The Egyptians believed that the only way they could enjoy life in the Next World was if their bodies survived. Even the King’s body had to last, in case he needed it, although his soul traveled to the Next World to live with his godly relatives.
Inside the tombs, the bodies of the kings and nobles decayed easily. Therefore, artificial ways of preserving them were invented. Mummification, the most successful was at it’s peak in the New Kingdom. Next, the internal organs were taken out, the body was covered with natron (a salt) which dried it out, stuffed with linnen and resin and finally wrapped in hundreds of metres of linen. Many bodies have been almost perfectly preserved.
Although it is often thought that Egyptians spent most of their time thinking about death but it is false. They loved life on Earth so much that they went into great trouble making preparations for the afterlife. This was achieved by building a comfortable tomb which contained good quality furniture, food, drink, entertainment and belongings.
GRAVE ROBBERS
Everyone knew that great riches were placed in royal
tombs. These treasures were safe as long as it was watched. But as the
centuries passed, they were no longer guarded as thieves broke in. If caught,
they would have been prosecuted. This did not put them off.
SOULS AND SPIRITS
The Egyptians they had 3 spirits- the ka, ba, and akh.
The ka was the life force of a person. The ba represented the personality
and the akth went to join the stars or Osiris.
MEMORY AIDS
Mummies were decorated with an image of the dead, so
the ba recognized the body. Mirrors and combs enabled the dead to look
their best.
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
The book of the is a painted papyrus that contained all
the instructions the dead person needed to reach the underworld. Paintings
have also been found that describe the process of the reaching the underworld,
tests and the granting of the afterlife. Below is a descriptin of one of
the most famous scenes from the book of the dead.
Parts of the underworld are dangerous. Therefore, spells are used to protect the dead person.
The dead, in white is lead to thde place of judgement by Anubis, god of the embalmers and graveyards. A goddess, in the form of of a monster awaits at the scale to devour the dead person's heart if he or she fails their test. The heart is wieghed on the scale against the 'Feather of Ma'at'. Meanwhile, Thoth records the results. Next, the dead person gives negative confession in front of the acessor gods.
After passing, the person is escorted by Horus to Osiris to be presented with an eternal afterlife.