Egyptians: Afterlife

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After they died, the ancient Egyptians believed that they would go to an underworld beneath the Earth called Duat. A person’s spirit would have to pass through many dangers, such as lakes of fire and poisonous snakes, in order to reach the kingdom of Osiris. Osiris was exactly like Egypt was for the living, except it was for the dead.

 

Spells were used to help a spirit safely find its way through Duat. They would be written on coffins, and the dead would be buried with a map of the underworld. Collections of these spells were known as the Book Of The Dead. If you said the right spells you would pass through Duat unharmed.

 

The last test a spirit had to face was to have their heart weighed in front of the god Osiris. The Egyptians believed that a person’s heart carried a record of all their deeds. If you were true of heart and free of crimes, you could pass into the kingdom of Osiris. If you were untruthful a goddess called the Devourer of the Dead would eat your heart and you would not get to live on in the afterlife.

 

To find out more, check out this book.

21 Responses

  1. bec 13 September, 2008 / 10:38 pm

    yah! gr8 info

  2. Unnamed 30 November, 2011 / 11:59 am

    Good job

  3. L.A.F. 5 January, 2012 / 4:15 pm

    Sweet thnx for the info. I used it in my notes 4 a project.

  4. Turtl 8 May, 2012 / 3:42 pm

    I had to do a project on ancient egypt, and I chose the subject the “after-life”. It is really helpful. But to save time, here’s the bibliography or work cited.
    Hart, George.Ancient Egypt. 2nd ed., rev.Alexandria, Va:
    Time-Life Books Inc, 1995

  5. adrienne 9 May, 2012 / 12:25 pm

    Thanks Turtl – here’s the link to the book in our catalogue

  6. Amber 19 September, 2012 / 2:04 am

    sweeet

  7. you will never know me name 19 October, 2012 / 9:05 am

    this will guide me with my social studies project

  8. Anonymous 28 October, 2012 / 12:28 pm

    cooollllll

  9. AWESOMEEEEEEE 1 November, 2012 / 10:57 pm

    This is very helpful thank you.

  10. ttyl xox cuz idk wats comin next so lmho 15 November, 2012 / 9:27 am

    wat up yall t\dat was the greatest infooooooooooooooooooo eva that ive seen dog

  11. Leanne 24 November, 2012 / 10:02 pm

    Wow this really helps

  12. Joe 27 November, 2012 / 8:19 pm

    the goddes that devoured the souls was called ammit the devourer, and was more of an animal.

  13. ttyl xox cuz idk wats comin next so lmho 3 December, 2012 / 4:44 am

    yoo are coolio

  14. Anonymous 19 December, 2012 / 2:29 pm

    Really helpful but when was this published ?

  15. ttyl xox cuz idk wats comin next so lmho 20 December, 2012 / 11:47 am

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  16. Taylor Swifts cameltoe 9 January, 2013 / 1:54 pm

    gr9 info

  17. best 11 February, 2013 / 3:43 am

    thank you whoever did this you really helped me
    on my homework so a BIG THANK YOU!!!2 u

  18. MICHAEL 25 March, 2013 / 2:31 pm

    this website helped me really much you rock

  19. eden 27 June, 2013 / 9:22 pm

    good helps

  20. Anonymous 27 June, 2013 / 9:22 pm

    good helps

  21. djfberntb 12 November, 2014 / 7:37 am

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