TheBooks of Breathing (Arabic:كتاب التنفسKitāb al-Tanafus) are severalancient Egyptian funerary texts, intended to enable deceased people to continue existing in theafterlife. The earliest known copy dates to circa 350 BC.[1] Other copies come from thePtolemaic Kingdom andRoman Egypt, as late as the 2nd century AD.[2] It is a simplified form of theBook of the Dead.
They were originally named "The Letter for Breathing WhichIsis Made for Her BrotherOsiris, The First Letter for Breathing" and "The Second Letter for Breathing" and have appeared in many varying copies, often leading scholars to confuse them with each other.[3] Their titles use the word "breathing" as a metaphorical term for all of the aspects of life that the deceased hoped to experience again in the afterlife. The texts exhort variousEgyptian gods to accept the deceased into their company.[4]
Some of the papyri that the American religious leaderJoseph Smith (1805–1844) used to create theBook of Abraham are parts of the Books of Breathing.[5]
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