Lower and Upper Egypt, and are presented in orderly, vertical,

narrow columns in cursive hieroglyphs.36

In Asyut, Thebes, Gebelein and Aswan some coffins

have been found with astronomical texts and depictions of stars and constellations on the

underside of the lid. Often the figures of Nut, Sopdet, Orion, and Ursa Major would be carefully

arranged with accompanying text.37

It is not surprising to see Nut, the sky goddess, on the inner lid of some Middle Kingdom

coffins. Star-filled skies were already a popular decoration for the ceilings of tombs, and a fine

example can be found in the burial chamber of Unas in his pyramid at Saqqara. The coffin lid

would lie above the mummy much like Nut would lie above the earth. In the Pyramid Texts and

Coffin texts, there was a prayer that begged Nut for divine protection over the deceased: "O my

mother Nut, spread yourself over me, so that I may be placed among the imperishable stars and

33

Willems 1988, 120. 34

Taylor 1989, 21. 35

Taylor 1989, 21. 36

Taylor 1989, 21. 37

Taylor 1989, 23.

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may never die."38

Nut was the mother of Osiris, whom the deceased was identified with in death.

In fact, the Old Kingdom word for a chest or sarcophagus is mwt or 'mother', perhaps also

likening the coffin to a mother's womb, from which the deceased would be reborn in the

afterlife.39

Around the time of the reign of Sesostris I, the entire coffin became identified with

Nut, as she protects and covers the earth (Geb) much like the coffin protects the body.40

In fact,

the Sons of Horus could be found on the sides of the coffin, which would hold up and support

Nut in the painting and mythology, and sometimes Geb was even painted on the inner floor of

the coffin.

At this point it is prudent to trace the creation of the Coffin Texts, which borrow heavily

from the earlier Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts. The Pyramid Texts are the "world's oldest extent

substantial body of religious literature" and first appeared in the Fifth Dynasty in the pyramid of

Unas at Saqqara.41

Pyramid Texts were also found in the pyramids of Teti, Pepy I, Merenre,

Pepy II and three of his queens, and the Seventh Dynasty pharaoh Ibi. The Pyramid Texts were

only used in royal burials, and "provided an alternative method of attempting to secure the royal

burials and ensure the king's ascent to heaven at a time when, because of economic, political and

religious pressures, the pyramids of Dynasties 5 and 6 were reduced in size and quality."42

As

mentioned earlier, the Egyptians found it very important to offer aid, protection, and nourishment

in multiple ways to the deceased through the use of imagery, text, utterances or oral prayers, and

statuary. The Pyramid Texts were utterances or spells carved or painted as hieroglyphs arranged

in vertical columns on the walls of the underground portions of the tomb. Some of the utterances

would be found in multiple burials while others were unique to a specific pyramid. There was no

38

Taylor 1989, 11. 39

Taylor 1989, 12. 40

Willems 1988, 141. 41

David 2002, 91. 42

David 2002, 91-2.

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attempt at standardization, and contradictory statements appear often but this did not seem to be

problematic.43

It is thought that priests would read the utterances during the burial rites, and

perhaps the deceased's spirit could also read and recite the spells as necessary to ensure his own

safety.44

There was a great emphasis on solar and celestial elements as the king would achieve

immortality by ascending to the sky with Horus.45

There, the deceased king would join Re-

Harakhty on his divine barque which followed the sun, pushed across the sky by Khepri.46

An

example of this mythology can be found in Utterance 467, where the king reaches the sky by

flying like a bird or leaping like a grasshopper:

He that flies flies! He flies away from you, oh men.

He is no longer on earth, he is in the sky...

He rushes at the sky as a heron, he has kissed the sky as a hawk,

He has leapt skyward as a grasshopper.47

Utterance 267 has the same goal of ascension, but using imagery of ramps, the smoke of incense

which drifts upwards, and again, birds:

A ramp to the sky is built for him, that he can go up to the sky on it.

He goes up upon the incense.

He flies as a bird, and he settles as a beetle on an empty seat that is in the

ship of Re...48

A third mention of for the king becoming one of the 'imperishable stars' - or immortal - is found

in Utterance 245, which reads: "Make your seat in heaven, Among the stars of heaven, For you

are the Lone Star, the comrade of Hu!"49

Thus, the king was provided with a multiplicity of

images regarding flight, the air, the sky, ramps, and wings. Thus the pharaoh would have

multiple methods for achieving his goal even if a few of the methods failed. There would be

43

David 2002, 93. 44

Willems 1988, 175. 45

David 2002, 93. 46

Taylor 1989, 8. 47

David 2002, 93. 48

David 2002, 94. 49

David 2002, 91.

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multiple ways for the king to reach the sky, just as there would be multiple ways for the king to

receive nourishment. In fact, the ancient Egyptians used the word for mer for pyramids, which

means the 'Place of Ascension,' perhaps implying that even the pyramid was built in such a

manner to help the pharaoh achieve his ascension to the stars.50

Some of the Pyramid Texts would be repeated in the Coffin Texts, although there are

many Coffin Texts that were entirely novel. The Coffin Texts, just like the earlier (and

continuing) depictions of food and drink and the wooden models, are tools for survival beyond

death. It is important to point out that only a select few could afford the expense of such highly

decorated coffins, in spite of the "democratization" of religion. It is estimated that only 2.8% of

the population of Upper Egypt possessed decorated coffins during the Middle Kingdom, and

Coffin Texts would have only belonged to .68% of Upper Egyptians.51

The study of the Coffin

Texts began in earnest in 1910 when Pierre Lacau published 84 spells in Receuil de Travaux

relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archaéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes. Between 1935 and 1961,

Professor Adriaan de Buck published the enormous volumes of The Egyptian Coffin Texts, which

opened the Coffin Texts up for study by a wider public.52

It is interesting to note that de Buck

discovered that not every coffin would have every coffin text, indeed, none of the coffins found

have the full oeuvre of spells. The Coffin Texts were not strictly standardized, and it appears that

spells were chosen on an individual basis, either by the deceased or his or her family, or

according to local tradition, or even perhaps it was the preference of the priests involved in the

burial. Both the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts can be labeled "soteriology," or the study

into how to overcome mortality.53

From the positions of the texts, one can see that it was

50

David 2002, 97. 51

Freed et al. 2009, 105. 52

Faulkner 2004, preface. 53

Hays 2012, 10.

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important that the hieroglyphs and even the depictions of deities should face the head of the

deceased so that he or she may read and recognize them. The offering formulae would always

begin at the northeast corner, nearest to the face, and the lid inscription, too, would run from

head to foot (Figure 7).54

This followed the Old Kingdom tradition where hieroglyphs on false

doors and stelae would face either the deceased or an important deity, out of respect or perhaps

legibility from the perspective of the person or god represented.

There were overlapping religious traditions at play in the Coffin Texts. The first

borrowed the emphasis on the celestial afterlife from the Pyramid texts and Re's daily journey

across the sky. In the later Middle Kingdom, some non-royals were appropriating utterances

from the Pyramid Texts for inclusion in their repertoire of Coffin Texts. Coffins from the 'Tomb

of Two Brothers' - Khnum-Nakht and Nekht-Ankh - at Asyut borrows the idea of ascendance to

the divine barque in heaven, even though this was formerly a royal tradition. The lids of the

tombs record the following utterances:

Utterance, may you sit upon the pesekh seat55

of turquoise at the prow of

the barque of Re. May you purify yourself in the Cool Lake. May Anubis

fumigate the incense for you, revered one, son of a local prince, Nekht-

Ankh, offspring of Khnum-Aa.56

A-boon-which-the-King-gives57

and boon which Anubis, Lord of Sep,

gives in front of the divine booth, that he may ferry across, that he may be

interred, that he may ascend to the great god, lord in heaven, in peace.

upon the beautiful ways of the West.

Utterance. Your mother Nut has shared with you in her name of Shetpet.

She has caused you to be a god without enemies, in your name of Great

God. She protects you against all evil things, in her name of Khnumet.58

54

Taylor 1989, 16. 55

The prime seat on the god's barque for the celestial journey. 56

The mother of Khnum-Nakht and Nekht-Ankh. 57

A formula in funerary texts to confirm that all offerings presented on behalf of the deceased are granted through beneficence of the king on earth. 58

David 2002, 346.

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In both of these inscriptions, there is still an emphasis on the sky, although now in a non-royal

context. This was seen juxtaposed with a second important mythology, that of the resurrection of

Osiris, which identifies the deceased with Osiris and his cycle of death and resurrection. The

inclusion of Osiris with the pre-existing prominence of Re and Horus was not problematic and

the two religious trends occurred simultaneously, even on a single coffin. There was a

multiplicity of religious themes, just as there were a plethora of ways to nourish and protect the

dead. Coffin Texts were just one of the many levels of Egyptian protection of the deceased and

insurance for a good afterlife. The Coffin texts provided for an individual eternity for the

deceased.

The appearance and prominence of Osiris on private coffins is not surprising. The cult of

Osiris grew rapidly in popularity in the Middle Kingdom as Twelfth Dynasty pharaohs set up

elaborate offerings to the deity at Abydos.59

Stelae at Abydos during the Middle Kingdom show

that it was increasingly common for private, non-royal people to make offerings, construct

votives, and take part in the rites of Osiris.60

Osiris was very appealing to non-royals as his

worship offered individual resurrection and eternal life to all Egyptians. David writes:

The murder of Osiris showed that gods could be mortal, but he also

personified victory over evil and the conquest of death, and through his

own experiences, he could promise eternal life to his followers who had

lived blameless lives.61

Indeed, in the Middle Kingdom, any person could guarantee a good afterlife by being a moral

person and worshipping Osiris, as David notes:

The afterlife was no longer limited to royalty: an exemplary life, and

knowledge of the correct responses and actions to be taken when facing

59

Shaw 2000, 179. 60

Shaw 2000, 180. 61

David 2002, 158.

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the gods and demigods in the underworld - these qualifications made

immortality accessible even to the humblest worshipper.62

Perhaps because of the promise of personal salvation for all Egyptians, Osiris became the most

significant deity of the Middle Kingdom. The god's story of rebirth was a mirror of the constant

ebb and flow of the Nile River - one of the most crucial Egyptian themes. Osiris was not only a

symbol for resurrection and everlasting life, he was also a divine judge and ruler of the

Underworld. The belief in a Day of Judgment after death became widespread in the Middle

Kingdom, and it was believed that every person would be judged after death by a tribunal of 42

divine judges led by Osiris.63

There are multiple depictions on coffins and papyri of the tribunal

proceedings which would prepare the deceased for what would come after death.64

During the

trial the deceased would recite a 'Negative Confession' declaring that he or she had committed no

serious crimes, and the deceased could attempt to use magic and spells to try to deceive the

gods.65

The goddess Ma'at and Anubis would place the deceased's heart (which was

representative of their intellect and emotions) on a scale to see if it balanced with the feather of

Truth. The goddesses Meshkenet and Renenutet would provide testimonies about the deceased's

character, and finally Thoth would declare the individual 'true of voice' or 'vindicated.'66

There

are Coffin Texts which legitimize the deceased's claims to being divine or worthy of a good

afterlife. From the Eleventh Dynasty onwards, it was customary to add 'true of voice' after the

deceased's name in funerary inscriptions, which would allow the deceased to reunite with his or

her ba in the kingdom of Osiris.67

After a successful trial, the deceased would also be granted an

62

David 2002, 159. 63

David 2002, 158. 64

Some authors place this development in the Second Intermediate Period, while others believe it began firmly in the Middle Kingdom. 65

David 2002, 158. 66

David 2002, 158. 67

David 2002, 158.

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'Osiris title' in front of their name, which would appear painted on the coffin and was sometimes

also found on papyri.68

There were more ways for wealthy Egyptians to enjoy the afterlife, and there were Coffin

Texts which provided for ka-servants and shabtis (or ushabtis) to serve the deceased in the

hereafter. Around the Twelfth Dynasty a new tradition emerged that Osiris's underworld was

much like the most fertile parts of the Nile Valley - only these fields were eternally abundant

with flood-rich soil. These were known as 'Fields of Reeds', where there was eternal springtime,

abundant and unfailing harvests, and no suffering.69

The shabtis or figures of servants would take

the place of the deceased an perform all of the labor required by Osiris to live in his lands. The

summons to these servants took a specific shape, as this example from the coffin of Gua, the

chief physician of the governor Djehutyhotep, found at Bersha:

If this (the deceased) is called up for substitute-work of replacement-land,

for removal of a sector, for traversing riverbank lands, for turning over

new fields for the reigning king (Osiris), Here I am! you should say to and

commissioner who may come for this (the deceased) as his replacement.70

The shabti figure would then take the deceased's place in the case of this manual labor in the

afterlife. This tradition was an obvious successor to the depictions of persons making offerings

or working for the deceased which stretched back to Old Kingdom tombs.

Religion became extremely nuanced and multi-faceted during the Middle Kingdom, but

Coffin Texts would create lasting formulas for the presentation of religious ideas. One example

can be found on the coffin of Sobekaa from Thebes. Here, the Coffin Texts mix the concrete

reality of a funeral right with a mythological theme. The eight coffin bearers which would

transport the coffin to the tomb take the guise of the eight gods of the Unending, and the

68

David 2002, 159. 69

David 2002, 160. 70

Forman and Quirke 1996, 98.

Moulos 18

deceased becomes Shu, the god of air. This was in addition to the deceased being identified with

Osiris and Horus, and again one can see the multiplicity of meaning and identification.71

The

Unending was considered the antithesis to existence, and Shu, son of Atum, represents living and

being - a counter to a permanent death and nothingness of the Unending. The Coffin Text

formula is presented as the 'Formula for Going Forth by Day in the Underworld by the honored

Sobekka' known today as Coffin Text 335:

The spoken came into being.

Mine is All (Atum) in my existence, alone.

I am Ra in his first appearances.

I am the great god who came into being of himself,

who created his names, lord of the Nine Gods,

without opponent among the Gods.

Mine is yesterday; I know tomorrow.

It means Osiris.

At my word they acted at the battle-place of the gods.

The battle-place of the gods means the West.

I know the name of that great god who is (in) it.

'I am in adoration of Ra' is his name.

I am that great benu-heron which is in Iunu,

the keeper of controls of what exists.

It means Osiris. What exists means Eternity and Everlastingness.

I am Min in his processions.

I am given the double plume upon my head.

What is the Double Plume?

It means Horus who champions his father.

It means the Double Plume Crown.72

Coffin decoration and the texts themselves became increasingly standardized after the

reign of Senwosret III in the Twelfth Dynasty.73

Some of the Coffin Texts would grant the

deceased power over malignant spirits in the afterworld, or would provide important 'passwords'

to travel through Osiris's realm.74

There was an increased focus on the dangers of ascending to

71

Forman and Quirke 1996, 82. 72

Forman and Quirke 1996, 83. 73

Freed et al. 2009, 56. 74

Willems 1988, 48.

Moulos 19

the afterlife through the underworld in the Coffin Texts, which culminated in the "Guides to the

Hereafter," including the popular Book of the Two Ways. Painted 'maps' also appeared on the

coffin's lid which would guide the deceased through the perils of the underworld.75

The Book of

the Two Ways was a set of instructions for safely navigating the dangerous journey to the

afterlife. These texts were completely novel and first appeared in Middle Kingdom non-royal

burials.76

These maps would also aid the spirit in returning to its mummy each night.77

The coffin

of Gua, also referenced above, contains the only surviving Middle Kingdom guide through the

underworld (Figure 9). This is how it appears as part of the Coffin Texts, as Spell 336:

The first portal, of which it is said: vigil of fire.

It is its flame which repels from it.

Fifty cubits along its side is its fire,

and the front of its flame traverses the earth from this sky.

The gods said of it - it is charwood.

It came from the arms of Sekhmet.

It stood bound with the dispensers.

It created its body, and made the gods

a light task of plunder afterwards.

It stretches its foot to the tomb called

'That of which the horn guides him who is in the secret place'.

Open to me. Make way for me. See, I am come.

O Atum who is in the great sanctuary, O seizer of the gods.

Rescue me from that god who lives on meat-sacrifice,

dog-faced, human-skinned, keeper of the bend of the waterway of fire,

who swallows shadows, who snatches hearts,

who throws the lasso and yet is not seen.78

Perhaps one of the most interesting additions to the Coffin Texts are the appearance of "mitre

inscriptions" (known elsewhere as 'edge inscriptions', 'Dübelinschriften', and 'Fugeninschriften')

which were incised or painted on hidden seems, joins, dowels and miters of a coffin. The

75

Freed et al. 2009, 39. 76

Freed et al. 2009, 63. 77

Kanawati 2001, 24. 78

Forman and Quirke 1996, 88.

Moulos 20

verbiage of these hidden inscriptions has no forerunner in either the Pyramid Texts or the Coffin

Texts proper (i.e. those found on the inner or outer walls of the coffin).79

Clearly the Coffin Texts were a rational step from the royal Pyramid Texts, as both

religion and government became democratized in the First Intermediate Period. The Coffin

Texts, like the Pyramid texts before them, highlight the Egyptian obsession with immortality and

the protection of the eternal soul. As nomarchs rose to power and prominence, they borrowed

royal funerary practices, and, in time, lesser people would become more wealthy and borrow

from both. The Coffin Texts were not standardized in any sense until after the reign of Sesostris

III, perhaps owning to the regional nature of the coffin styles and religious practices. The Coffin

Texts chosen for a coffin were individualized and varied from coffin to coffin, which perhaps

mirrors the individualistic nature of religion during the Middle Kingdom - when one's personal

deeds and knowledge would decide their fate and guide them through the afterlife. The successor

to the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead, borrowed heavily from the Coffin Texts and the Old

Kingdom Pyramid Text. It was not truly a book, but rather a collection of selected spells that

would differ from papyrus to papyrus. Each copy would have passages and images chosen on an

individual basis for the deceased.80

In the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom, similar spells or

utterances would be written on the tomb walls or the coffin itself, but the later Book of the Dead

texts were commonly found on papyri. Much like the progression from the Pyramid Texts to the

Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead was a logical answer to the increasingly nuanced and

complex evolution of the practice of Egyptian religion.

79

Grallert 2007, 66. 80

Allen 1952, 177.

Moulos 21

Illustrations

Figure 1. Types of exterior decoration of Middle Kingdom Coffins. From Willems 1996, 2.

Moulos 22

Figure 2. Typical placement of the gods in vertical text columns

on Middle Kingdom coffins. From Willems 1988, 138.

Figure 3. The most important and typical layout patterns of the

short ends of Middle Kingdom coffins. From Willems 1988, 182.

Figure 4. Typical layout patterns for the interior back wall of

Middle Kingdom coffins. From Willems 1988, 183.

Moulos 23

Figure 5. Typical layout patterns for the interior front wall of

Middle Kingdom coffins. From Willems 1988, 184-5.

Figure 6. Front long-side panel of outer coffin of Djehutynakht,

late Eleventh Dynasty-early Twelfth Dynasty, cedar, Museum of

Fine Arts, Boston. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Moulos 24

Figure 7. Orientation of Hieroglpyhic Texts on Middle Kingdom

coffins. From Willems 1988, 119.

Figure 8. Eastern wall (interior) of the inner coffin of Gua

showing object frieze, false door, funerary meal and extracts from

the Coffin Texts. El Bersha, Eleventh or Twelfth Dynasty. From

Taylor 1989, 18.

Figure 9. A portion of the Book of the Two Ways. After Adriaan de

Buck, The Egyptian Coffin Texts, Vol. 7. Texts of Spells 787-1185,

Oriental Institute Publication 87 (Chicago, 1961), Plan I: Drawing

of Coffin BIC[AuQI].

Moulos 25

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