The Egyptian Book of the Dead

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD (Egypt, 1550-50 BCE)

A loose collection of texts with a number of magic spells to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld and into the afterlife. Written by many priests, they were placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased. Some were also inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi. Calling them "THE Book" is misleading; there was no single approved edition, but a corpus of texts from which spells were selected to suit an individual's needs. Some 192 spells are known today, with various purposes, such as imparting knowledge of the afterlife, ensuring a safe passage, or protecting the deceased from hostile forces.

• The finest known copy of the Book of the Dead was smuggled out of Egypt in 1888 and is now in the British Museum.

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (Mesopotamian, c. 2100 or 700 BCE)

The earliest epic known to literature is also a cracking good "buddy movie": Mesopotamian gods pair up arrogant King Gilgamesh with a "wild man" named Enkidu. Together they slay monsters--and offend the gods, leading to Enkidu's untimely death. This sends grieving Gil off on a search for immortality, which he finds--and loses again. In the end, he learns the importance of the best of human values.

• Gilgamesh was likely a real king who ruled a Mesopotamian city in the 3rd millennium BCE.
• His city was named "Uruk," from which we get the name of the modern country: Iraq.
• The legends began shaping up around 2100 BCE, but weren't written down until around 1400 years later.

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