Even as a child I thought that the ancient Egyptians were totally different from any other ancient civilization that I learned about in school. From the complex engineering it took to build the pyramids to the detailed system of hieroglyphics used to keep detailed records of royalty and business ventures, the Egyptians were way ahead of their time on all kinds of fronts. I, like many others, was particularly interested in ancient Egyptian religion and ideas of the afterlife. As I was reading the article by John Taylor, I was reminded of just how complex ideas about the Egyptian afterlife really were. To this day, I cannot think of any other past civilizations that had perceived death in the same way that the Egyptians did.
When the pharaoh or members of the royal family (as well as other elite members of society) died, great care was put into preserving their bodies by mummifying them. Artists and scribes were also employed to decorate the walls of the royal tomb with detailed depictions of triumph and glory. When the deceased individual was buried, they were often laid to rest with all the things that people believed they could use in the afterlife — food, wine, chariots, musical instruments, written literature, weapons, clothing, jewelry, precious gemstones, grooming accessories, etc. There have been many instances where archaeologists have discovered even animals/pets buried at a site alongside their master so that they could be together even in death.
I find myself wondering why the Egyptians had such complex ideas about life after death and how they used it to understand the world around them. How did they come to associate the western desert with the dead and the eastern desert with the living? How did they know that people still needed food, drinks, and entertainment in the afterlife? How did they know that there were places in our world that served as gateways to the Underworld/Duwat? Why was the ancient Egyptian interpretation of life after death so drastically different from those of other ancient civilizations?
Of course, no living person today truly knows what happens to after death. Ever since humans developed larger brains and advanced cognition, people have tried to make guesses as to where the soul goes when the body dies. Different groups throughout history have come up with different theories, but the Egyptian view of things is particularly unique. No other group of people, at least according to my knowledge, believed that a deceased individual needed to buried with food and wine so that they could eat and drink in the afterlife. It is in this idea of the afterlife that we see just how advanced Egyptian society really was and how they were more than just pyramid-builders.
I agree that the complex ideas surrounding the concept of death in Ancient Egypt are indeed fascinating, and it’s intriguing to ponder where some of these ideas might have come from. I remember learning in my Introduction to Archaeology course about the tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, which is an enormous burial complex containing armies of terra-cotta warriors to guard him in the afterlife, horses and chariots, weapons, animals, etc. In this case also, I had similar feelings of awe and curiosity as to why one person would need to be buried with such an enormous show of wealth and privilege. Is it just to make a point, and to show the power of the emperor/pharaoh in death as well as in life, or was there a sincere belief that all of these items would move with the ruler into the afterlife? It’s interesting that this idea of mortuary goods following the deceased into the afterlife appears in many different cultures and contexts throughout time and despite geographic distance. What you wrote about the gates to the Underworld//Duwat is something that I have wondered about also. In other places, we can see similar ideas, particularly when looking at Ancient Greek and Roman stories. Mount Etna on Sicily, for example, was thought to be an entrance into hell, as were many other locations: Lake Lerna, the river Acheron, Lacus Curtius, etc. (there are many more). This idea in many places that there are specific entrances to the underworld, in some cases even accessible to the non-deceased, is incredibly interesting, and I hope that one day we will have more knowledge as to why these entrances are thought to exist where they do.