Egyptian Afterlife

Table of Contents ·         Introduction2 ·         General Information, master(prenominal).3-6 o         Mummification...3 o         Journey to Yaru..4 o         Recitation to the Gods4 o         Myth and Rituals.5 o          fountain of the M issueh communion5 · Conclusion5-6 · Bibliography.7 Egyptian later onwards bearing Introduction          many antediluvial patriarch civilizations of the earthly concern ad reckon been unraveled, nevertheless maven in go againsticular interests me the most. The astonishing legal opinions and lifestyle of the antediluvial Egyptians are irrelevant more or less(prenominal) different of its m or solely time at every(prenominal). These Egyptians had developments and beliefs that are still in some ways a mystery, only if as the years go by, we fuck dour to learn more. If you ever wondered what the bastardlyings of some sepulchre traditions or what mummies sincerely were, youll find go forth as you tick wind on. I exit discuss the procedures and beliefs of Egyptian hereafter.          Egyptian Afterlife General/Main Information once an Egyptian dies, there are several(prenominal) things that can be do with their adjudge a br sweep awayhers. whiz thing that we gather up that can be done with the remains is the performance of mummification, which was provided performed on certain people. So lets expound there. The process of mummification is the form of embalming practiced by the superannuated Egyptians that changed everyplace time from the Old Kingdom (ca. 2750-2250 B.C.), when it was available leave off to kings, to the virgin Kingdom (ca. 1539-1070 B.C.), when it was available to everyone. The level of mummification depended on what one could afford. The most fully dev eloped form tangled five basic steps: 1. A! ll of the familiar organs, leave out the eye, were removed. Since the organs were the first relegates of the organic structure to tumble but were necessary in the afterlife, they were mummified and put in canopic jars that were regain in the tomb at the time of burial. They would take out the contain and clean it with palm wine. The shopping center was believed to be the female genitals of intuition and emotion and was, therefore, left in the corpse. The brain, on the different hand, was regarded as having no significant value and, beginning in the brisk Kingdom, was removed by the nose and discarded. 2. The body was packed and cover with natron, a salty drying agent, and left to dry out for forty to fifty twenty-four hour periods. By this time all the bodys still had been mantled and only the hair, skin, and bones were left. 3. The body cavity was stuffed with resin, sawdust, or logical argumentn and shaped to restore the dead spirits form and features. Th ey would excessively charter the body with myrrh and other spices. 4. The body was so tightly wrapped in many layers of linen with numerous estimable part charms, or amulets, wrapped between the layers. The most authoritative amulet was the scarab beetle, which was located over the heart. Jewelry was alike placed among the bandages. At separately stage of wrapper, a priest recited spells and prayers. This entirely procedure could take as long as cardinal days. After the wrapping was complete, the body was put into a shroud. The entire mummification process besidesk about seventy days. 5. exercise the sacrament of opening the mouth of the milliampere - if this were non done the florists chrysanthemum would non be able to eat, drink, breathe or talk. The mummy would thusly be placed in a coffin, which hence would be placed at bottom a tomb, the sterling(prenominal) of tombs universe a pyramid but only Pharaohs and queens could contain pyramids built. Egypt ians stipendiary vast amounts of money to begin the! ir bodies properly preserved. They would involve all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. The Egyptians believed that when they died they would assoil a journey to a nonher world where they would lead a smart life. The Egyptians believed that to get to the afterlife they would mother to pass through a dangerous place with perils such as monsters, turn lakes, fires and oddly nasty snakes that spat out poi boy. These evils could be spank by the right spells and the Egyptians often wrote down the spells on piece of practice of medicine and left them in or near the coffin. If they overcame the evils they would reach the issue of Yaru (the Egyptian afterlife) and meet their friends again. But first they had to pass the grea judge running of all in the mansion house of Two Truths. This test involved weighing the heart, the only organ which had been left in the body. The heart was placed on one side of a balance and in the other side was placed the fledge of Truth: the Feather of Truth held all the lies and sins of their past life. The 3 enormous gods, Osiris, Anubis and Thoth, decided the result of the weighing. If the heart passed the test then the doomed person was allowed to enter the gates of Yaru. This was where he went to stand his eternal reward where he wandered the shadow land that was the figure of speech of the Nile Delta. No famine or sorrows bothered him in this grow up afterlife. But if the heart failed the test then a terrific monster hold upn as the Devourer ate it. The devourer was part crocodile, part hippopotamus, and part lion and once it had eaten a heart the dead person was gone forever. Other translations just believed that if the heart weighed too heavy, he would be thrown to the animal gods who sunder him to shreds. Here, I have found a recitation that some whitethorn have said to the Gods upon his/her encounter with them: Homage to th ee, O great God, Lord of Maati! I have come unto thee! , O my Lord, and I have brought myself hither that I may perceive thy beauties. I know thee, I know thy name, I know the name calling of the forty-two Gods who live with thee in the Hall of Maati...I have non committed sins against men. I have non opposed my family and kinfolk. I have not acted fraudently in the tail end of Truth. I have not known men who were of no account. I have not defrauded the humble man of his property. I have not done what the gods abominate. I have not vilified a striver to his master. I have not inflicted pain. I have not caused anyone to go hungry. I have not made any man to weep. I have not committed murder....I have not encroached on the fields (of others). I have not added to the weights of the scales...I have not driven the cows away from their pastures. I have not snared the geese in the goose-pens of the gods. I have not caught fish with bait made of the bodies of the equal kind of fish. I have not stopped weewee when it should flow...I am pu re, I am pure. I am pure...         This recitation, when studied, was seen as a disallow one. Instead of stating what the Ka had done, the Ka stated what he has not done. The Ka was the duplicate world that was stored in the heart as a vital describe possessed by every being. In addition to a ka, each person had a ba. The ba was the soul of the person. After termination, the ka and the ba were united into one entity called the akh, which is an locution of the sun. They thought that if the body was preserved after death the ka and ba would still remain alive. This is why the Egyptians thought mummification was so important. Myth and Rituals         A popular idea of death and spiritual rebirth was base on the legend of King Osiris, whom the Egyptians believed was killed and dismembered by his jealous brother Seth, reassembled by his faithful wife Isis, and brought punt to life by his son Horus. When the Opening of the Mouth ceremony was d one at Egyptian funerals, it was a reenactment of the! ceremony Horus had performed for his father. After his rebirth Osiris became known as the god of the underworld.

        The Opening of the Mouth observance         On the ordinal day after a persons death, when the embalming and wrapping were completed, the mummy was placed in a coffin and interpreted to the tomb. The body was transported as part of a long line of people and possessions. neighboring to the mummy were two women representing the goddess Isis and her sister Nephthys. scum bag these two was a convention including mourners, priests, and servants carrying tomb furnishin gs. The canopic chest with the mummys internal organs was carried one after another in line. wiz of the priests burned incense and sprinkled milk along the path. At the tomb, the group was met by dancers and a priest who read spells in prize of the dead. Next came the very important Opening of the Mouth ceremony, based on the Osiris legend. A priest eroding a jackal-headed entomb representing the god Anubis held the mummys coffin upright time another priest touched the mouth of the mummy with rite instruments. The Egyptians believed that from a persons death until the performance of this ceremony the body could not hear, see, or speak. Once the ceremony was finished, the use of the senses returned and the deceased could eat and drink in the afterlife. After the ceremony an offering of food, ointment, and habilitate was portrayn to the deceased. With this completed, a humongous funerary banquet was enjoyed by the mourners, with entertainment in applause of the dead provided by musicians and dancers. plot the banquet was goin! g on, the deceased was placed inside the tomb, and the footsteps of those who had been inside were swept away. Now the deceaseds soul could return to the body. Conclusion         Without any further discoveries, this is what is known of the afterlife procedures, beliefs, and rituals. Of course, their beliefs are directly linked with the Egyptian religion, just wish well other religions have their beliefs of a blissful afterlife. The Egyptian polytheistic views are unique though, and powerfully emphasize the preservation of the tangible body. Like the Hindu belief of reincarnation, the Egyptian beliefs slightly gibe that idea of being brought back to life. As aforementioned, the myth of Osiris claims he was reincarnated by his son, and could possibly mean that those who die strive for the identical goal of being brought back.         One thing that I did not find was anything regarding to Ancient Egyptians having a religious law that would nail down if the heart would fail or pass. From previous education, though, I find that Egyptians did have a statute to live by, such as the tag of Hammurabi and rules for praising each divine being. But the Code was more of a diversity of grade of government preferably of an order of religion. It gave them rules of what to do and what to do and the punishments for not enforcing each law. unalike Christianity and some other religions that give sets of rules to live by day by day, the ancient Egyptian religion, from my knowledge, only gave sets of rules of how to respect and panegyric the Gods and Goddesses.         We still have often to learn about the ancient Egyptians and their customs. The unique characteristics of this culture unquestionably draw my interest, but after researching and analyzing, I find the ancient Egyptians fairly simple-minded in the lifestyle area but impressively advanced in technology compared to the rest of the world at that time. I also wonder, because of their simplicity in beliefs! , how these beliefs began and who introduced their religion. Bibliography: Brewer, Douglas, and Emily Teeter. Egypt and the Egyptians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Spencer, A.J. devastation in Ancient Egypt. New York: Penguin Books, 1982. http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Egypt/religion_report.html http://www.paganculture.com/egyptian.html (and other website) If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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