1.1173 "A Wandering Guide to the Underworld in Ancient EgyptPart 2"
"The ancient Egyptians regarded the resurrection of Osiris as the guarantee of their eternal life outside the tomb. Thousands of inscriptions and pictures unearthed near the Nile Valley show that the ancient Egyptians believed that as long as the relatives and friends of the dead do what the gods did to the dead like the bodies of Osiris, then everyone will live forever in another world. Therefore, the rituals held by people for the dead were completely copied by Anubis, Isis, and others for Osiris.
The rituals held by Sir: the dead are Osiris, the mourning women are Isis and Nefftis, and his friends represent the gods who appear in Osiris' myth. In this way, each mummy becomes a "replica" of Osiris, and even the name of this god becomes the prefix of the name of the deceased: for example, the name before his death is "So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-S
The ancient Egyptians believed that in addition to the external body and mind (where wisdom and emotion are located), each person consists of five different parts: the guardian spirit card is the source of life; the body and soul Ba is the personality or spirit; the good soul Athis (Akh) is the combination of the guardian spirit and the body and soul, which allows the dead to move at will; the name (Ren) and the shadow (Shuwt) have an invisible protection. These five parts have important significance in the dangerous underworld trips experienced after death. The good soul represents the last and most complete form of existence, which is what every ancient Egyptian desires and will always exist once formed. Some lucky souls live in heaven with Osiris, a place called a reed land, located below the western horizon, composed of a series of islands, and can only be reached by boat. The formation of good souls depends on the successful handling of corpses.
The ancient Egyptians believed that three conditions must be met for the enjoyment of life after death: the corpse must be preserved in a holy environment; the sacrifices must be given to the guard spirits continuously; the names of the dead must be often chanted by the prayers. To meet the above conditions, the first step is to make a mummy. This is a complex procedure, including many meticulous surgeries and exquisite rituals, including the dehydration of the corpse - the substance used is a kind of salt that absorbs moisture, and then removes the internal organs; then coated with sesame oil and rosin, and then wrapped in linen. People who do this work must be experienced and skilled, so they enjoyed a high reputation at the time and were very expensive. Initially, making mummies was only a royal privilege, and later, as long as they could afford the fee, anyone had the right to do so.
The rituals of putting corpses into coffins are equally complex. The corpses made into mummies are placed in coffins filled with spells and pictures to bless the dead in the underground world. Some of the coffins are also made into human forms similar to those of the dead. The rich also have a beautifully carved sarcophagus, and the wooden coffins are placed in the sarcophagus, which can be protected better. The tomb is regarded as another coffin, with pictures of the daily life of the dead in another world on the wall, and everything the dead needs is placed around the coffin: furniture, clothes, food, tools, ships (for sailing), and burials of sand paper scrolls, such as "The Book of the Dead", "The Book of the Earth", and "The Book of the Cave", which helps the soul overcome various disasters of the trip to the underworld.
In addition, in order to gain the favor of God, the ancient Egyptians also made mummies for animals. Because ancient Egypt was the core area of animal worship, every animal there was worshipped as a god in the prehistoric period. In 450 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus (about 484 BC to 425 BC, the great ancient Greek historian, the author of the historic masterpiece "History", the founder of Western literature. The outstanding representative of humanism. Since the ancient Roman era, Herodotus has been respected as the "father of history" in the West, and this name has been used to this day) claimed that all animals, "wild or domesticated, are regarded as sacred without exception". People believe in certain animals because they believe that animals represent the power of a certain god. In order to ensure that animals can convey their master's message to God, they made mummies for animals in order to get the favor of the corresponding god.
In the holy city of Tot, the god of wisdom, people carefully feed Tot's holy bird ibis for the purpose of sacrifice. When they are paid, they ask monks to choose a suitable ibis, kill it and buried it in the catacomb. This kind of thing was quite common at that time, and it was surprisingly numerous. Later archaeologists discovered more than 1.5 million ibis mummies. By the Greek-Roman rule, this sacrifice process gradually came into being a set of things.
Formal rules. The ancient Egyptians could make any animal, from mongoose to crocodile to bull, or even an egg, into mummies, but their choices were limited by income. The cost of making mummies for mongoose is very small, but it is different to make mummies for a crocodile. So generally speaking, if large animals are used as sacrifices and mummies are made, it will be a collective act of the entire community, and all expenses will be shared by everyone in the entire community.
Many times, animals are not just messengers of the soul. The ancient Egyptians loved their pets and hoped that these pets would be with them in the next life. Many pictures on the tombs often show people carrying their dogs. Cats are the favorite pets of ancient Egyptians. One of the most common themes in the tombs is that the sun god La turned into a cat, defeating Apophis, the giant snake that prevented the sun from rising every day.
Herodotus was very surprised by the Egyptians' eagerness to protect the cat when a house caught fire. ‘No one even took a little effort to put out the fire, because only the cat was the most critical. Even if it could jump out of the fire pit with a light jump, people would jump into the fire to save it. Once the cat was burned to death, people would be very sad. Even for a cat that died naturally, the family would be sad for a long time.’ According to Herodotus, after the cat died, people would mummify it, which was similar to the method of making a human mummy. However, later archaeologists used X-ray examinations to find that before making a cat into a mummy, it was necessary to perform a strangulation ceremony on it.
Cattle play an important role in the agricultural kingdom, and bulls are like lions as symbols of strength, which gives them a place in the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, and people often associate them with God and Pharaohs. On religious festivals, they are dressed up brightly and received cheers from people; after death, they are given treatments that only Pharaohs can enjoy, ceremonies are held for them, and they are made into mummies.
Chapter completed!