Intellectual Life

      The Egyptians had a very complex explanation for their existence. Aside from the physical body, each individual had a ka, ba, and akh. According to Egyptian beliefs, infants were placed in the other's womb after being created on a potter's wheel by the god Khnum. For each human crafted, Khnum also made a spiritual duplicate. This was called the ka. The ka was stored in the heart, and at death, was separated from the body. It would inhabit the tomb of the individual to be near the body in which it had spent its life. Like the livign body from which it had come, the ka would need items such as food, clothing, perfume, and furniture.
      The ba was a non-physical element unique to each person. It entered the body at the time of birth and left the body at death. The ba is best described as a person's character or personality, and was depicted as a human-headed bird. When someone died, his or her mummy needed to be transformed into a form that could exist in the afterworld. This form was called the akh. The transformation took place through the use of magical spell said over the mummy.
      A concept central to Egyptian religion was that of Ma'at. This was essentially order, truth, and justice -- at the time of creation. Only by living in accordance with Ma'at could the Egyptians achieve harmony with the gods and be assured entry into the hereafter.

The Afterlife

      The Egyptian concept of the afterlife is a reflection of their zeal for life and their optimistic outlook. The Egyptians saw the afterlife as a duplication of the best moments on Earth. They expected that, in their afterlife, they would be engaged in the activities they enjoyed most, such as fishing, hunting, feasting, and sailing. Death to the Egyptians was not an end, but a beginning.
      The concept of an afterlife was common to all Egyptians regardless of their social status. The preparation for the afterlife varied considerably depending on whether the individual was royal, noble, or a peasant. For all, however, there were two basic requirements. First, the body must be preserved in a lifelike form; second, the deceased must be provided with the items necessary for a life in the hereafter. The goods provided ranged from the few simple possessions of a peasant to the elaborate storehouse of treasures that accompanied the kings and queens. Royal tombs commonly held large food supplies, furniture, tools, weapons, chest full of clothes, jewelry, and game.s All Egyptian, whether rich or poor, believed that the essence of the deceased continued to be tied to this world even after death. This essence, or the ka, returned via the preserved body and received its sustenance from the food, drink, and material possessions left in the tomb.

Egyptian Burial Practices

      Central to Egyptian religious beliefs was the need to preserve the body. It is likely that mummification was a stage in the development of Egyptian burial practices. The earliest people to settle in the Nile Valley buried their dead in pit-graves dug in the hot desert sands bordering Egypt. The rainless climate and dryness of the sand around the body caused a natural process of desiccation whereby the body fluids were absorbed by the sand, preventing the body from decaying.
      As Egyptian burials became more elaborate, the body of the deceased came to be placed in a lined tomb. Since the bodies were no longer covered by sand, desiccation did not occur naturally and the bodies decomposed. As a consequence, the Egyptians developed an artificial means to duplicate what had previously happened naturally -- mummification. Initially, the Egyptians simply wrapped the body of the deceased in resins-soaked linens to preserve a lifelike form. Eventually, a more elaborate process was devised that enabled them to prevent the body from decaying. This process was lengthy and expensive and, therefore, the special reserve of royalty and the nobility. Peasants continued to rely on the natural desiccation that occurred when the deceased were buried in pit-graves in the sand.

An Egyptian Funeral

      The funerals of Egypt's elite were lengthy and elaborate affairs. When someone died, a period of loud mourning took place.The female relatives of the deceased, as well as paid mourners, would bare their breasts and walk through the streets crying out in grief. They would be followed by male relatives who were also bare to the waist and pounding their chests in sorrow. Later, there would be a more composed procession in which the body was transferred from the home to the embalmers where the mummification took place. This process took about 70 days to complete. Once the process of mummification was completed, the mummy was returned to the family and the final procession to the tomb would begin. In this procession, the mummy was placed on a sledge drawn boy oxen. A second sledge followed, carrying the canopic jars containing the deceased's preserved internal organs. At the rear of the procession, were the servants who carried objects the deceased would need in the afterlife. Upon arrival at the tomb, a priest would touch the mummy's eyes, and the grave goods were lowered into place through the roof since there was no entrance. Once everything was in place, the entire structure was roofed over. Some tombs were massive and elaborate structures designed to imitate palace facades. Later tombs for royalty were surrounded by smaller tombs containing the bodies of followers, and, possibly, mortuary chapels, where offerings were brought.
      By the beginning of the Old Kingdom, Egyptian kings were assumed to be the living embodiment of Horus, the son of the god Osiris. Obviously, a person of such stature had to be laid to rest in a tomb that reflected this status. Thus, the pyramid evolved. The choice of the pyramid shape may have been an attempt to re-create the primeval mound the Egyptians believed had emerged from the waters of chaos at the time of creation. Over 40 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt, mostly from the Old Kingdom, although some from the end of the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom have also been found.
      The earliest pyramids were, in fact, a series of mastabas (oblong tombs) stacked one on top of the other. The famous Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built form King Djoser, began as a single mastaba on which five additional mastabas, descending in size, were placed. Customarily, the burial chamber of the king remained underground.
      Pyramid construction reached its climax with the building of King Khufu's tomb at Giza. Known as the Great Pyramid, this structure rose 146 m and had sides 238 m long. In total, the base of the Great Pyramid covers six hectares. It is constructed of 2.5 million stone blocks, each weighing on average 2.5t. This remains the largest stone structure in the world. Construction was completed during the 23 years of Khufu's reign, without the aid of the wheel, lifting devices, or draft animals.
      By the time of the New Kingdom, the Pharaohs had come to realize that building massive pyramids was a mistake. Nothing better advertised to grave robbers where a deceased Pharaoh and his riches could be found than these monuments rising majestically from the desert. In hopes of eternal security, the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom chose two quiet, hidden valleys they believed would be safe from robbers. These valleys near Luxor we now call the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
     Here, the Pharaohs had elaborate tombs cut deep into the valley walls. The tombs had high corridors brightly painted with inscriptions from various religious texts such as the Book of What is in the Underworld. These corridors led to burial chambers and side chambers that contained the royal grave goods. The burial chamber was covered with scenes from the life of the deceased, designed to convince the gods that he or she had led a good life in accordance with Ma'at. The ceiling of the burial chamber was often covered with a map of the heavens.

Temples

Not all of the Egyptians' time and effort went into building tombs for the Pharaohs. A great deal of time was devoted to the construction of temples dedicated to the gods. These massive structures, usually made of sandstone, were designed to be experienced from the inside during a ceremony -- not as a means to decorate the landscape. All Egyptian temples had the same basic features: a monumental gateway, a roofless colonnaded court, a great hall with a ceiling resting on massive sandstone columns, and a private sanctuary of the god. The massive temple was, in turn, part of an even larger complex that included living quarters, workshops, a school, a sacred pool, complexes contained all the necessary facilities to support a community dedicated to serving the god. The largest and most famous of these temples is the Temp of Amon at Karnak. In this temple, 134 pillars -- all displaying scenes of the king worshiping Amon -- stand like a forest. 

Writing: ECHOES from the past, published by McGraw-Hill Ryderson Ltd.