In New Kingdom Egypt, were the poor allowed to have afterlife?
I’m writing an essay on Egyptian afterlife during Ramesside Period.
I’ve got all the info on Book of the Dead etc, but i was wondering what actually happens to the Egyptians of lower social status as they could not afford funerary books and didn’t get their own tomb or undergo a mummification progress. Would they still go on the journey with the Weighing of the Heart etc? thanks
poor people in ancient Egypt were generally buried in the sand, and the hot dryness had a similar effect on their bodies to mummification. In fact the process of mummification was invented so that bodies buried in tombs would still be preserved like the bodies were in the sand. So I think the poor would have expected to go to the afterlife as well, since their bodies too were preserved.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:25 am
The after-life was strictly for the king. This was a feature of all primitive religions, since the king was the representative on earth of the gods. When he died he was joining his fellow gods in the after-life.
The idea of the king being a god was found in every culture up to the Romans. Afterwards kings claimed only to have godlike characteristics; bu they did not fool everybody.
In the Middle ages the idea was enshrined in Dieu et mon Droit.
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September 1st, 2009 at 3:12 am
poor people in ancient Egypt were generally buried in the sand, and the hot dryness had a similar effect on their bodies to mummification. In fact the process of mummification was invented so that bodies buried in tombs would still be preserved like the bodies were in the sand. So I think the poor would have expected to go to the afterlife as well, since their bodies too were preserved.
References :
September 1st, 2009 at 3:24 am
Afterlife, if exists, is beyond the authority of any human being or institution to regulate.
As to whether the ancient Egyptians believed about the subject, you already have replies.
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September 1st, 2009 at 3:33 am
Yes, there were abbreviated "books of the dead" dependant on your financial status. Infact, mummification was more than likley a result of observations on the drying effects of the naturally occurring mineral, "Natron" on the burials of the poor.
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September 1st, 2009 at 3:39 am
O course they where. After all the Pharaoh in his afterlife was not going to cook his own food or do any work. He was a god.
The Egyptian idea of the afterlife was very much the same as their normal everyday existence, except there was plenty of food and drink, the hunting was good and everyone had a bliss full after life with their dead ancestors having the same social standing as when they were alive i.e. if you where a stone mason when you where alive, you where a stone mason in the afterlife. Providing they passed the weighing of the heart.
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