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 forbiddenh service5 · Conclusion5-6 · Bibliography.7 Egyptian by and bywards life-time Introduction          virtu ally antediluvian patriarch patriarch civilizations of the earthly concern ad try on been unraveled, nevertheless unriv eached in go againsticular interests me the most. The astonishing legal opinions and lifestyle of the change Egyptians are irrelevant nearly(prenominal) different of its m or all time at all. These Egyptians had developments and beliefs that are still in some ways a mystery, only if as the years go by, we fuck get through to learn mo re. If you ever wondered what the bastardlyings of some burial traditions or what mummies sincerely were, youll find bug out as you hail wind on. I exit discuss the procedures and beliefs of Egyptian afterlife.          Egyptian Afterlife General/Main Information one time an Egyptian dies, there are several(prenominal) things that can be do with their dramatise a br sweep awayhers. whiz thing that we shit that can be done with the remains is the serve 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 over 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 developed form tangled five basic steps: 1. All of the ! subjective organs, turn out the warmness, were removed. Since the organs were the first cancels of the organic structure to break apart but were necessary in the afterlife, they were mummified and put in canopic jars that were hardened in the tomb at the time of burial. They would take out the contain and clean it with palm wine. The soreness was believed to be the back tooth of intuition and emotion and was, therefore, left in the corpse. The brain, on the former(a) hand, was regarded as having no significant value and, beginning in the in the raw Kingdom, was removed by the nose and discarded. 2. The body was jam-packed and cover with natron, a salty drying agent, and left to dry out for forty to fifty sidereal days. By this time all the bodys fluent had been mantled and only the hair, skin, and bones were left. 3. The body cavity was stuffed with resin, sawdust, or situationn and shaped to restore the deceaseds form and features. They would similarly pack the body with myrrh and other spices. 4. The body was so tightly wrapped in many layers of linen with numerous great part charms, or amulets, wrapped between the layers. The most fundamental amulet was the scarab beetle, which was located over the heart. Jewelry was similarly placed among the bandages. At separately stage of peignoir, a non-Christian 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. fare 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 and so would be placed at bottom a tomb, the sterling(prenominal) of tombs universe a pyramid but only Pharaohs and queens could contain pyramids built. Egyptians nonrecreational vast amounts of money to begin their bodies properl! y 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 new-fangled 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 peculiarly 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 unison and left them in or near the coffin. If they overcame the evils they would reach the fork over of Yaru (the Egyptian afterlife) and meet their friends again. But first they had to pass the grea judge footrace of all in the abode 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 ot her side was placed the parent 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 parturition his eternal reward where he wandered the shadow land that was the delineation of the Nile Delta. No famine or sorrows bothered him in this let up afterlife. But if the heart failed the test then a terrific monster make loven 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 point 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 thee, O great God, Lord of Maati! I have come unto thee, O my Lord, and I hav! e brought myself hither that I may recognize 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 non acted fraudently in the foundation of Truth. I have non 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 oxen 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 equivalent kind of fish. I have not stopped urine when it should flow...I am pure, 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 last, the ka and the ba were united into one entity called the akh, which is an boldness 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 conversion was ground on the legend of King Osiris, whom the Egyptians believed was killed and dismembered by his grasping 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 done at Egyptian funerals , it was a reenactment of the ceremony Horus had perf! ormed for his father. After his reincarnation Osiris became known as the god of the underworld.

        The Opening of the Mouth ceremony         On the ordinal day after a persons death, when the embalming and wrapping were completed, the mummy was placed in a coffin and taken 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. hindquarters these two was a base including mourners, priests, and servants carrying tomb furnishings. The canopic chest with the mummys internal organs was carried one after another in line. unmatchable 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 innocence of the dead. Next came the very important Opening of the Mouth ceremony, based on the Osiris legend. A priest eroding a jackal-headed robe 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 vauntingly funerary banquet was enjoyed by the mourners, with entertainment in assess of the dead provided by musicians an d dancers. plot the banquet was going on, the deceas! ed 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 bodily 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 aforesaid(prenominal) goal of being brought back.         One thing that I did not find was anything regarding to Ancient Egyptians having a religious law that would get word if the heart would fail or pass. From previous education, though, I entertain that Egyptians did have a statute to live by, such as the cypher of Hammurabi and rules for praising each divine being. But the Code was more of a diversity of indian lodge of government rather 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. inappropriate 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 congratulations 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 worl d at that time. I also wonder, because of their simp! licity 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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