THe Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
THE AFTERLIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT'S RELIGION AND LITERATURE Ancient Egypt is often identified by its enormous pyramids, in particular the GreatPyramid at Giza, which was built during the middle of the third millennium, BC. Pyramidsare massive monuments built over or around a crypt or tomb. The Egyptian pyramids servedas royal tombs. Not only do these colossal constructions depict the Egyptians' advancedarchitectural abilities, but they also give us an insight into their belief system. AncientEgypt's beliefs were based on their view of life as a process which began on earth, butcontinued in the afterlife, or continued existence after death. Egyptians believed that properburial ensured the deceased entrance into the afterlife. Their belief was that in order for thesoul to pass into the next life, the body must remain intact; therefore, to preserve it, theydeveloped the procedures of mummification or embalming, the art of preserving bodies afterdeath, generally by the use of chemical substances. The preservation was essential toresurrecting or moving on to the afterlife. The preserved body would then be placed in thepyramid which was considered a vessel that transported the deceased into the afterlife.
One of these, "Hymn of the Nile," exalts the Nile River as a deityor god. The title "Book of the Dead" ismisleading; the texts do not form a single connected work and do not belong to one period. The belief in an afterlife was an important aspect of the Egyptian religion. The Egyptian Book of theDead (about 1310 BC)(a title given to a large collection of funerary texts of various dates)contains magical formulas, hymns, and prayers believed by the ancient Egyptians to guide andprotect the soul (Ka) in its journey into the region of the dead. They placedmuch value on the passage to the afterlife. " Ancient Legacy of the Modern World. Ancient Egyptian literature is characterized by a wide diversity of types and subjectmatter. Ancient Egypt's interpretation of the significance of life after death is quite evident in theirreligion and literature. Far from his home in Egypt, Sinuhe must return tohis motherland to gain passage to the afterlife because a messenger was sent by the king to remindSinuhe of the urgency to return and be properly buried. Egyptians believed that the knowledge of these texts enabled the soul to ward off demonsattempting to impede its progress, and to pass the tests set by the forty-two judges in the hall ofOsiris, god of the underworld. The Ka, a duplicate of the body, accompanied the bodythroughout life and, after death, departed from the body and tried to take its place in thekingdom of the dead. The basis ofthe Ancient Egyptians' strong beliefs regarding the afterlife was their religion. Ancient Egyptians viewed the Nile as a source of renewal and rebirth. Egyptian religion was the foundation or basis for their belief in an afterlife,and their literature illustrated how important that belief was to Ancient Egyptians. Some of the best-known pieces of Ancient Egyptian literature that best illustratethe society's religious beliefs.
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