Essay about Death in Ancient Egyptian Culture

They believed that the gods punished them with floods and or famine. Their pessimistic outlook on life made them have bad premonitions towards their afterlife. They believed that at death that they were going to descend forever into a dark underworld, a huge cave filled with nothing but dust and silence. They tried to enjoy life as much as they could but did not look forward to the afterlife. Death was not the paradise that the Egyptians believed in. It was considered eternal hell. (Hause, 2001, pg. 10)

The Egyptians also worried very much about the after life and made many preparations before the afterlife. There graves were very important to them, and they also did much to keep them from decaying after they passed. That is why they had the idea of mummification to allow them to not decay long after they passed. We also pay a lot of money to allow us to keep from decaying on our burials and the coffins.

Ancient Egyptian civilization was based on religion. Their belief in the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral practices. Death was simply a temporary interruption, rather than an end to life, and that eternal life could be ensured by means of worship to the gods, preservation of the physical form thru mummification, substantial ceremonies and detailed burial policies and procedures. Even though many today have varying views of an afterlife, many of the funerary practices that originated in Egypt can be seen in present day funeral services.

The Ancient Egyptians everyday lives really showed through in their beliefs and religion. They were polytheistic and believed in over 2,000 gods including Re, the sun god, Osiris, the god of death, and Isis, the goddess of maternity who also resembled the ideal mother and wife. To them, their pharaohs were not just pharaohs, they were the actual gods themselves. They also believed in the afterlife. When they died it was really just a continuation of their regular life. The god Anubis weighed their souls, if it was lighter than a feather, they were free to pass into the afterlife, any heavier and the Devourer of Souls would eat it. The Egyptians would also mummify their pharaohs to preserve their bodies for the afterlife. The process was very

The tombs had two main functions. The first function was a place that provided an eternal resting place in which the body could lay protected from thieves and scavengers. The second function of the tomb was a place where cults and ritual acts could be performed to ensure eternal life (Taylor, 2001:136). The body of the person was buried along with their belongings in the tomb to ensure the individual had all the proper materials needed for the afterlife. The Egyptians usually did this because “Tombs were constructed to mirror aspects of the afterlife” (Olson, 2009). These tombs were not only a place where bodies of a deceased lay; it was also a place where rituals would take place. One ritual that was done on the bodies was the ‘Opening of the Mouth’. This was a burial ritual that “accompanied the placement of funerary goods in a tomb- and was a necessary step in the deceased’s rebirth” (Olson, 2009). One very important service that had to be done was the mummification process in which the removal of organs

Egyptian cultural dates back to 5500 BCE this was a time when their culture flourished with the rise of technology and the death of the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt Cleopatra VII. It is worldwide know today for its amazing, breathtaking monuments Built for honoring the gods of Egyptian lands and celebrating its many great leaders. The Egyptian culture is often mistaken of having an obsession with death this is mistaken with the fact that they are a very proud people of their back ground and their gods. The acts of mummifying their people and building humungous tombs where a way to celebrate the lives of those people contrary to them being obsessed with death you could say they were obsessed with honoring the lives of the deceased. The ancient Egyptians from the low class citizens to the wealthiest of them felt a great amount of love and passion for their land they as a society believed they lived in the greatest place on the earth. This could have also been a testament to the fact that ungratefulness was considered a gateway sin that would cause greater issues to their society because they believed it created a pathway for more negative acts.

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 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

Egypt Life after death is an intricate theme when it comes to the religion of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians put a heavy emphasis on immortality and life after death; hence the reason why they built tombs and paid homage to those who were no longer in the earth realm and with the gods in the starry heavens. The afterlife was so imperative, in fact, that there were directions written in tombs 4,400 years old; and on papyrus in the Book of the Dead (which served as a guide to the afterlife for 1,500 years. Instructions on the journey to the afterlife could span more than thirty feet. Instructions included how to avoid demon faced beings, names of gatekeepers, and protection from snakes and scorpions.

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.

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 know 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.

Egyptians believed that death was not the end of life but the beginning of another. But in order to pass onto the afterlife the body must stay intact which is why the emergence of mummification

There are many people who believe in the afterlife and there are others who don’t, but for the Egyptians the afterlife was very important. It was something that they prepared for all throughout their lives, as the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology mentioned, “for the Egyptians death was one of the most powerful generators of the Egyptian culture” (Harold 2). This means that in the Egyptian culture one of the things that kept the culture alive and going was death. For them death did not mean that they would stop living but rather it was just another step to a new and better life. There are many things that prove just how important the afterlife was for the Egyptians, one of them is the painting of the Funeral Procession, Tomb of Pairy.

Ancient Egyptian graves date back to the Pre-Dynastic Period (5000-3100 B.C.). In this time period when someone was buried they weren’t mummified. These prehistoric burials were rectangular or oval shaped pits dug out of the desert sand. The bodies were then inserted into the ground usually in a fetal position, lying on their left side. The bodies of the dead were either placed to face the sun rise or the sun set. In each grave the bodies were accompanied by grave goods and food offerings for their next destination. This inclined the idea that

The ancient Egyptians were the first culture discovered to strongly value the relationship of an afterlife with regards to moral and evil actions. In contrary belief to being obsessed with death, the Egyptians held onto the outlook of living a just life. Being given the opportunity to live fruitfully in the post-mortem world, was an optimistic ideal in turn for people to appreciate life on Earth. Taking care of the land and crops in hopes for revival in the afterlife – which involves mummification – as opposed to the negative philosophies of other cultures (Casey 2013: 1). The evolution of belief in Osiris as judge of the dead, spanned thousands of years, from shortly before the Early Dynastic Period to the Ptolemaic Dynasty and is written about in Pyramid texts to the Book of the Dead. These sources reinforce the distress that comes with post-mortem judgement and presents the possibility of resurrection for all, not just solely to the King and his close circle, as otherwise believed (Budge 1973: 148). Egyptians aspired to interact with Osiris in the hereafter and did so by practicing rituals as well as living a vindicated life for hopes of living a righteous existence in the netherworld.