The Egyptian Book of the Dead is unquestionably one of the most influential books in all of history. Embodying a ritual to be performed for the dead, with detailed instructions for the behaviors of the disembodied spirit in the Land of the Gods, it served as the most important repository of religious authority for some 3,000 years. Chapters were carved on the pyramids of the ancient fifth dynasty, texts were written in papyrus, and selections were painted on mummy cases well into the Christian Era.