The Book of the Dead, also called "Mortum Libris," is an ancient set of sacred Shorafi scrolls regarding funerary rites and entrance into the afterlife.
The Book of the Dead is the common name for a master set of ancient Shorafi funerary texts. The name "Book of the Dead" is actually an the invention by later-day sages to describe these scrolls and their instructions regarding Shorafi death rituals.
Religion guided every aspect of Shorafi life. The people of Shorafa had many gods and goddesses each representing characteristics of a specific earthly force, combined with a heavenly power. Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal.
The Shorafi considered animals such as the bull, the cat, and the crocodile to be holy. Their two chief gods were Amun-Ra; the Sun-God and the lord of the universe, and Osiris; the god of the underworld and the afterlife.
The, so-called, "Book of the Dead" contains all major Shorafi traditions, rituals, and beliefs regarding mortal death. Because their religion stressed the afterlife, the Shorafi devoted much time and energy into preparing for their journey to the "next world."
Important passages from the original texts were initially carved on the exterior of a deceased person's sarcophagus, but others were written on papyrus scrolls and buried inside the sarcophagus with the deceased, presumably so that it would be both portable and close at hand.
Other texts often accompanied the primary texts including the hypocephalus (meaning 'under the head') which was a primer version of the full text.
The Books of the Dead constituted a collection of powerful spells, charms, passwords, numbers, and magical formulas for the use of the deceased in the afterlife. This described many of the basic tenets of Shorafi mythology.
The spells were intended to guide the dead through the various trials that they would encounter before reaching the underworld. Knowledge of the appropriate spells was considered essential to achieving happiness after death.
Spells or enchantments varied in distinctive ways between the texts of differing "mummies" or sarcophagi, depending on the prominence and other class factors of the deceased.
The scrolls contained within the Book of the Dead were usually illustrated with pictures showing the tests to which the deceased would be subjected.
