Egyptian funerary texts, such as The Book of the Dead, were
expensive items, often commissioned by people for their own funeral. Initially
reserved to the royal family only, the tradition later extends to several
members of the social elite of those times. The texts were written on papyrus,
a thick material created from the pith of the papyrus plant. Similar to the
paper that is used today, the papyrus is considered representative of the
Ancient Egypt and the Egyptians referred to it as wadj.