Egyptian beliefs about death grew from the ideas of order in Maat and Isfet and the story of Osiris in The Osiris Myth. Egyptians believed that death was not the end but a passage to a new life.
Key idea
| Need | Why | How it was met |
|---|---|---|
| A body | the parts of the person returned to it | mummification and a safe tomb |
| A name | a name spoken keeps its owner alive | names carved in the tomb, said by visitors |
| Offerings | the dead still needed food and drink | family and priests brought them; texts and pictures made them last |
Why it works
Changes over time
The oldest religious texts, in the pyramids of the late Old Kingdom, describe the king’s afterlife: he rises to the sky, joins the sun god and becomes a star. In later periods more and more people hoped for the same blessed life. From the Middle Kingdom on, a justified dead person could be called "the Osiris N", joined with the god who had died and lived again. You will follow these texts in the unit on funerary texts.
Worked example: Why carve a name?
- A name spoken kept its owner alive.
- The more often it appears, the more likely it is to be read and remembered.
- Visitors reading it aloud fed his memory, and so his life.
Answer: To keep his name, and himself, alive.
Worked example: Reading a phrase
- "The Osiris" joins Senbi to the god who rose again.
- "True of voice" says he passed the judgment.
- Both are hopes for his new life.
Answer: Rebirth like Osiris, and a good verdict at the judgment.
Common mistake