the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Doctrine Of Eternal Life.
2. Recueil de Travaux, p. 175, 1. 112.
3. Ibid., t. iv., p. 44,1. 393.
4. Ibid., p. 60, ll. 514, 515
5. Ibid., t. v., p. 183, l. 169.]
{p. lxx}
certain passages in the pyramid texts seem to show that a belief in the resurrection of the natural body
existed in the earliest dynasties.[1]
The texts are silent as to the time when the immortal part began its beatified existence; but it is probable
that the Osiris[2] of a man only attained to the full enjoyment of spiritual happiness after the funeral
ceremonies had been duly per formed and the ritual recited. Comparatively few particulars are known of
the manner of life of the soul in heaven, and though a number of interesting facts may be gleaned from
the texts of all periods, it is very difficult to harmonize them. This result is due partly to the different
views held by different schools of thought in ancient Egypt, and partly to the fact that on some points the
Egyptians them selves seem to have had no decided opinions. We depend upon the pyramid texts for our
knowledge of their earliest conceptions of a future life.
The existence in heaven.
The life of the Osiris of a man in heaven is at once material and spiritual and it seems as if the Egyptians
never succeeded in breaking away from their very ancient habit of confusing the things of the body with
the things of the soul. They believed in an incorporeal and immortal part of man, the constituent elements
of which flew to heaven after death and embalmment; yet the theologians of the VIth dynasty had
decided that there was some part of the deceased which could only mount to heaven by means of a
ladder. In the pyramid of Teta it is said, "When Teta hath purified himself on the borders of this earth
where Ra hath purified himself, he prayeth and setteth up the ladder, and those who dwell in the great
place press Teta forward with their hands."[3] In the pyramid of Pepi I.
[1. E.g., "This Pepi goeth forth with his flesh." Recueil de Travaux, t. v., p. 185, l. 169.
2. The Osiris consisted of all the spiritual parts of a man gathered together in a form which resembled him exactly.
Whatever honour was paid to the mummified body was received by its Osiris, the offerings made to it were accepted by its
Osiris, and the amulets laid upon it were made use of by its Osiris for its own protection. The sahu, the ka, the ba, the khu,
the khaibit, the sekhem, and the ren were in primeval times separate and independent parts of man's immortal nature; but in
the pyramid texts they are welded together, and the dead king Pepi is addressed as "Osiris Pepi." The custom of calling the
deceased Osiris continued until the Roman period. On the Osiris of a man, see Wiedemann, Die Osirianische
Unsterblichkeitslehre (in Die Religion der alten Aegypter, p. 128).
3. ###. Maspero, Recueil de Travaux, t. v., p. 7, l. 36.]
{p. lxxi}
the king is identified with this ladder: "Isis saith, 'Happy are they who see the 'father,' and Nephthys
saith, 'They who see the father have rest,' speaking unto the father of this Osiris Pepi when he cometh
forth unto heaven among the stars and among the luminaries which never set. With the uræus on his
brow, and his book upon both his sides, and magic words at his feet, Pepi goeth forward unto his mother
Nut, and he entereth therein in his name Ladder."[1] The gods who preside over this ladder are at one
time Ra and Horus, and at another Horus and Set. In the pyramid of Unas it is said, "Ra setteth upright
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