Question

What was the purpose of the book of the dead

Answer 1

The purpose of the Pyramid Texts was to help the dead King take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him with his divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described in the Book of the Dead.

Answer 2

The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian text that was used from approximately 1550 BCE to around 50 BCE. The text of this "book" was a series of magic spells, and its purpose was to assist a person's journey through the underworld (Duat) and into the afterlife. Therefore, the texts were an important part of the funerary tradition in Ancient Egypt. However, there is no single "canonical" book, as each text is very different from all others.