Unas the Skywalker.
The Pyramid Texts are Egypt’s oldest surviving corpus of religious literature. Appearing c.2350 BCE, in the monument of King Unas, the texts describe the King’s journey to the afterlife.
In this series of episodes, we explore the complete Pyramid Texts of Unas. We go section by section, reading and explaining the translations. We also include some passages in ancient Egyptian, using Egyptological transliteration to get a sense of the “rhythm” and flow of the words themselves.
There are five episodes in total:
- Unas Burial Chamber – South and East Walls.
- Unas Burial Chamber – West and North Walls.
- Unas Burial Passage and Antechamber – West and South Walls, East Gable (including the ‘Cannibal Hymn’).
- Unas Antechamber – East and North Walls, Exit Corridor.
- The Pyramid Texts explained – What it all means.
Listen on 
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The pyramid of Unas at Saqqara (Photo by Chris Ward 2019).
Unas’ Burial Chamber (Photo by Chris Ward 2019).
Shadow decoration: Blocks from an earlier monument (Khufu?) showing the King hunting hippopotami in the marshes (Photo by Chris Ward 2019). See Youssef 2011 in Bibliography.
Pyramid Texts on the north wall of Unas’ Burial Chamber (Photo by Chris Ward 2019).
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Veronica Moreno
Ashley Welch
Nidden
Kyla
Evan A
Andy & Chelsea Lientz
Meicost Ettal
Jolle Kirpensteijn
TJ Kahn
Terri Jones
Eric J Holmes
Linda Yancey
Hereditary Nobles
Donald Johnston
Joel Hadary
Brian K Barnes
Joseph Stashkevetch
Misty Bastian
Grace Devery
Bethany Killian
Lucas Wilson
TV Liew
Rae Knowler
Jenny Granum
Joseph Snow
Ronald Hall
Rodney Shuff
William Tracy
Setnakht
Andrew Flaherty
Rabia Altaf
Shawn Knight
David Pepper
Inkymonkey
Karin W.
James Waters
Stephen King
Kate Potter
Peter Culicover
Katherine Lewis
Pernille Engberg
Simone
RA EGYPTIAN
Elna Nilsson
Skip Howard
Sandi & Stuart
Chrissi Ross
Nancy Bastek
- J. P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (2nd edn, 2015).
- J. P. Allen, A Grammar of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Volume I: Unis (2017).
- R. Bertrand, Las Textes de la Pyramid d’Ounas (2004).
- V. Brown, ‘English Translation of the Unas Pyramid Texts – Pyramid Texts Online’, https://pyramidtextsonline.com/translation.html.
- C. Carrier, Textes des Pyramides de l’Égypte ancienne Tome I: Textes des Pyramides d’Ounas et de Téti (2010).
- R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Translated into English (1969). Archive.org. Translation is quite dated in style and grammar.
- A. Piankoff, The Pyramid of Unas: Texts Translated with Commentary (1968). Archive.org.
- K. von Sethe, Die altägyptische Pyramidentexte, IV vols (1908). Volumes 1—4 available at Dreven Iztok.
- J. P. Allen, ‘The Cosmology of the Pyramid Texts’, in J. P. Allen et al. (eds), Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (1989), 1—28.
- W. M. Davis, ‘The Ascension-Myth in the Pyramid Texts’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 36 (1977), 161—179.
- C. Eyre, The Cannibal Hymn: A Cultural and Literary Study (2002).
- J. Hellum, ‘The Presence of Myth in the Pyramid Texts’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Toronto (2001).
- J. Hellum, ‘Toward an Understanding of the Use of Myth in the Pyramid Texts’, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 43 (2014), 123—142.
- H.-J. Klimkeit, ‘Spatial Orientation in Mythical Thinking as Exemplified in Ancient Egypt: Considerations toward a Geography of Religions’, History of Religions 14 (1975), 266—281.
- A. J. Morales, ‘The Transmission of the Pyramid Texts into the Middle Kingdom: Philological Aspects of a Continuous Tradition in Egyptian Mortuary Literature’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania (2013).
- D. Stewart, ‘The Myth of Osiris in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Monash University (2014).
- J. Van Dijk, ‘Zerbrechen der roten Töpfe’, in W. Helck and E. Otto (eds), Lexicon der Ägyptologie, VI (1986), 1389—1396.
- R. H. Wilkinson, Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture (1992).
- M. Youssef, ‘New Scenes of Hunting a Hippopotamus from the Burial Chamber of Unas’, in M. Bárta et al. (eds), Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2010 (2011), 820—823.
