Ancient Egypt: The Egyptians and their dead: Life after Death - Ancestor Worship - The Dead and the Living - Remembering the Dead
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The Egyptians and their deadThe Egyptian religion was polytheistic and their pantheon included numberless deities, daemons, spirits, and ghosts. These spiritual beings were of varying importance, according to the powers they had. Some had influence over the world at large, the scope of others, among them the Dead Ones, was more limited.Life after death
Pre-historic tomb decoration The form this afterlife took is only known since the times when the first texts appear describing the pharaoh's ascent to heaven. From the late Old Kingdom on noblemen and, increasingly, affluent commoners underwent similar funerary rituals in the hope of deification, of becoming one with Osiris. 
Some of the constituent parts of a deceased person and their relationships with the world: the body, the ba, the ka, the name, the akh. For further explanations see Body and Soul. The body, obviously, remained in its tomb, the akh (MdC transcription Ax ), the transfigured dead, was hoped to rise to the heavens after the performance of the appropriate transfiguration rituals, [2] the ka was closely bound to its body - partaking of the offerings in the funerary chapel, but the ba could leave the tomb, roam the necropolis and even visit the living [1]. The majority of the people possibly did not aspire to an eternal life among the immortal stars. But even to the peasant death was not the end, but the beginning of an existence as a spiritual being in whose power it was to affect the lives of the living. Ancestor worshipOne's ancestors were seen as friendly powers in a world where one was beset by dangers. Dying, they had left their offices, possessions, and rights to their offspring, and dead, they protected them against evil influences. Their survivors repaid them by giving them a proper burial, perpetuating their name, feeding their kas and protecting their resting place.Among pharaohs these duties were performed by armies of servants building at times huge tombs, erecting mortuary temples filled with priests in charge of the offerings and setting up police forces in an attempt to prevent tomb robberies. But even when intentions were good, things often went wrong: Tombs were broken into, corpses desecrated, their belongings despoiled, and offerings were neglected and forgotten. Forgetfulness on behalf of the descendants did not stop the flow of offerings, as texts were inscribed on the walls of the tomb ensuring their perpetuity. Against intruders curses threatening dire consequences were used: May there be no son and no daughter to give him water (i.e. as a libation)The wag-festival, mentioned first in the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, was celebrated in honour of Osiris, first of the Westerners (i.e. the dead), who had died and was resurrected. Osiris embodied the hope of the Egyptians for a life after death. Lo, Osiris has come as Orion,On certain festivals the gods (i.e. their statues) were taken out of their sanctuaries, put on boats and rowed to a near-by temple, from where they returned the following day. The deceased were treated in a similar fashion: May one make the Wag-feast (wAg) for you, may one give you bread and beer from the altar of Khentamenti. You will travel downstream in the Bark-of-the-Evening (msk.tt) and sail upstream in the Bark-of-the-Morning (manD.t).Food offerings were made to the dead on a number of occasions. Ahmose I erected a stela at Abydos enumerating them: One spoke with the other, seeking benefactions for the departed (dead), to present libations of water, to offer upon the altar, to enrich the offering tablet at the first of every season, at the monthly feast of the first o the month, the feast of the coming forth of the sem, the feast of the night-offerings of the fifth of the month, the feast of the sixth of the month, the feast of Hakro (hAkrA), the feast of Wag (wAg), the feast of Thoth, and at the first of every season of heaven, and of earth.The pharaoh went on and mentioned how he remembered his ancestors, the mother of his mother and the mother of his father and ensured the future of their cult. Then he said a prayer on their behalf: Lo, his majesty extended his arm and bent his hand; he pronounced for her a mortuary prayer.Commoners could make offerings using the king as an intermediary. The offering formula in their tombs generally begins with the words: An offering which the king grants and often invokes Osiris and Anubis who is on his mountain. Even if in drawings offering tables are laden with all kinds of food, according to the texts the dead received little more than bread and beer. The dead and the livingThe dead and the living both were supposed to honour the quid pro quo their relationship was based on. But sometimes the descendants were unaware of any wrongdoing on their behalf, and yet the deceased failed to live up to his obligations: they became victims of disease, poverty and crime caused by spiritual beings. It was often thought that at the root of one's problems was someone deceased, referred to as the Dead One who could be of either gender, mwt or mwt.t. In such a case the aggrieved son would complain to his dead father, orally by the grave or, sometimes, in writing which was powerful magic by itself.It is the sister who is saying to her brother, the Only Companion Nefer-sefekhi (nfr-sfx-j): |
In the after-life the deceased were thought to experience the same feelings as the living. They could be angry and bear grudges, have likes and dislikes, be caring and show mercy. But above all they were expected to bat for their own team and lend full-hearted support to their family.
You have been brought here to the City of Eternity, without you harbouring anger for me. (But) should it be the case that these injuries were caused with your knowledge (then) behold: though the house is in the possession of your children, the privation (in the house) arises again and again. But if it is done as something you abhor, then may your father be great <in> the necropolis. If there is a reproach in your heart, forget it for the sake of your children. Be merciful, be merciful, (then) all the gods of the Thinite nome will be merciful towards you.They were also not beyond flattery, thus a judiciously inserted you are the excellent transfigured one might convince them to help the petitioner. Good wishes too, such as May your condition be like life a million times! were hoped to improve their mood. Just as they did in their letters to each other, the living showed interest in the well-being of their deceased loved ones: How are you? Does the Great One (the goddess of the West) look after you according with your wish?At times the mechanics of the dialogue between the living and the dead are somewhat unclear. Thus Shepsi reminds his mother how she had asked him for some special food: This is an oral report concerning you saying to her son (i.e. the speaker): "You shall bring me poultry so that I can eat it," and when your son brought 7 quails (pAa.w.t) you ate them.Some of us may be somewhat at a loss to understand the mode of communication his mother used to get her message across to her son. Remembering the deadMemory being what its is, even in times less hectic than ours, people were likely to forget things, and even the memory of the dead could do with a little nudge in the right direction:A speech of Mer-irtief (mri-jr.tj.fj) to Neb-itief (nb.t-jtj=f):One can imagine the glorious Neb-itief, hadn't his widow added this line, asking: " Mer-irtief - who?" Such lapses apart, most Egyptians would have seen the ritual remembrance of their own parents, the maintenance of their tombs and the bringing of offerings as a personal obligation; and they fulfilled their filial duties some with more, others probably with less enthusiasm. But, given the short life-span of ancient people, many had no personal experience of their grandparents and very few had known their great-grandparents, lessening the incentive to perform the necessary rituals. Thus, institutionalized mortuary services became in earliest historic times big business and brought about the amassing of huge fortunes in the hands of the temples and with it their increasing political influence. During the early pyramid age the tomb and mortuary temple building reached such proportions that some scholars have claimed that it caused the decline and eventual collapse of Old Kingdom society. Whatever its economic and social effects, it appears that the size of the tombs did little to perpetuate the names of the pharaohs among their own people, Snefru who had started the tradition being an exception. But the person from that time period to really conquer the hearts of the people was Imhotep as a healer and mediator between mankind and the gods. Most people's ambitions were not as grandiose, but the donations to the priesthood could be significant. The nomarch Hepdjefi drew up ten contracts that we know of, in which he set down the mortuary services he expected to receive in exchange for his considerable endowments: Behold, I have endowed thee with fields, with people, with cattle, with gardens (and) with everything, as every count of Siut (does), in order that thou mayest make offerings to me with contented heart. Literature: J. E. Quibell, F. W. Green, Hierakonpolis Part II, Egyptian Research Account, Fifth Memoir Serge Sauneron, "Une statue du vizir Pasar adorant Rehorakhty", BIFAO 55 (1955), p.151 Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings, Vol.One, 1975, p.45 James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, Chicago 1906 James Henry Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt R. O. Faukner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Kessinger 2004 Sylvie Donnat, Contacts with the dead in Pharaonic Egypt, Marc Bloch University, Strassburg Juan Carlos Moreno García, Oracles, ancestor cults and letters to the dead: the involvement of the dead in the public and private family affairs in pharaonic Egypt, „Perception of the Invisible - Wahrnehmung des Unsichtbaren“, Conference at the University of Köln (Institut für Afrikanistik), 15-17 November 2007 Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae website Footnotes: [2] sAx.w, causing to become an ax.w |
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 | [1] Stela of Paser |
| Letters to the dead | |
| Mourning and burial | |
| Funerary practices: Preparations and burial | |
| Mummification | |
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