Source

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts

Raymond O. Faulkner was an Egyptologist specializing in ancient Egyptian language, and this book, published by Oxford University Press, is his scholarly English translation of the Pyramid Texts, the oldest surviving corpus of ancient Egyptian religious writing, inscribed in Old Kingdom royal pyramids to secure the king's passage into the afterlife. As a primary source in careful academic translation, it is the strongest possible evidence for what these earliest Egyptian funerary texts actually say, translated directly from the hieroglyphic inscriptions by a specialist in the language. Its limit is that later Egyptological scholarship has continued to refine understanding of some difficult or damaged passages since 1969, so a specific disputed translation point benefits from checking against more recent specialist work alongside Faulkner's translation.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Raymond Faulkner's standard scholarly translation of the Pyramid Texts, the oldest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious writing, inscribed in Old Kingdom royal pyramids and covering funerary doctrine such as the ka and ba; a critical translated edition of an Old Kingdom source, not evidence for how later periods of Egyptian religion treated the same concepts, which developed over time.

Notes

Raymond Faulkner's standard scholarly translation of the Pyramid Texts, the oldest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious writing, inscribed in Old Kingdom royal pyramids and covering funerary doctrine such as the ka and ba. Use for the content of this Old Kingdom funerary text as this scholarly translation presents it; a critical translated edition of an Old Kingdom primary source, not evidence for how later periods of Egyptian religion treated the same concepts, which developed over time.

Citation

Author

Raymond O. Faulkner

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Publication Year

1969

URL

https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptianp0000rofa

Source Type

primary-text

Connections

Associated With

Ancient Egyptians

This source names Ancient Egyptians directly: "Raymond O. Faulkner was an Egyptologist specializing in ancient Egyptian language, and this book, published by Oxford University Press, is his scholarly English translation of the Pyramid Texts, the..."

Source The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid TextsRaymond O. Faulkner

Claims Backed By This Source (80 claims)

This source backs 80 claims across the atlas. As facts: 52 well-attested. As cited relationships: 13 holds. Plus 15 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.