The Belief In The Afterlife In Ancient Egypt

7 Pages 1736 Words

According to many scholars, religion was the most important aspect of life in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian’s believed that the gods and goddesses, each with special functions governed every inch of human existence. “Writing about the religion of Ancient Egypt demands a powerful effort of imaginative understand. Even for those of us who posses a strong religious faith, it is hard to conceive of the intensity with which the Egyptians accepted the existence of the supernatural or the extent to which it not only invaded but completely dominated every aspect of their daily existence.”# Egyptians believed that death was a temporary interruption, rather then a complete end to their life. Eternal life could be insured by the gods, preservation of the body, and the “ka”, “ba”, akh”.
Fearing death the Egyptians developed a belief of the after life very early in their existence. They buried their dead in the sand with possessions they thought they would need in their next life. The Egyptians noticed that if a body was dug up a year later, it looked very much as it had looked in life. Thus, preserving the body became linked with the afterlife. The poor could not afford more then a burial in the sand. While the wealthy began to be buried deeper in more elaborate chambers, mortal decay set it.
The mummified body and the tomb were believed to be essential to the after-life. They believe that the mummified body would guarantee passage into the next life. In addition to the Egyptians “ba” (his body), and his “ka” (spirit guide), the Egyptians had a soul, which flew away at death. Some cult believed that the soul was a bird with the face of the deceased that flew away at death. During the life the soul lived in the body in his belly or heart, after death it flew freely about the world. It was free to travel the world but had to return to the tomb at night to ward off evil spirits. The first attempts to save the...