All human beings have at one time discussed the idea of death. For the ancient Egyptians, physical death was not definitive, but the first step in a journey that could lead to eternal life. What we know about the vision of death is recorded in the well-known “Book of the Dead”, a document currently found in the British Museum in London.
Thousands of copies of this document have been found, with the “Papiro de Ani” being the most preserved.
The essence of life after death
This book describes what happens to the human soul after death. It contains all the tests that must be overcome before reaching the room where the final judgment will be held, on which men’s hearts weigh . In this sense, some Egyptologists believe that the contents of this book are the keys to the afterlife. Book of the Dead
From earthly death to paradise
When someone died, their internal organs were kept in containers, the canupias. The rest of the body was modified in a complex embalming procedure. Next to the mummy deposited in the sarcophagus, the Egyptians placed an ” instruction manual”, known as the Book of the Dead (its original title is different and usually translated as “The Book of Going Out into the Light” or “Exiting into the Light of Day” ”).
In this document appears the entire procedure related to the journey of the human soul after death.
Some of the indications contained are as follows:
1) a detailed analysis of the mummification process (extraction of the body’s internal organs except the heart; the corpse is covered in salt so that this substance can absorb body moisture; the body is covered with vegetable and animal oil ; inside the body, conifer resins and ointments are introduced to prevent decomposition and after this process the permanent flax of the body is sold); Book of the Dead
2) once mummification was done as a starting point, the ancient Egyptians believed that the soul was in the empty body of the mummy;
3) so that the deceased’s soul could see and speak at the final judgment, the mummy had a hole in its mouth and eyes;
4) the spirit of the deceased meets the god Anubis in the afterlife and he is in charge of opening the mouth of the deceased so that he can defend himself before the gods at the final judgment;
5) in the room trial , a judge of the gods asks questions about the behavior of the past deceased;
6) if the answers are correct, the god Osiris determines the final sentence;
7) if Osiris’ evaluation were positive, the individual’s spirit would live eternally in the fields of Aaru, equivalent to Paradise.
