Life after death in Ancient Egypt Research Paper

Life after death in Ancient Egypt - Research Paper Example Admittedly, ancient Egyptians were afraid of death and could only imagine what happened in their afterlives: â€Å"Except in imaginative tales, no one had ever come back to tell of it† (qtd. in Bricker 99). Therefore, ancient Egyptians’ beliefs about life after death deserve special attention. In the first place, it is worth considering ancient Egyptians’ attitude towards death. On one hand, people were afraid of death. Many written works suggest that people regarded it as â€Å"an enemy from which there was no escape, regardless of all preparations† (Hodel-Hoenes and Warburton 26). Everyone, be it a pharaoh or a poor, eventually dies. Thus, death was also regarded as something inevitable. This was, perhaps, one of the reasons why ancient Egyptians respected it so much. There was even The Book of the Dead which was a guideline that depicted all necessary operations to enable diseased to enter the other world and start their afterlife (Hodel-Hoenes and Warb urton 25). The book was concerned â€Å"with practical help and magical assistance for the hereafter†; it was not a simple description (Hornung and Lorton 17). Death was regarded as a turning point where people transformed and began their existence in a new form in another world. It is important to point out that ancient Egyptians’ ideas about the form of the afterlife are quite complex. Thus, there is no certain word in the ancient Egyptian language which reveals the idea of the â€Å"modern concept of soul† (Pinch 147). In ancient times Egyptians believed that â€Å"several components† of a person usually survived death (Pinch 147). The major component was the ka, â€Å"a person’s vital force† which was usually depicted as â€Å"a double† and dying was described as â€Å"joining your ka† (Pinch 147). The ka was closely connected with human body, and mummification was aimed at preserving one’s body for the ka to return to the body â€Å"for a more complete union† (Pinch 147). Mummification is worth special attention since it was essential for â€Å"successful† afterlife. Cunningham and Reich claim that mummification is a reflection of â€Å"the most striking aspect of Egyptian religious thought†, i.e. â€Å"its obsession with immortality† (11). However, James Henry Breasted found quite an interesting explanation for the existence of such beliefs and â€Å"popularity† of mummification. He claims This insistent belief in a hereafter may perhaps have been †¦ greatly favored and influenced by the fact that the conditions of soil and climate resulted in such a remarkable preservation of the human body as may be found under natural conditions nowhere else in the world. (Breasted 49) Thus, the nature itself influenced the beliefs of ancient Egyptians who worked out certain techniques to preserve human body. It goes without saying that elite had more elaborate funer al than poor people did. However, it is important to note that all people were to be buried in accordance with the necessary rituals. More so, there was even a law concerning people dying in the Nile. According to this law all people, irrespective of their social status and wealth, be it an Egyptian or a foreigner, who died in the Nile (even if the person was unidentified) should be buried â€Å"by the inhabitants of the city† and all the necessary rituals should be carried out (Chan et al. 2032). This precision is due to the beliefs that deceased who