Religious Thought of the Afterlife

Abstract

The inhabitants of the Nile were deeply concerned with the supernatural, and their social, religious, and political lives were marked by this belief. For them, death was not an end but a beginning, a transitional phase. It is worth noting that the Egyptian practice of mummification has parallels with the myth of Isis and Osiris, as priests were influenced by this myth and performed the mummification process. The Egyptians in the pre-dynastic period did not practice mummification because there was no perceived need for it. The Coffin Texts of the mid-third millennium BC contain concise texts that pertained to the tomb itself, not the deceased, and consisted of magical formulas directed against those who might plunder it. After the deceased's body was prepared and mummified, it was handed over to the family for burial. The Egyptian burial process was dramatic and poignant. The family of the deceased did not hesitate to feign grief in public. Four other boats were used to transport those who wished to accompany the deceased to their final resting place. All the funerary furniture was placed on these boats, leaving only the removal of the coffin and the furniture. The funerary and his arrangement in the tomb, then many things such as sticks, weapons and amulets were placed around him. These ceremonies were specific to kings, princes and members of the wealthy class, while members of the lower classes were buried with simple ceremonies in modest tombs or they took advantage of old tombs and expanded them a little, and the coffin was placed in them. As for the gods of the afterlife, they are: Khenti-Amintu; Anbu or Anubis; Osiris; Meret-Sokar; Atum; Kherti: a god in the form of a ram, whose task was to carry the deceased to the afterlife; and Thoth.