“The ancient Egyptians saw the resurrection of Osiris as a guarantee of their own immortality beyond the tomb. Thousands of inscribed and painted tombs unearthed near the Nile Valley indicate that the ancient Egyptians believed that as long as the deceased If relatives and friends do to the dead what the gods did to the corpse of Osiris, then everyone will live forever in the other world. Therefore, the rituals performed by people towards the dead are completely copied from those of Anubis, Isis and others. The rituals performed by Osiris: the dead person is Osiris, the mourning women are Isis and Nephthys, and his friends represent the gods who appear in the myth of Osiris. In this way, each mummy becomes Osiris's 'Copy', and even the name of this god has become the prefix of the name of the deceased: for example, the name in life is 'someone', then the name after death is 'Osiris-someone'. But the above is not the most important thing in gaining eternal life. step.
The ancient Egyptians believed that in addition to the external body and heart (the seat of wisdom and emotions), each person is composed of five different parts: the guardian spirit Ka (Ka) is the source of life; the body soul Ba (Ba) is the personality or soul. The spirit; the good soul Atis (Akh) is the combination of the guardian spirit and the body and soul, which can make the deceased move at will; the name (Ren) and the shadow (Shuwt) have an invisible protection. These five parts are of great significance in the dangerous journey to the underworld after death. The good soul represents the last and most complete form of existence. This is what every ancient Egyptian longed for. Once formed, it will exist forever. . Some lucky souls lived with Osiris in Paradise, a place known as the Reedy Fields, which lay beneath the western horizon and consisted of a series of islands that could only be reached by boat. The formation of a good soul depends on the successful disposal of the body.
The ancient Egyptians believed that in order to enjoy the afterlife, three conditions must be met: the body must be kept in a holy environment; a steady stream of sacrifices must be offered to the guardian spirit; and the name of the deceased must be frequently chanted by prayers. To meet the above conditions, the first step is to make a mummy. It was a complex procedure involving many delicate surgeries and elaborate rituals, including dehydration of the body using a salt that absorbs water and then removal of the internal organs; then coating it with sesame oil and turpentine, and coating it with linen. Cloth wrapped. People who did this kind of work needed to be experienced and skilled, so they enjoyed a high reputation at the time and their fees were very expensive. Initially, mummification was only the privilege of the royal family, but later anyone had the right to do so as long as they could afford it.
The rituals of placing the corpse in the coffin and the mausoleum are equally complex. The mummified corpse is placed in a coffin filled with spells and pictures to bless the deceased living in the underground world. Some coffins are also made into A humanoid resemblance to the deceased. Rich people also have a beautifully carved sarcophagus, and the wooden coffin is placed inside the sarcophagus for better protection. The mausoleum is seen as another coffin, with pictures on the walls of the deceased's daily life in the other world, and around the coffin everything the deceased needed: furniture, clothing, food, tools, a boat (for navigation), and The buried papyrus scrolls, such as the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Gates of the Earth, and the Book of the Cave, help the soul overcome the various disasters of the journey to the underworld.
In addition, in order to obtain the favor of the gods, the ancient Egyptians would also mummify animals. Because ancient Egypt was the core area of animal worship, in prehistoric times, every animal there was worshiped as a god. In 450 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus (approximately 484 BC - 425 BC, a great ancient Greek historian, author of the famous historical work "History", and the founder of Western literature .An outstanding representative of humanism. Since ancient Roman times, Herodotus has been revered as the 'Father of History' in the West, and this name is still used today) claiming that all animals, 'wild or domesticated, without exception' are considered sacred'. People believe in a certain animal because they believe that the animal represents the power of a certain god. In order to ensure that the animal can convey the owner's message to the god, they mummify the animal in the hope of receiving the corresponding god's favor.
In the great Hermospolis, the holy city of Thoth, the god of wisdom, people carefully feed Thoth's sacred bird, the ibis, for the purpose of sacrifice. When the time comes, they pay a reward and ask the monks to select a suitable one. ibis, killed and buried in the catacombs. This kind of thing was so common at the time that it was so common that later archaeologists discovered more than 1.5 million ibis mummies. By the time of Greco-Roman rule, this sacrificial process gradually had a set of formal rules. The ancient Egyptians could take any animal from a mongoose to a crocodile to a bull, even an egg! All were mummified, but their choices were limited by income. The cost of mummifying a mongoose is very small, but it is different to mummify a crocodile, so generally speaking, if a large animal is used as a sacrifice and mummified, it will be a collective behavior of the entire community, and all costs will be shared by everyone in the community.
In many cases, animals are not just messengers of the soul. Ancient Egyptians loved their pets and hoped that these pets would accompany them in the next life. Pictures on many tombs often show people with their dogs. Cats were the favorite pets of ancient Egyptians. One of the most common themes in the tombs is that the sun god Ra transformed into a cat and defeated Apophis, the giant snake that prevented the sun from rising every day.
Herodotus was struck by the eagerness with which the Egyptians protected their cats when their houses burned. 'No one even put out the slightest effort to put out the fire, because only the cat is the most critical. Even if it can jump out of the fire pit with just a slight jump, people do not hesitate to jump into the fire to save it. Once a cat is burned to death, people grieve. Even for a cat that dies of natural causes, a family will be sad for a long time. 'According to Herodotus, cats were mummified after they died, similar to how humans are mummified. However, later archaeologists used X-ray examinations and discovered that the cat needed to be strangled before it could be mummified.
Cattle played an important role in an agricultural country, and bulls, like lions, were symbols of strength, which gave them a place in the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, who often associated them with gods and pharaohs. During religious festivals, they were dressed up and cheered by people; after death, people gave them the treatment that only pharaohs could enjoy, held ceremonies for them, and mummified them.
The worship of animals reached its peak during the Greco-Roman period. According to Herodotus, anyone found guilty of intentionally killing a sacred animal would be summarily executed. 400 years later, Theotodos was immediately lynched after witnessing a Roman official accidentally killing a cat. By the 4th century AD, the situation of Egypt's native animals became dangerous. According to a Roman official's account of hippopotamuses: 'They are no longer to be found... As inhabitants of this land, they are hunted and slaughtered in large numbers. 'After the lion and leopard became extinct, the hippopotamus followed. The disappearance of these animals seems to reflect the decline of Egypt. "——Adapted from the WeChat public account: Read the myth "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Underworld of Ancient Egypt" in three minutes.
