| The After Life | ||
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The Ancient Egyptian Religion concepts relating to the afterlife included a judgment, worshiping Osiris, mummification, and the ritual to return life to the deceased. This page is in the process of being written. Check back from time to time to see how it is doing. |
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The Judgment of the Dead |
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| The above is a depiction of the weighing of the heart. The
deceased is escorted to the scale. The heart, here the object on the left scale,
is balanced against the feather of Maat. If the feather outweighs the heart then
the deceased can move to the next stage.. Throth is on hand to record the event.
If the heart outweighs the feather then Ammit, the god with the crocodile head,
lion front legs, and hippopotamus back legs will eat the heart and s the
deceased will be condemned to oblivion for ever. Please note that the Egyptian
depiction of the heart is far more anatomically correct than our traditional
symbol.
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| The above includes the depiction of the weighing the heart as above. This time Anubis holding an anch in his hand is escorting the deceased, it could have been Maat. Throth is there to keep records and Ammit is ready to pounce on the unworthy heart. Next, Horus, holding an anch in his hand escorts the deceased to Osiris, king of the dead, who is attended by both his sisters Isis and Nephthys. The Four Sons of Horus can be seen standing on the open lotus flower. The Wadjet, or the all seeing eye of Re, or eye of Horus is above the scene. | ||
The Judgment of the DeadThe items below are taken from the work of André Dollinger, Reshaffim, Israel This link will take you to Andre's excellent website All Links on this page are to the original site.
You may have to use your
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The tradition of the Judgment of the Dead was
introduced after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, during which the
king as son of Horus had been immortal and as god beyond reproach.
In the Pyramid Texts it was the king who was acting rather than
being acted upon, and the role of the gods was to protect and not to
judge him [5]:
Teti will decide matters, |
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Once the deceased had been justified in the eyes of the
immortals he became worthy of divine protection and guidance:
May Isis kneel over you and wash your newborn form, may she set you |
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| During pre-historic times and the Old Kingdom there
had been attempts at preserving - mainly royal - corpses. The
practice became more common during the First Intermediate Period and
the Middle Kingdom as the concept of immortality was developed.
Mummification through
embalmment reached a technical peak during the New Kingdom when it
was still available to small numbers of people only. The spells
protecting the deceased, one could almost speak of technical literature
or manuals, had at first been inscribed on the tomb walls of kings
(Pyramid Texts), later on the coffins of commoners (Coffin Texts) and
finally been gathered in illustrated scrolls commonly known as Books of
the Dead. |
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PreliminariesThe deceased has been mummified, his heart and other organs removed and placed into the appropriate canopic jars. Incense has been burnt and offerings of food and drink made. The use of his mouth has been returned to him by the opening of the mouth ceremony: He can and must defend himself successfully, otherwise he will be destroyed for ever.Homage to you, Great God, the Lord of the double Ma'at!There is nobody at whose mercy he can throw himself, confessing transgressions, expressing repentance and performing acts of contrition. Wrongdoings must therefore be denied, as in the not very aptly named negative confessions, and through the magic of denial become as if they never have happened: |
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The negative confessionsHe has to confront a formidable array of gods: Bone-Crusher, Shining-Tooth, Blood-Consumer, Flint-Eyes, Entrail-Consumer [1] and many others with less frightening names assembled here from many places all over Egypt. He declares himself innocent of wrong-doing towards the gods and his fellow men.The writing down of these declarations and the knowledge of the gods' names was powerful magic, forcing the gods to accept his protestations of innocence, above all when they were repeated: I am pure. |
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He is received by the god of the Duat, the Realm of the Dead,
and his two sisters, Isis and Nephthys. The four sons of Horus stand on
a lotus flower growing out of the waters over which stands the throne of
Osiris.
Behold, I am in thy presence, O Lord of Amentet (the West). There is no sin in my body. I have not spoken that which is not true knowingly, nor have I done anything with a false heart. Grant thou that I may be like unto those favoured ones who are in thy following, and that I may be an Osiris greatly favoured of the beautiful god, and beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands, I who am a veritable royal scribe who loveth thee, Ani, whose word is true before the god Osiris. |
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The weighing of the heart
Anubis,
master of ceremonies, leads the deceased by his hand to the scales in
the Hall of Maat. In his left hand he holds the ankh, the symbol
of life.
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The scales are topped by Maat, goddess of Justice, Truth and Order,
wearing a feather on her head. Ammut, Devourer of the Dead, whose
... forepart is like that of a crocodile, the middle of her body is like that of a lion, her hind quarters are like those of a hippopotamusis ready to destroy the deceased if his heart should be full of sin and consequently too heavy. The deceased, well aware that he has not led a life as completely blameless as one might have hoped, implores his heart not to give him away, reminds it that their fate is intertwined, promises bliss in the hereafter, and even appeals to its altruism: a judge is happiest when his decision is favourable to the deceased. O my heart of my being! |
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| A jar containing the heart is placed on one of the pans, while the other is weighed down by the feather of Maat. Anubis does the weighing, giving the scales a nudge in the right direction with the ankh. | ||
The recording of the judgment
Thoth, god of
wisdom who had given mankind the hieroglyphs, writes down the decision.
Just as the Egyptians in this world liked to document everything, so did
their gods in the next.
"Come," says Thoth, "why have you come?" |
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Horus leads the way, holding an ankh. The deceased follows
him freely to meet
Osiris, with whom he will be identified.
His heart is righteous, and it hath come forth from the Balance; it hath not sinned against any god or any goddess. Thoth hath weighed it according to the decree pronounced unto him by the Company of the Gods, and it is most true and righteous. Grant thou that cakes and ale may be given unto him, and let him appear in the presence of the god Osiris, and let him be like into the Followers of Horus for ever and ever. |
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And now begins the dangerous journey of the new Osiris through the Underworld. Thanks to the Opening of the Mouth ceremony he is capable to utter the spells necessary to complete his journey Behold, I will gather together to myself this charm from the person with whom it is [and from the place] wherein it is [and it shall come to me] quicker than a greyhound, and swifter than light. |
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| [1] The
pictures on this page are excerpts, courtesy Jon Bodsworth [3] The fourteen gods whom Ani faces in the top picture are: Ra , Atem, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Horus, Isis, Nephthys, Nourishment, Knowledge, Southern Path, Northern Path, Western Path [4] Coffin Texts 4, Jacob Rabinowitz, Isle of Fire, Invisible Books, p.82 [5] The Place of Annihilation already exists in the 5th dynasty Unas Pyramid Texts (Utterance 307), but its doors should not be opened for Unas who does not need judging. Just to make sure, a long line of gods are told: |
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He has not been judged, this Unas has not been judged! He judges, this Unas judges!In Utterance 260, line 316, it appears as if the king wished to be justified for having lived a blameless life. But his wanting to be justified could refer to the court case in line 317 adjudicated by the Two Truths which is not a judgment of the dead. (316) To say the words : 'O Geb, Bull of Nut, Horus is Unas, the heir of his father. Unas is he who went and came back, the fourth of these four gods who have brought the water, who have made a purification, who jubilate over the strength of their fathers. He wishes to be justified in what he has done himself. (317) Unas, the small orphan, went to law with the sister (Tefnet). The Two Truths judged, while Shu was a witness. The Two Truths have decreed that the thrones of Geb should come to him and that he should raise himself to what he wanted. |
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