# Funerary text > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Funerary_text > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Funerary_text.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funerary_text > Source revision: 1237049473 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Death custom in some societies}} {{Refimprove|date=August 2019}} '''Funerary texts''' or '''funerary literature''' feature in many belief systems. Its purpose is usually to provide guidance to the newly deceased or the soon-to-be-deceased about how to survive and prosper in the [afterlife](/source/afterlife). ==Antiquity== {{see also|Ancient Egyptian funerary texts}} The most famous example of funerary literature is that of the [ancient Egypt](/source/ancient_Egypt)ians, whose ''[Book of the Dead](/source/Book_of_the_Dead)'' was buried with the deceased to guide him or her through the various trials that would be encountered before being allowed into the afterlife. The ''Book of the Dead'' followed a tradition of Egyptian funerary literature that dated back as far as the 26th century BC. Similar practices were followed by followers of the cult of [Orpheus](/source/Orpheus), who lived in southern [Italy](/source/Italy) and [Crete](/source/Crete) in the 6th–1st century BC. Their dead were buried with gold plates or laminae on which were inscribed directions about the afterlife. In [Mandaeism](/source/Mandaeism), the ''[Left Ginza](/source/Left_Ginza)''{{cite book |url=https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/ |last1=Gelbert |first1=Carlos |title=Ginza Rba |year=2011 |publisher=Living Water Books |location=Sydney |isbn=9780958034630}} and parts of the ''[Qulasta](/source/Qulasta)'' serve as funerary texts.{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history|publisher=Gorgias Press|publication-place=Piscataway, N.J|year=2010|isbn=978-1-59333-621-9}} ==Medieval== [Tibetan Buddhists](/source/Tibetan_Buddhists) still make use of the ''[Bardo Thodol](/source/Bardo_Thodol)'' (also known as ""Tibetan Book of the Dead"", dating to ca. the 8th century), which describes the experiences of the mind after death. It is recited by [lama](/source/lama)s over a dying or recently deceased person, or sometimes over an effigy of the deceased. [Pure Land Buddhists](/source/Pure_Land_Buddhists) regularly recite the ''[Amitabha Sutra](/source/Amitabha_Sutra)'', which describes the Buddha [Amitabha](/source/Amitabha) and Sukhavati, the Western Pure Land, in brief detail. It is ordinarily recited at funerals or at memorial services. In late 15th-century [Europe](/source/Europe), the ''[Ars moriendi](/source/Ars_moriendi)'' ("The Art of Dying Well") became one of the most popular and widely circulated early printed books. It was published in [Germany](/source/Germany) around 1470 as a guide to how to meet Death and avoid the temptations (Impatience, Pride, Avarice, etc.) that would consign a soul to [purgatory](/source/purgatory) or, worse, to [hell](/source/hell). The ''Funeral Oration'' ([Halotti beszéd](/source/%3Ahu%3AHalotti_besz%C3%A9d)) is the oldest extant record of the [Hungarian language](/source/Hungarian_language), dating back to 1192–1195. ([http://mek.oszk.hu/01900/01955/html/index282.html], [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210154349/http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/oldhu/halotti.html]) ==Modern== {{further|Obituary|Epitaph}} ==See also== * ''[Bardo Thodol](/source/Bardo_Thodol)'' * [Orphic poems and rites](/source/Orphic_poems_and_rites) * ''[Ars moriendi](/source/Ars_moriendi)'' * ''[Left Ginza](/source/Left_Ginza)'' ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *William Caxton, The book of the craft of dying, and other early English tracts concerning death (1917) {{Death and mortality in art}} Category:Funerary texts Category:Death customs Category:Religious literature Category:Cultural aspects of death Category:Religion and death --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Funerary text](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funerary_text) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funerary_text?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.