Ancient Egyptian Beliefs On The Afterlife And Burial Rituals

Ancient Egyptian embalming was a very sacred process performed by experienced embalmers. Ancient Egyptians used to bury the deceased underground, but because of that they decayed faster in a coffin when they aren’t exposed to the hot sand of the desert. That is how they developed the process of embalming to preserve the bodies.

Ancient Egyptians believed that if they lived a good life that they would be allowed to live in a paradise in death. When an Egyptian would die, they would be mummified. Properly burying and preserving the body was very important because they believed that the soul would not actually disconnect from the body. Organs deemed important were put in jars and buried with the body. The heart was left inside the body. Once the body was cured in preserving solutions, it was then wrapped in linen cloths. Rich individuals were buried in temples with their most prized possessions. A priest would pray to Anubis for the dead to help them on their journey.

The Egyptians believed in an afterlife similar to the Romans. This was that the afterlife was just a continuation of the life on Earth. Both civilizations believed that there was more to be found beyond death. This is why they both cared so much about the way the dead person was buried. Unlike Rome, Egypt started to mummify people so they could be preserved. Although, mummification was not the only burial ritual. Bodies were also placed in coffins, much like the Romans. It was once believed that the Romans did not care about the outcome of a person once they died. This is entirely untrue because their funerary practices and ceremonies were well thought out and showed planing for the inevitable afterlife. This was shown through the exaggerated time the family spent on the funeral and how the ceremonies displayed thoughts of

Ancient Egyptians were very religious people with various beliefs and gods. Ancient Egypt consisted of the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Not only is Ancient Egypt known for their outstanding architecture in pyramids, but also, their astonishing understanding of the human body. Mummification began around c.3500 BCE and by the Old Kingdom it had become a standard practice. Everything Egyptians did, including mummification had to do with their religious beliefs. They followed rituals to please the gods and therefore received something in exchange. Moreover, they believed that mummifying a body was preparing a person for their afterlife. The process of mummification changed depending on the person’s socioeconomic status. Ancient Egypt was a period based strongly on religion and the belief of rebirth after death that led to mummification.

In ancient Egypt much like today the more money or power or influence you had the grander your burial. people with more money had grander sarcophaguses or caskets as they are known today. There burial place was also a status symbol many not smooch today but within western culture and also other cultures rich influence family had tombs were they could lay to rest all the dependents of the family Egypt had large pyramids that served as tombs. Though our tombs were not booby trapped like the Egyptian pyramids.

The belief in the afterlife answered the enduring questions of purpose and destiny. Ancient Egyptians lived their lives preparing for the afterlife. As soon as a pharaoh came into power he began planning and constructing his tomb, so that if he died early, his journey to the afterlife would not be delayed. The ancient Egyptians' attitude towards death was influenced by their belief in immortality. They regarded death as a temporary interruption, rather than the cessation of life. To ensure the continuity of life after death, people paid homage to the gods, both during and after their life on earth. When they died, they were mummified so the soul would return to the body, giving it breath and life this is known as. The deceased organs were taken out and stored in canopic jars. There were four jars, each for the safekeeping of particular human organs: the stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver, all of which, it was believed, would be needed in the afterlife. There was no jar for the heart as the Egyptians believed it to be the seat of the soul, and so it was left inside the body. When the soul left the body at death, it was thought to appear in the Hall of Truth to stand before Osiris for judgement. The heart of the deceased was weighed on a golden scale against the white feather of Ma’at. If the heart was found to be lighter than the feather, the soul was allowed to move on to the

The ancient Egyptian’s views were very different than those of the views of the Mesopotamians who viewed the afterlife as this dark and gloomy place where no matter what your status was on earth everyone was the same in the afterlife. The Mesopotamian’s believed that the afterlife was the total opposite of life on earth; people would eat clay, drink dirt and wear garments made out of feathers. In contrast, the Egyptians viewed the afterlife as a mirror image of life on earth. Egyptians were buried with their most valuable possessions so that they would have these things in the afterlife as well. The Egyptians praised their pharaohs and believed that the pharaohs served with the gods in the afterlife. The path that they take to get there was

In Egyptian Culture, it was believed that individuals survived after death and that life did not end after their earthly death. In the past, people performed specific rituals and prayers after the deceased had moved on. These practices were to ensure that the deceased spirits moved on safely through the journey to their afterlife. The ancient beliefs of an afterlife were provided from the ancient Egyptians who viewed their lives as a never-ending, cyclic pattern. Their views of the afterlife guided not only their lives in the underworld but also their mortal lives on earth.

In this paper I will plan to discuss in detail the funerary procedures that were used in ancient Egypt. I will pay particular attention as to how the Idea of the afterlife influenced many of the traditions in ancient Egypt that we now think of today. In surveying their beliefs on the afterlife we will begin to get a better picture as to how these ideas affected almost all aspects of their ancient culture, and indeed had impacts on neighboring cultures. I will take a look at what aspects of their religious mythology lead them to these traditions and why its observation was so key to their society.

Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and that a dead person should be buried with everything they would need for their next life. Poor people were usually buried straight into the sand. But rich people and pharaohs were buried in large tombs and pyramids. In these chambers many objects were placed for the dead person to use in the next life.

Egyptians buried the dead in the ground and where there are little air and lots of heat and sand which dehydrated the bodies, resulting in the mummified body. During this process of natural decaying, the odor of this would smell and attract animals who would then eat the already decaying body. To prevent this, they created coffins, or boxes, to put the bodies in. Not only did they create coffins, but they also created tombs which they filled with items for the person to use when they reach the afterlife. However, they realized that these bodies were decaying as well. To preserve the bodies for the afterlife, the Egyptians created a process which included embalming, and wrapping the body in linens. This is known today as mummification.

The rituals pertaining to the ancient Egyptian civilization are both fascinating and the backbone for modern funeral practices today. The funerary culture of the ancient Egyptians show some of the earliest work in regards to the care of the deceased. While very little is known directly from the Egyptians themselves, Ancient Greeks, historians and the myriad of finds thanks to past and present archeology have helped shed light on the culture of embalming and death care practices.

To finish my topic of history, I explained a little about types of burials. Like I mentioned with the pyramids, the types of burials evolved over time. In Prehistoric Egypt, bodies were buried in the desert because they would naturally be preserved by dehydration. The "graves" were small oval or rectangular pits dug in the sand. Along with the deceased body, small tokens were placed with the body which the Egyptians believed would be transported with the deceased into the afterlife. These tokens could include a few jars of food and drink or anything else that the deceased family believed he or she would need in the afterlife. Overtime the size of the graves eventually increase but this depended greatly on the status and wealth of the deceased

The ancient Egyptians relied heavily on their religion. In addition to their religion, the Osiris myth was famous among the people because it implied that any deceased individual can get to the afterlife. The deceased would endure a ritual of mummification. Their organs

In the study of ancient Egypt there are numerous belief systems followed by the Egyptians that have been performed over the Pharaonic period. Due to their strong beliefs in the journey or cross over to the afterlife Egyptians carried out many cultural and religious rituals such as the mummification ceremony. The mindset and approach Egyptians feel about death is due to their belief in immortality. Death was rather thought to be a way into a new life therefore they used the method of mummification to preserve the body so that the soul would return to the body.