Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com

To the Ancient Egyptians death was not the cessation of life but was only a temporary transition or interruption before they enjoyed an eternal existence in the afterlife. This wonderful and mysterious place was every Egyptian’s dream and so the rituals to attaining immortality were the only ticket to being reborn.
Piety to the gods, preservation of the physical form through mummification, provision of statuary and other funerary equipment was as much an integral part of the religion as it ensured a safe journey to the afterlife. So the corpse had to be properly embalmed and entombed in a mastaba before it could live again in the Fields of Yalu and accompany the Sun on its daily ride.

The Egyptians believed that the human consisted of living entities, the “ka”, the “ba”, the “akh”, the “name” and the “shadow”. These elements were necessary to make up a complete personality and had to be sustained and protected from harm to insure that the deceased was successfully integrated into the cosmos and enjoyed immorality in the next life.

To reach a rewarding destination to the afterlife, the deceased had to pass all the tests. But first the process of preserving the body had to be successful, which took 70 days to be completed. Mummification involved removing the internal organs, removing the brain through the nose, and desiccating the body in a mixture of salts called natron. The body was then wrapped in linen with protective amulets inserted between layers and placed in a decorated anthropoid coffin.

The last of the rituals to be performed by the priests on the mummy was called the “Opening of the Mouth.” This ceremony was supposed to magically give the deceased the ability to speak and eat again, and to have full use of his body. After placing the mummy in the sarcophagus, the tomb was sealed.

The deceased then had to wait for the sun god Ra, to come to his tomb. Ra would shine sunlight on the darkness and speak magic words from the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead contained a collection of spells, charms, passwords, numbers and magical formulas that aided the deceased safely through the journey of the afterlife. After Ra speaks these words, the mummies throw off their wrappings and Ra takes them to the Afterlife on his barge.

For the deceased to get to the Field of Reeds which was the happy place where the dead enjoy the rewards of the afterlife. The deceased disembarks in Duat (the underworld) and has to get past seven gates before reaching the final destination. The soul of the deceased is lead by the jackel-headed Anubis, god of mummification, into the Hall of Truth, and is brought forward to be judged by Osiris.

The Egyptians believed that the heart not the brain was the place for emotion and thought; it was the record of its owner’s will and intentions. Basically, the heart was the key to the afterlife as during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, Osiris placed the heart in a scale to be weighed against a feather which represented Ma’at (truth and order).

If the heart did not tip the scale it was deemed worthy and continued on to the Osirian Fields, but if the heart was heavy with sins it was devoured by the demon Ammit (Eater of Hearts) a half dog, half crocodile god, dooming its victim to eternity in Duat. Thoth, the Egyptian god of scribes, wrote down the results. So earning immortality required a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells, passwords, and formulae of the Book of the Dead. The loop-hole around this was being buried with a “surrogate” heart to replace the owner’s for the Weighing of the Heart ceremony.

The Egyptians centered their lives on their religion and rituals to finally be rewarded with immortality, but the fear of a “second death” was to be the worst fate imaginable! Not only was it a sorrowful destiny but was considered total oblivion. So to guarantee eternal happiness having a good, honest heart was the most essential element to a safe journey into the Afterlife.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
Egypt Tours

Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com

The Ancient Egyptians both respected and feared the power of the crocodile. Both the strength and speed of the crocodile became symbolic of the power of the Pharaoh, being that its strength and energy of the animal became the manifestation of the Pharaoh’s own power, showing the ruler’s might.

Sobek (Sobeq, Sebek, Sochet or Suchos) was the god who brought fertility to the land, the “Lord of the Waters,” who rose from the “Dark Water” and created the world and order in the universe. Sobek first appeared in the Old Kingdom as the son of Neith with the epithet “The Rager” and it is suggested that Seth, god of hostility and chaos was his father. The word ’sovereign’ was written with the hieroglyph of a crocodile this way the crocodile or Sobek would be linked to the Pharaoh, the sovereign of Egypt. It was believed that Sobek could protect the Pharaoh from dark magic. During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, the cult of Sobek was given particular prominence and a number of rulers incorporated him in their coronation names.

Sobek was often depicted either as a crocodile-headed man or as a full crocodile, he was shown wearing a plumed headdress with a horned sun disk or the Atef crown (associating him with Amun-Ra) and in his hand he was shown carrying the Was scepter (representing power) and the Ankh (representing the breath of life).

The Egyptians believed that besides having the form of a crocodile, Sobek also had its nature. He could also use this force to protect the justified dead in their after life from Seth, who attacked those souls who traveled through the land of the dead. He was the protector and rescuer of the other gods… yet he could also use that power to savage his enemies and the sinful deceased. He was venerated as one who restored sight and senses to the dead and who protected them. He could bring water and fertility to the land. He was a god that was both feared and respected by the ancient Egyptians.

The tale goes to say that Sobek laid his eggs on the bank of the waters, thus starting the creation process. He was a fertility god, ‘He Who Made the Herbage Green’ with his sweat (of all things…)! This explains his link to the rebirth of the deceased into the afterlife. The Nile and its waters was important for the survival of crops, the success of trade, and the livelihood of fishing, but the waters were filled with crocodiles, so it only made sense that they only way to appease them is by worshiping their leader, Sobek. He was first mentioned in the Pyramid Text and his worship lasted till Roman Times.

Sobek represented the four elemental gods, Ra of fire, Shu of air, Geb of earth, and Osiris of water, making him a fourfold deity. He was revered for his ferocity and quick movement, it is said that he was the god who caught the four mummiform sons of Horus in a net (Imsety the human headed protector of the liver, Hapy the baboon headed protector of the lungs, Duamutef the jackal headed protector of the stomach and Qebehsenuef the falcon headed protector of the intestines), by gathering them as they emerged from the waters in a lotus bloom. He was also considered an aspect of Horus because Horus took the form of a crocodile to retrieve the parts of Osiris’ body which was cut up by the evil Seth who scattered the 13 pieces across the Nile, the intriguing part is he was also associated with Seth too. Sobek was supposed to have aided Isis when she gave birth to Horus. Later he was also worshiped as the manifestation of Amun-Ra and was often depicted wearing either the headdress of Amun or the sundisk of Ra.

The crocodile was revered in ancient Egypt and were considered sacred and protected. Temples were built in their honor, the tame crocodiles kept were decorated with jewels and fed by priests, meat and honey cakes. They were given elaborate and costly burials when they died. The dead crocodiles were mummified with the use of natron or salt, and then they were wrapped in strips of cloth, just as the humans of the time. Many tombs contained not only crocodiles of all ages but also the eggs of crocodiles. While in some places it was worshiped and revered, in other places the reptiles were killed. In ancient Egypt, Sobek was seen as an ambivalent creature.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
Egypt Tours