The Death Of The Dead

In the Egyptian religion, there is belief in an afterlife. The Egyptians believe that another life continued after one has died. Because their beliefs were true, the time of Ancient Egyptians developed rituals regarding the death and burial of a person. These tasks would prepare the deceased soul to reach the good place and ensure a good afterlife. The afterlife to the Egyptian was a place of bliss, delight, and peace. Death occupied the Egyptians they believed that after death they would pass through the dark and terrifying place called the underworld. Before a person's soul can rest he or she would prepare as a mortal, be mummified, and take the journey of tests before passing through the underworld into the afterlife.

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 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.

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.

Regardless of social strata, death and the afterlife were almost always valued by the living in ancient Egypt. The afterlife was birthed and designed for great societal rulers but eventually trickled down and was adopted by other levels of society (Murnane in Obayashi, 1992, p. 42). Death was interpreted as “new life in another state” by ancient Egypt, and the ultimate goal of immortality could be attained if specific burial arrangements were made for the dead. This was to avoid a final death of the soul known as the “second death,” and measures such as burial with food, drink, and personal possessions, were taken to aid the soul on its journey into immortality (Murnane in Obayashi, 1992, p. 36).

Ancient Egypt believed in many gods, making them polytheistic. One of their major gods was Ra, the god of the sun. They believed in a process called mummification. Mummification is a process that an important man in Egypt had to go through before going into the afterlife. The afterlife was very important to the Egyptians because they believed in second chances in life. Osiris and Anubis would judge an individual 's heart to the feather of Ma’at. If the heart outweighed the feather, then Ammut would devour the heart, condemning the individual to oblivion (Book of the Dead, Pinedjem II).

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 Egyptians believed very much in life after death. As Taylor states in Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, “It is often observed that they appear to have devoted greater efforts and resources to preparing for the afterlife than to creating a convenient environment for living” (Taylor, 2001:12). The Egyptians viewed life on earth as one stage and death as the beginning of another. They believed that, “human existence did not end with death and that survival of the body played a part in the new life” (Taylor, 2001:12). One of the key elements in the Egyptian culture and religion was the preservation of the body. The body was the most important aspect because it was like a portal through which an individual could continue to live

The sun god Ra was the most important and powerful of all in the polytheistic Ancient Egyptian religion (Shaw, 273). Not many of the images that come to mind when “Egypt” is mentioned contain clouds, and that is because the land of Egypt has sweltering weather. A direct influence from the environment can be seen on the religion as the sun had a huge impression of the lives of Ancient Egyptians and the sun god is the most worshipped and important of all. From their elaborate mummies and huge pyramids, it can be seen that the Ancient Egyptians concerned themselves a great deal with the afterlife. They believed that a person would not be able to proceed to the afterlife without recognising their secular body and therefore as many as could afford it mummified their relatives. Before mummification became a common practice, it often happened accidentally when bodies

The ancient Egyptians had a purpose for everything they did especially relating to the afterlife. The ancient egyptians used hieroglyphs and other symbols to lead their dead on the journey through the gates of hell. The Sarcophagus of Hatshepsut is a great representation of this. Once the person would arrive in the afterlife they would need to read the hieroglyphs on the side of the Sarcophagus which would help lead them on their journey. This shows how important their dead were to them. The egyptians believed that everyone needed help when going through these gates. A second item that showed how important the bodies were to the egyptians was the canopic jars. These jars were used to hold the organs and insides of the dead bodies. They would

Furthermore, the Egyptians were polytheistic meaning that they believed in many gods. They also believed in the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that if they mummified their dead and buried the dead’s riches with them, then they would be well off in the afterlife.

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

The Egyptians also believed in the afterlife, which means they believed they live as they were on earth in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was one of the gods. They also believed in mummification, which was the preservation of the corps for burial. In Ancient times you were wrapped in animal skins and organs then buried. If you were a part of the royal family you were put in a tomb or burial chamber.

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