The Afterlife In Heaven And The Netherworld

Preface:The ancient Egyptian religion is a very important content of studying the ancient Egyptian civilization, which can play a role of golden key to open the gate of the ancient Egyptian culture. The discussion about life and death is always a central issue, on whose basis we could understand the nature, the society, the gods and the man. We should display its evolution from a proper perspective, lest we are caught in a dilemma---analyzing all the aspects but in vain. Retrieving the change on the sites of the afterlife, this dissertation attempts to show the evolution of the ancient Egyptian's idea of the afterlife from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom and uncover the issues beneath the religious faith, such as the rising and falling of the kingship, and polytheism.The change of the ancient Egyptian's attitude toward the afterlife has attracted some scholars'attention for a long time, such as A. Weidemann, Siegfried Morenz, Pu Muzhou. However, they only mentioned it in a too brief manner, except for J. H. Breasted's Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt. Scholars have achieved a lot in the ancient Egyptian's idea of the afterlife, which focus on the organization of the funeral literature, the concept of soul, gods and the conviction of the afterlife, the attitude to death, morality and the idea of the afterlife.The objective of this paper is to discuss some important issues through the research into the change of the sites of the afterlife. Firstly, it will observe the changed sites of the ancient Egyptian's afterlife. Secondly, we want to show the evolution of the idea of the afterlife which is related to the changed sites of the afterlife. Thirdly, we will reveal the objective reasons which lead to the change. As an important component of religious belief, the research of the idea of the afterlife should follow the basic religious researching methods. However, religious belief is a complicated socio-cultural phenomenon. Thus, this paper will adopt a multi-disciplinary perspective, including the religious, historical, sociological and archaeological method.Chapter I:The core content and foundation of the idea of the afterlife is that people believes that soul does not die. There were three ancient Egyptian's concepts on soul, they were ka, ba and akh. Ka was the force of life and transmitted by the God to the world at the beginning of the Creation, and it was not only present in the gods and the human but also in the living and the dead. Ka came with the birth of a man and gone with him after he died. Ka was transmitted by fathers to their children and present in food and drink. Ba was described as a bird with human head by the ancient Egyptian, which was more similar to the concept of the soul than Ka. Ba appeared only when a person died and could move freely. Ba kept a close relationship with corpse. The state of existence which the deceased aimed to reach in the afterlife was called akh which associated with the qualities and prerogatives of gods. In order to being eternal, the ancient Egyptians had to prepare a lot among which a well equipped tomb, regular sacrifice and moral purity were necessary.Under the enlightenment of the nature, the idea that the dead would transform to the eternal soul was produced among the ancient Egyptians. There was close relationship between the regular changes of the nature and the daily life of the ancient Egyptians under the special geographical environment. Among the huge amounts of regular circles of the natural phenomena, the sun and the Nile affected the Egyptians most, which led to the myth of the sun and Osiris. The Sun God and Osiris were the eternal life symbol in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians expected the dead could have eternal life through accompanying the Sun God or becoming Osiris.The life was absorbed in the circled rhythm of the university by the ancient Egyptians. In order to realize the regular rhythm, the ancient Egyptians had to depend on God-King. There was a special idea of God-King in ancient Egypt. The kings who guaranteed the world work according to the rhythm of the university were both the god and the man. So the life of man as a part of the life of the university was influenced by God-King inevitably.Chapter II:The strong autocratic kingship and stable idea of God-King were prominent characters in ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom. As the mirror of the reality, the afterlife reflected all kinds of things in the real life inevitably. So the kings had privileges which the ordinary person couldn't enjoy in the afterlife. The Pyramid Texts were supposed to be of special service to the deceased kings in the Old Kingdom. The death of the kings was not accepted, and only the deceased kings could enjoy the title of Osiris in the Pyramid Texts. In addition, the kings used to equip the nobles'tombs in order to show their unique strength and privileges in the afterlife.The remarkable privilege that indicated the kings'outstanding status was on the sites of the afterlife. In the Old Kingdom, the afterlife in heaven only belonged to the deceased kings. As the typical tombs of the kings, pyramids were the symbol of the sun worship and the place for the deceased kings ascending to the sky. Analyzing Duat, the field of reeds, the field of offering, Akhet, we obtain the results that the kings'journey of the afterlife was just like the sunset and sunrise. The kings would ascend to the heaven and be eternal as the gods, the sun and the unwearying star after they died. On the soul of the deceased kings, ka and akh were specially emphasized in the Pyramid Texts because both of them took great action on ensuring the life-force to the afterlife and showed the divinity of the deceased kings. Though mixed with the faith in Osiris, the sun worship affected the afterlife of the kings mainly in the Old Kingdom. So the solar myth in the Pyramid Texts permeated Osiris worship.The afterlife of the nobles which was different to the deceased kings'located in the west in the Old Kingdom. According to the reliefs and scenes from the tombs of the nobles, we can found that the afterlife of the nobles was described as the reality, which was different from the holy and unreal afterlife belonging to the deceased kings exclusively. In addition, unlike the deceased kings, the epitaph of the nobles emphasized ka of the deceased only.Not only the kings but also the nobles must prepare for the afterlife in order to go to the afterlife smoothly. Firstly, the corpse must not be rotted, which led to make mummy. Secondly, tombs must be constructed. The architectural style of the kings'tombs and the internal inscription indicated that the deceased kings would ascend to the heaven after they died. And the tombs of the nobles were like the living room of the deceased. Moreover, there was difference on the time that the sacrifice preserved distinguishing the kings and the nobles. Finally, both the kings and the nobles would be judged after they died, and the judgment was controlled by the Sun God mainly in this period.Chapter III:The kingship was weaker in the Middle Kingdom than that in the Old Kingdom, while the force of the local nobles strengthened relatively, which is showed by the following aspects. Firstly, the struggle for the kingship was very intense. Secondly, the absolutely dominantly economic status of the kings was shaken in the Middle Kingdom. Thirdly, the kings had limited control over the local nomes. The change of the kingship influenced the ancient Egyptian's idea of the afterlife directly, which brought about the trend of'democratization of the Hereafter'. The funeral rites enjoyed only by the deceased kings originally were used by the local nomarchs in this period. And later, they were used by the common who could afford to the necessary funeral equipment and contexts.In the'democratization of the hereafter', the difference on the sites of the afterlife for the deceased kings and the deceased nobles disappeared gradually. The Coffin Texts which were the most important funeral literature were not only used by the royal, but also by the local nomarchs and their families. Some parts of the Coffin Texts indicated that all the deceased be protected by them could ascend to the heaven, while much more realistic content was added to the afterlife in heaven. A new word'Rosetjau'emerged to indicate the afterlife in the Coffin Texts. Through the analysis of its meaning, we can find the netherworld ruled by Osiris was also a site of the afterlife which co-exited with the heaven. The change happened because the status of the Sun God was shaken by the turbulent society, and then its influence on the idea of the afterlife was weakened. In this case, Osiris was worshipped by more and more people gradually. Along with'democratization of the hereafter'and the change of the sites of the afterlife, the dead besides the deceased kings could also live as akh , and ba was emphasized more and more.Compared to the Old Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians in the Middle Kingdom were afraid of the death. Many spells in the Coffin Texts indicated the worry and uncertainty about the afterlife. This doubt was caused by the turbulent society. But people at that time didn't give up pursuing the eternal life yet.The change on the sites of the afterlife promoted the development of the funeral customs. Mummy masks, anthropoid coffins appeared in this period, and the decoration of the coffins showed the coexistence of the heaven and the netherworld. The pyramids demonstrated the highest ideal of the kings to ascend to the heaven, while the cliff tombs indicated the nobles'hope to accompany the sun. The faith in Osiris began to influence the funeral customs in this period gradually. For example, the ancient Egyptians built the cenotaphs for themselves at Abydos, and Osiris became the prominent judge of the dead on their ethics.Chapter IV:The most prominent feature on the evolution of the idea of God-King in the New Kingdom was the increasing emphasis on the humanity of the pharaohs. As a result, the holy religious status of the pharaohs suffered a serious debasement compared with gods. In this context, on the issues relating to the afterlife people were more inclined to rely on the supreme gods. In the private epitaph, the deceased were willing to show the intimacy with gods except the traditional autobiography. In addition, according to the decorative theme of the graves, gods occupied a dominant position. The Book of the Dead which was the most important funeral literature in the New Kingdom was the collection of spells engaging in gods'help.Analyzing Duat, Rosetjau, the field of reeds, the field of offering in the Book of the Dead, we find it seemed that the sites of the afterlife in the New Kingdom were just like them in the Middle Kingdom. But it is not so. Some spells in the Book of the Dead implied that the Sun God and Osiris reconciled, yet there was no definite statement of the fact. Finally, we found the answer from the funeral literature the Book of Am-Duat and the Book of Gates belonging to the pharaohs exclusively in the New Kingdom. The Sun God and Osiris reconciled like ba and the corpse, which made the heaven and the netherworld link up. The unification of the sun worship and Osirian myth brought about by the development of religion had dual bases on both of the belief and reality. For the unification, ba was emphasized more and more by the ancient Egyptians.The Egyptians in the New Kingdom had the same feeling on the death as who did in the middle kingdom. But they had not given up pursuing the eternality. Though worried about the death obviously, what they were different from those in the Middle Kingdom is that they depended on gods more.The unified sites of the afterlife promoted the new development of the funeral equipment and construction of tombs. The reconciliation of the Sun God and Osiris was showed not only by golden mummy masks, rishi coffins, anthropoid coffins but also by the inscription in the King Valley, the new type of the Ramesside nobles'tombs, which implied the change on the sites of afterlife. However, Osiris played a leading role in the idea of the afterlife during the New Kingdom. We can also get a glimpse from the Osirian judge of the dead which was emphasized by the Egyptians in the New Kingdom.Conclusion:What the ancient Egyptians pursued with hardship was how to carry the real life to the afterlife infinite with the aid of all kinds of forces in thousands of years. From the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom, the heaven ruled by the Sun God and the netherworld ruled by Osiris were two important sites in the ancient Egyptian's idea of the afterlife. With the development of the society, the two sites move toward the unification from the separation. Finally, the journey of the ancient Egyptian dead on the afterlife became a circled dynamic process in the New Kingdom. According to the change on the sites of the afterlife, we can observe the evolution on the view of moral, the attitude to the death, the funeral customs. More importantly, through the idea of the afterlife, we can reveal the development of the ancient Egyptian characteristic polytheism as well as ups and downs of the kingship hidden in its background.