Abstract
Previous studies of the Pyramid Texts occurring on Middle Kingdom coffins have asserted that the texts from the pyramid of Unas had more influence on the coffins than did those found in later Old Kingdom pyramids. A study of the order of the spells and of the versions of the Pyramid Texts found on the Middle Kingdom Saqqâra coffins shows this not to be the case. The Pyramid Texts on these coffins have affinities to those occurring in the later Sixth Dynasty pyramids, particularly those of Pepi II and Neit. They are not, however, direct copies of texts in these later pyramids. The texts on any particular coffin exhibit affinities to those found in several different pyramids as well as variants which do not appear in any pyramid published to date. One possible source for the Pyramid Texts on the Saqqâra coffins is hieratic copies of the Pyramid Texts in which a mixing of the texts from the pyramids has occurred and into which new features have been introduced by subsequent copyists.
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