The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day." Another translation would be "Book of emerging forth into the Light." The text consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife.