Through the Eras

ReligionSOURCESSue d’Auria, et al., Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts ofAncient Egypt (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988).Salima Ikram and Aidan Dodson, The Mummy in AncientEgypt (London: Thames and Hudson, 1998).A. J. Spencer, Death in Ancient Egypt (Middlesex, England:Penguin Books, 1982).SEE ALSO Dance: Muu-Dancers; Dance: FuneralDancesRelief carving depicting mourners at a funeral and table offood offerings, Eighteenth or Nineteenth Dynasty. PUBLICDOMAIN.FAMILY MEMORIALS. Although the dead wereburied in the necropolis, they did not cease to formpart of an Egyptian’s family. During certain religiousfestivals, the dead received special offerings. During theNew Kingdom, at the “Feast of the Valley,” familieswould cross over to the west bank of the Nile to visitthe tombs of their relatives, and hold picnics withintheir chapels. Within the home, busts of deceased relativesas “effective spirits” could be set up, and werethe focal point of prayers and offerings. According toEgyptian thought, the deceased still influenced the livesof the living, hence the necessity to make sure that theirneeds were satisfied.THE EGYPTIAN AFTERLIFEDESTINATIONS OF THE KING. Information concerningthe Egyptian ideas of the hereafter comes fromthe texts buried with the dead and the illustrations foundon tomb walls. As with so much in Egyptian religion,there was no single destination, but a multiplicity ofdestinations, all of which an Egyptian wished to reachafter death. The earliest postmortem destination wascelestial, and in the Pyramid Texts it was the deceasedking’s goal to ascend to the sky to live as a star amongthe circumpolar stars which never set. In Spell 1455 and1456, the king states “I am a star which illuminates thesky; I mount up to the god that I may be protected, forthe sky will not be devoid of me and this earth will notbe devoid of me for ever. I live beside you, you gods ofthe Lower Sky, the Imperishable Stars. …” In additionto ascending to the sky as a star, an Old Kingdompharaoh also wished to ascend to the sky to assume aseat in the barque (sailing vessel) of the sun-god Re. Rewas thought to travel throughout the sky in his solarbarque by day, and through the underworld at night. Bytaking a seat in the solar barque, the deceased king wasallowed to participate in the eternal, rejuvenating voyageof the sun. Yet another destination for the deceasedking was the underworld kingdom of Osiris. Osiris, afterhis death at the hands of his brother Seth, became theruler of the Egyptian underworld. As a result of undergoingthe ritual of mummification and burial, the deadking becomes identified with Osiris, and as such becamethe ruler of the underworld.PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS. After death, the privateEgyptian expected to continue to enjoy a life very muchlike that which he had experienced on earth, judgingfrom the types of burial goods included in the tombs,and the scenes found on tomb walls. Towards the endof the Old Kingdom (2675–2170 B.C.E.), however, theformerly exclusively royal prerogatives of the afterlifebecame available to private individuals as well. Duringthe First Intermediate Period (2130–2008 B.C.E.) and244 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)