Ancient Egypt and the afterlife: mummies, the weighing of the heart and the Book of the Dead

The short answer

For the ancient Egyptians death was not an end but a dangerous journey into another life. To succeed, a person needed a preserved body, the right spells and a life lived according to Ma’at, the principle of truth, justice and cosmic order. This belief shaped Egyptian tombs, pyramids, art and writing over about three thousand years.

Ma’at and the gods

Egyptian religion had many gods, and the king, the pharaoh, was seen as a link between gods and people. His task was to uphold Ma’at and keep chaos, called isfet, at bay. Ordinary people were also expected to live justly. This idea of order mattered again at the end of life.

The parts of a person

The Egyptians believed that a person consisted of several parts, not just body and soul. Two of the best known are the ka, a kind of life force that needed offerings, and the ba, often drawn as a bird with a human head, which could move between the tomb and the world of the living. Name and shadow were also parts of a person. All of these needed to be preserved so a person could live on.

Mummification

To keep the body intact the Egyptians developed mummification. Specialists removed the internal organs (except usually the heart), dried the body with natron salt, and wrapped it in linen. The whole process is often described as taking about 70 days. The organs were stored in special jars, and priests performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony so the mummy could breathe, eat and speak in the afterlife. Animals were mummified as well, including cats and sacred ibises.

The journey and the judgement

After death the soul travelled through the Duat, the underworld, which was full of gates, guardians and dangers. In the Hall of Ma’at the god Osiris, ruler of the dead, presided over a judgement. The heart was placed on a scale and weighed against the feather of Ma’at. If the heart was light, the dead person was justified and could go on to the Field of Reeds, a paradise resembling Egypt. If it was heavy with wrongdoing, the creature Ammit, the “devourer”, ate it, and the person ceased to exist.

Spells for the journey

The Egyptians wrote spells to help the dead. The Pyramid Texts, carved in royal pyramids of the Old Kingdom, are among the oldest religious texts in the world. Later, the Coffin Texts made such spells available to more people, and in the New Kingdom the Book of the Dead was written on papyrus and buried with wealthy people. It does not tell one story from start to finish, but is a collection of spells.

Myths and facts

• “The pyramids were built by slaves.” Archaeological evidence points to paid and fed Egyptian workers who lived in nearby settlements.
• “Only pharaohs were mummified.” Wealthier Egyptians and many animals were also mummified.
• “The Egyptians were obsessed with death.” They were rather obsessed with continuing life. Tombs show scenes of farming, feasts and family.

Today scientists study mummies with X-rays and CT scans without unwrapping them, which reveals a lot about health and life in ancient Egypt. The pyramid fields near Giza and Dahshur are part of the UNESCO World Heritage.

Explore it in Temporis

The history app Temporis has a campaign called Egyptian Religion & Afterlife with seven chapters. They cover the gods and Ma’at, the divine pharaoh, the Duat and the parts of the soul, the weighing of the heart, the funerary texts, mummification and tombs, the Osiris myth, the end of Egyptian religion and the Field of Reeds. Lessons are short, end with quizzes and work offline. More on the Temporis page.