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Logan Kraus

Calhoun Kevin

Rel 2300 01Z

13 September 2018

Life After Death in Ancient Egypt

While the common name of the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians is unclear, it is agreed

upon that the beliefs were a collection of polytheistic ideas along with rituals that were made

from these polytheistic beliefs. Gaining access to the afterlife was not an easy task at first in

Ancient Egypt. Most people did not obtain an afterlife at first unless they were a pharaoh or a

noble. Over time that idea became obsolete and anyone could achieve life after death. The

afterlife is not a completion of life it is only one step in the process to eternal happiness. There

was no hell, only nonexistence if one failed the tests presented by the God Osiris. There are

many ways one could be denied access to the afterlife, but they all start with the confession to

Osiris. Once the decision was final one then would move or cease to exist. Lastly, many rituals

and practices were contained in ancient Egypt’s beliefs. The most common ones would be

mummification and the building of pyramids. Ancient Egypt has a rich religious background that

can spur out in many different directions because of the number of gods that they had beliefs in.

Obtaining life after death is the goal in the process of achieving eternal happiness in the

eyes of ancient Egypt’s religion. In order to have life after death one must first die. After a

person is deceased they would then place the body in a tomb. If one is higher up in the social

rankings, one may get a sarcophagus inside of the tomb. The thought of the ancient Egyptians

was that the soul is trapped in the body and the amulets and paintings in the tomb help guide the

soul to the afterlife (Mark “Life to Life”). Anubis, guide of the dead, shows the souls to the hall
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of two truths, where the soul waits along with others for judgement from Osiris. This already

shows how polytheistic views influenced the Egyptians. By having a God for almost every

aspect of life, their religion was engrained into the society and became a part of everyday life.

According to Joshua Mark “the soul then goes in front of Osiris, Anubis, Ammut, and 42 other

judges to be judge on their negative confession” (Life to Life). The confession is of 42 sins that

they have not committed such as: I have not stolen, I have not uttered lies, I have not uttered

curses, and so forth. If the confession is accepted, one must give their heart to Osiris to weigh

against the white feather on the golden scale. If one’s heart is heavier than the feather they

destroy the heart and one ceases to exist. If the heart is lighter one moves on to the next step in

the process. The last step is the field of Reeds. Scholars believe that getting to the field of reeds

is the hard part “To attain the Field of Reeds, the deceased must not only survive the journey

through the Underworld, and be justified at the tribunal of Osiris, he or she must also have their

physical form, name and soul preserved” (Bronwyn 18). This is one of the reasons that the

bodies are preserved in tombs; without the physical form the journey after death will be for

nothing. There, one would meet Hraf-hef an unpleased Ferryman. The task is to be kind to the

man no matter how he acts or what happens. Once this is complete according to Mark “the soul

returns to the life it had left behind, but the soul is with all of their favorite people, animals,

possessions, and in the presence of the 110 gods” (The Field of Reeds). The journey to the

afterlife is a long process where one has to complete many tasks and go through trial like events

in order to be granted eternal happiness. This is a common theme in most religious after lives.

Eternal happiness. What does that look like? That can be wide open to interpretation and

in many religions it is just one’s own interpretation of how the afterlife will be. Most afterlives

have a few of the same key things. The first key thing that happens in all afterlives is eternal
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happiness and that was true for ancient Egyptians. Another reward of reaching the afterlife was

immortality according to Bronwyn. Lastly, one was in the presence of all 110 gods from ancient

Egypt. Mark states that” they enjoy the life that was left behind on earth” (Field of Reeds). This

is meaning that they are with all of their favorite deceased people, animals, and possessions and

that they live in peace with them in eternal happiness. The basis of the Egyptian afterlife is living

a good and virtuous life while working hard and then after death one will be rewarded with

eternal life, happiness, and free from the evil in one’s life on earth. It is just a continuation of a

previous life, but made to be the ideal situation.

In Egypt, making it into the afterlife was a major concern for everyone in the society.

There were many ways and many points in life or after death that one could ruin the chance of

living out a peaceful life after death. Unlike Christianity, there was no hell in the polytheistic

views of religion for Egypt. The view was either one makes it to the afterlife or one stops

existing, which in the ancient Egyptian’s culture is way worse than any type of hell. Scholars

found that the God of death was Osiris” Osiris had been murdered by his brother Seth but lived

again in the underworld as king of the dead. The people looked to Osiris to give them, too, a life

after death” (Sherman 37). He was the final decider. The souls journeyed through Hell and lined

up on his behalf awaiting to be judged to get into the afterlife. If once he put the heart on the

scale and it weighed more than the feather one would have their heart eaten by Ammut, the

‘Female devourer of the dead’ (Mark). That’s one way to cease to exist. Another way is if one

has committed a sin and lied to the judges during the Negative confession. When they come

together to talk, if they find out one has lied they would not accept the confession and the soul

would not be granted into the afterlife. Lastly, one must have their body persevered while their

soul is on the journey to the afterlife. If the body is not preserved it can not be used in the
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afterlife and the soul has lost its home, leaving it without a body and no way to function. The

idea of not existing scared the Egyptian population so much that most followed the guidelines so

that they could have eternal happiness.

In the Egyptian culture there were many practices and rituals of what they did to promote

a healthy afterlife. It went from creating tombs and painting the walls, to leaving the person’s

favorite objects with them, all the way to harvesting organs and mummifying the pharos and

placing them in sarcophaguses in pyramids. According to Mark “amulets attached to the body,

were provided to remind the soul of its continued journey and to calm and direct it to leave the

body and proceed on.” (Life to Life). These objects were to serve as reminders in the afterlife.

Paintings and drawings were used to help guide the souls into the afterlife. One of the rituals was

the preservation of people because the body and soul must be preserved in order to have a

prosperous afterlife. The organs were harvested and due to the dryness of the desert the body did

not decay as fast and was kept, for the most part, intact because of the way it was drained of

fluids and organs. Since life after death was just as important as the mortal life on earth the

rituals and burying of people was taken seriously. The last ritual was that kin were buried in the

same tomb and or one was to buried with coworkers, but the leader or higher up officials never

were buried with lower class people unless they were kin.

The Egyptians were a highly religious civilization, religion was ingrained in everyday life

and was a part of every activity that they partook in. Being granted access into the afterlife was

the goal of many in this culture. It was a long hard path of good deeds and honest behavior,

followed by the perseveration of the body and one’s spirit making it through tasks and judgments

by the gods. The way to the afterlife was always through Osiris and he was the God of the dead.

Once through him there was only one more test to prove your soul was pure, then it was eternal
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life and happiness. There was no Hell or bad place to go, one just simply didn’t exist if they were

not worthy of the afterlife and that was the worst way to go because one would not be

surrounded by loved ones in the life after death. Lastly, there were many rituals among the

Egyptians but mummification and burying the dead were the most prominent ones after

worshiping the countless gods they had and offering sacrifices. Through it all the old Egyptian

religion has faded away into modern society and is not the same as it was before but is still a

great study and an inspiring tale of life after death.

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Works Cited

Bronwyn, Cambell. “Egyptian antiquities from the Louvre: journey to the Afterlife.” Ebscohost
Artonview Art and Architecture Source, No 48, pp. 14-21,2006, WN 0619610594006
Hollar, Sherman. Ancient Egypt. vol. 1st ed, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2012. Ancient
Civilizations. EBSCOhost, db02.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=364306&site=ehost-live.
Mark, Joshua J. “Egyptian Afterlife - The Field of Reeds.” Ancient History Encyclopedia,
Ancient History Encyclopedia, 12 Sept. 2018, www.ancient.eu/article/877/egyptian-
afterlife---the-field-of-reeds/.