The Pyramid of Unas (Egyptian Religious Texts and Representations, Volume 5) de PIANKOFF, Alexandre (Texts translated with commentary by) - 1969

Princeton University Press, 1969. Second Printing. Large quarto. Title page in red and black. xiv + 118 pp. + 70 full-page b/w plates and additional illustrations including one fold-out diagram. Some edge and corner wear, dust jacket is price clipped with some mild wear. A very good copy in like dust jacket. This is the scarcest volume of this series. The earliest version of religious texts of ancient Egypt, which are today generally known as the Pyramid Texts, appeared first on the walls of the burial chambers of King Unas, in his pyramid at Sakkara, near Cairo. These potent spells were inscribed in order to assist the king's passage from his earthly body into the world of the beyond, and they imply the recognition of his human qualities that must undergo divine transformation after death. As the first of the pyramids to bear inscriptions in its interior, it is one of the oldest literary documents not only of Egypt but of mankind itself. The inscriptions of Unas are a relatively late discovery, since the pyramid was opened by the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero as recently as 1881. The volume contains Piankoff's annotated translation, his introduction, and a complete photographic record of the texts.