2 Pts What Provided the Focus of Much of Egyptian Art? Everlasting Life
The ancient Egyptians believed that life on earth was only one part of an eternal journey which ended, not in death, but in everlasting joy. When 1's torso failed, the soul did non die with it simply continued on toward an afterlife where ane received back all that one had idea lost.
Ane was born on earth through the benevolence of the gods and the deities known as The Vii Hathors then decreed i's fate subsequently birth; the soul so went on to live as good a life as it could in the body it had been given for a time. When death came, it was just a transition to some other realm where, if one were justified by the gods, one would alive eternally in a paradise known as The Field of Reeds. The Field of Reeds (sometimes called The Field of Offerings), known to the Egyptians equally A'aru, was a mirror epitome of one'south life on earth. The aim of every ancient Egyptian was to make that life worth living eternally and, as far as the records indicate, they did their very all-time at that.
Sennedjem in the Afterlife
Popular View of Egyptians as Death Obsessed
Egypt has been synonymous with tombs and mummies since the belatedly 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries CE when western explorers, archaeologists, entrepreneurs, showmen, and con men began investigating and exploiting the culture. The outset movie sensationalizing mummies, Cleopatra's Tomb, was produced in 1899 past George Melies. The film is at present lost but, reportedly, told the story of Cleopatra'south mummy which was discovered, hacked to pieces, and then revived to wreak havoc on the living. 1911 saw the release of The Mummy by Thanhouser Visitor in which the mummy of an Egyptian princess is revived through charges of electric current and, in the end, the scientist who brings her back to life marries her.
The 1922 discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun was world-wide news and the story of The Expletive of King Tut which followed after fascinated people as much as the photos of the immense treasure taken from the tomb. Egypt became associated with death in the popular imagination and subsequently films such as The Mummy (1932) capitalized on this interest. In the 1932 picture show, Boris Karloff plays Imhotep, an ancient priest who was buried alive, as well as the resurrected Imhotep who goes by the proper noun of Ardath Bey. Bey is trying to murder the beautiful Helen Grosvenor (played by Zita Johann) who is the reincarnation of Imhotep's great love, Ankesenamun. In the end, Bey's plans to murder, mummify, so resurrect Helen as her past-life incarnation of the Egyptian princess are thwarted and Bey is reduced to grit.
This pic's immense box-part success guaranteed sequels which were produced throughout the 1940's (The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy'due south Curse, 1940-1944) spoofed in the 1950's (Abbot and Costello Come across the Mummy, 1955), continued in the 1960's (The Expletive of the Mummy'south Tomb in `64 and The Mummy'southward Shroud in `67), and on to the 1971 Claret From the Mummy's Tomb. The mummy horror genre was revived with the remake of The Mummy in 1999 which was merely as popular equally the 1932 moving-picture show, inspiring the sequel The Mummy Returns in 2001 and the films on the Scorpion King (2002-2012) which were equally well received. The contempo release Gods of Egypt (2015) shifts the focus from mummies and kings to Egyptian gods and the afterlife but nonetheless promotes the association of Egypt with death and darkness through its excessively tearing plot and depiction of the underworld every bit the dwelling of demons.
Sarcophagus of Kha (Particular)
Mummies, curses, mystical gods and rites accept been a staple of pop depictions of Egyptian civilisation in books every bit well as pic for almost 200 years now all promoting the seemingly cocky-axiomatic 'fact' that the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with death. This understanding is fueled by the works of early writers on ancient Arab republic of egypt who misinterpreted the Egyptian's view of eternal life every bit obsessing over the stop of one'due south fourth dimension on world. Even into the 20th century, when scholars had a better agreement of Egyptian culture, the noted historian Edith Hamilton, generally quite reliable, wrote in 1930:
In Arab republic of egypt the center of interest was in the dead...Countless numbers of man beings for endless numbers of centuries thought of decease as that which was nearest and near familiar to them. [The Egyptians were] wretched people, toiling people, [who] practise not play. Zippo like the Greek games is conceivable in Arab republic of egypt. If fun and sport had played whatsoever real office in the Egyptian's lives they would be in the archaeological record in some course for the states to see. But the Egyptians did non play. (cited in Nardo, ix)
Egyptian View of Life
In fact, there is aplenty bear witness that the Egyptians played a not bad deal. Sports which were regularly enjoyed in ancient Egypt include hockey, handball, archery, pond, tug of war, gymnastics, rowing, and a sport known as "h2o jousting" which was a ocean boxing played in small boats on the Nile River in which a 'jouster' tried to knock the other jouster out of his boat while a 2nd team member maneuvered the craft. Children were taught to swim at an early age and swimming was among the almost pop sports which gave ascension to other water games. The lath game of Senet was extremely popular, representing one's journey through life to eternity. Music, trip the light fantastic toe, and carefully choreographed gymnastics were part of the major festivals and one of the principal concepts valued by the Egyptians was gratitude for the life they had been given and everything in it.
The gods were considered one'south close friends and benefactors who imbued every day with meaning. Hathor was always close at hand as The Lady of the Sycamore, a tree goddess, who provided shade and comfort just was at the same time presiding over the heavenly Nile River, the Milky Fashion as a catholic force and, as Lady of the Necropolis, opened the door for the departed soul to the afterlife. She was also present at every festival, nuptials, and funeral as The Lady of Drunkeness who encouraged people to lighten their hearts by drinking beer.
Hathor
The other gods and goddesses of Egypt are also depicted every bit intimately concerned with the life and welfare of homo beings. During one'due south earthly journey they provided the living with all of their needs and, later death, they appeared to comfort and guide the soul. Goddesses like Selket, Nephthys, and Qebhet guided and protected the newly arrived souls in the afterlife; Qebhet even brought them cool, refreshing water. Anubis, Thoth, and Osiris brought them to judgment and rewarded or punished them. The popular prototype of the Egyptians as expiry obsessed could non be more wrong; if annihilation, the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with life and living it abundantly. The scholar James F. Romano notes:
In surveying the evidence that survives from antiquity, we are left with the overall impression that most Egyptians loved life and were willing to overlook its hardships. Indeed, the perfect afterlife was just an ideal version of their earthly beingness. Only the travails and lilliputian annoyances that bothered them in their lifetimes would be missing in the afterlife; all else, they hoped, would be as it was on earth. (cited in Nardo, ix-x)
The Egyptian afterlife was a mirror-image of life on earth. To the Egyptians, their country was the well-nigh blest and perfect earth. In ancient Greek literature one finds the famous stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey depicting great battles in a foreign country and adventures on the render journeying; merely no such works exist in Egyptian literature because they were not that interested in leaving their homes or their land. The Egyptian work Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor cannot be compared with Homer's works as the characters have aught in common and the themes are completely unlike. The sailor had no want for adventure or celebrity, he was merely going about his chief'due south business and, different Odysseus, the sailor is not at all tempted past the magical island with all good things on information technology because he knows that the only things he wants are back home in Egypt.
The Egyptian afterlife was a mirror-image of life on earth. To the Egyptians, their state was the virtually blest and perfect world.
Egyptian festivals encouraged living life to its fullest and appreciating the moments one had with family unit and friends. One'south habitation, yet pocket-sized, was securely appreciated and so were the members of one's family and larger community. Pets were loved as dearly by the Egyptians equally they are in the present day and were preserved in art works, inscriptions, and in writing, often by name. Since life in ancient Egypt was so highly valued it only makes sense that they would have imagined an afterlife which mirrored it closely.
From Life to Life
Decease was only a transition, non a completion, and opened the way to the possibility of eternal happiness. When a person died, the soul was idea to be trapped in the body because it was used to this mortal abode. Spells and images painted on tomb walls (known equally the Bury Texts, The Pyramid Texts, and The Egyptian Book of the Dead) and amulets fastened to the body, were provided to remind the soul of its continued journeying and to calm and direct it to exit the torso and proceed on.
The soul would make its style toward the Hall of Truth (also known equally The Hall of Two Truths) in the company of Anubis, the guide of the expressionless, where it would look in line with others for judgment by Osiris. There are different versions of what would happen adjacent only, in the virtually popular story, the soul would brand the Negative Confessions in front of Osiris, Thoth, Anubis, and the Twoscore-Two Judges.
Book of the Dead, Ptolemaic Period
The Negative Confessions are a list of 42 sins against one's self, others, or the gods which one could honestly say 1 had never engaged in. Historian Margaret Bunson notes how "the Confessions were to be recited to establish the moral virtue of the deceased and his or her correct to eternal bliss" (187). The Confessions would include statements such as: "I have not stolen, I take not stolen the property of a god, I take not said lies, I take non caused anyone to weep, I have not gossiped, I accept not fabricated anyone hungry" and many others. It may seem exceptionally harsh to expect a soul to go through life and never "cause anyone to cry" only information technology is thought that lines like this one or "I accept not made anyone angry" are meant to be understood with qualification; every bit in "I have not caused anyone to weep unjustly" or "I have not fabricated anyone angry without reason".
After the Negative Confessions were made, Osiris, Thoth, Anubis, and the Forty-Two Judges would confer. If ane's confession was plant acceptable then the soul would present its center to Osiris to be weighed in the gold scales confronting the white feather of truth. If one'southward centre was found to exist lighter than the feather, one moved on to the next stage merely, if the eye was heavier, it was thrown to the floor where it was eaten by Ammut "the female devourer of the dead". This resulted in "the Great Death" which was non-beingness. There was no 'hell' in the Egyptian afterlife; non-existence was a far worse fate than any kind eternal damnation.
Sennedjem, Iyneferti & The Lady of the Sycamore
The Field of Reeds
If the soul passed through the Weighing of the Eye information technology moved on to a path which led to Lily Lake (too known equally the Lake of Flowers). There are, again, a number of versions of what could happen on this path where, in some, one finds dangers to be avoided and gods to help and guide while, in others, it is an easy walk down the kind of path ane would have known back habitation. At the shore of Lily Lake the soul would meet the Divine Ferryman, Hraf-hef (He-Who-Looks-Behind-Him) who was perpetually unpleasant. The soul would accept to find some way to be courteous to Hraf-hef, no matter what unkind or cruel remarks he made, and show one's self worthy of continuing the journeying.
If the soul passed through the Weighing of the Heart it moved on to a path which led to Lily Lake.
Having passed this test, the soul was brought beyond the waters to the Field of Reeds. Hither one would find those loved ones who had passed on earlier, ane's favorite dogs or cats, gazelles or monkeys, or whatever cherished pet ane had lost. One's home would exist there, correct downward to the lawn the mode it had been left, one's favorite tree, even the stream that ran backside the house.
Here one could savor an eternity of the life 1 had left behind on earth in the presence of i'south favorite people, animals, and most loved possessions; and all of this in the immediate presence of the gods. Spell 110 of The Egyptian Book of the Expressionless is to be spoken by the deceased to claim the right to enter this paradise. The 'Lady of the Air' referenced is most probable Ma'at but could exist Hathor:
I larn this field of yours which you love, O Lady of the Air. I eat and carouse in it, I drink and plough in it, I reap in information technology, I copulate in it, I make honey in it, I do non perish in it, for my magic is powerful in it.
Versions of this view changed over fourth dimension with some details added and others omitted just the about-abiding vision was of an afterlife that directly reflected the life ane had known on earth. Bunson explains:
Eternity itself was not some vague concept. The Egyptians, pragmatic and determined to have all things explained in concrete terms, believed that they would dwell in paradise in areas graced by lakes and gardens. There they would eat the "cakes of Osiris" and float on the Lake of Flowers. The eternal kingdoms varied according to era and cultic conventionalities, but all were located beside flowing h2o and blest with breezes, an attribute deemed necessary for comfort. The Garden of A'aru was one such oasis of eternal bliss. Another was Ma'ati, an eternal land where the deceased buried a flame of fire and a scepter of crystal - rituals whose meanings are lost. The goddess Ma'at, the personification of cosmic order, justice, goodness, and faith was the protector of the deceased in this enchanted realm, called Hehtt in some eras. Only the pure of heart, the uabt, could come across Ma'at. (86-87)
Alternate Views of the Afterlife
Bunson's note on how the view of the afterlife changed co-ordinate to fourth dimension and belief is reflected in some visions of the afterlife which deny its permanence and beauty. These interpretations practice not belong to whatsoever one particular period but seem to crop upwards periodically throughout Egypt's afterwards history. They are particularly prominent, nonetheless, in the menstruum of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) expressed in texts known every bit The Lay of the Harper (or Songs of the Harper) and Dispute Between a Man and His Ba (soul). The Lay of the Harper is then called because the inscriptions always include an prototype of a harpist. They are a collection of songs which reverberate on death and the meaning of life. Dispute Between a Human being and his Ba comes from the collection of texts known equally Wisdom Literature which are oftentimes skeptical of the afterlife.
Egyptian Afterlife
Some of the texts which comprise The Lay of the Harper assert life later death clearly while others question information technology and some deny information technology completely. Ane example from c. 2000 BCE from the stele of Intef reads, in part, "hearts at rest/Hear not the cry of mourners at the tomb/Which take no meaning to the silent dead." In Dispute Between a Human being and His Ba, the homo complains to his soul that life is misery only he fears death and what awaits him on the other side. In these versions, the afterlife is presented as either a myth people cling to or just as uncertain and tenuous equally one's life. Scholar Geraldine Compression comments:
The soul might experience life in the Field of Reeds, a paradise similar to Egypt, simply this was not a permanent state. When the night sun passed on, darkness and expiry returned. The star-spirits were destroyed at dawn and reborn each night. Fifty-fifty the evil dead, the Enemies of Ra, continuously came back to life like Apophis so that they could be tortured and killed once more. (93-94)
In still some other version, the justified dead served Ra every bit the crew of his solar barge as it crossed the night sky and helped defend the sun god from the serpent Apophis. In this version, the just souls are co-workers with the gods in the afterlife who help make the sun ascent over again for those still on globe. Their friends and relatives who were still living would greet the sunrise with gratitude for their efforts and would retrieve of them every morning. As in all ancient cultures, remembrance of the dead was an important cultural value of the Egyptians and this version of the afterlife reflects that. Fifty-fifty in versions where the soul arrives in paradise it could nonetheless be chosen upon to man The Boat of Millions, the sun barge, to help the gods protect the light from the forces of darkness.
The Comfort of Eternity
For the greater part of Egypt's history, however, some version of the paradise of the Field of Reeds, reached after a judgment past a powerful god, prevailed. A wall painting from the tomb of the craftsman Sennedjem from the 19th Dynasty (1292-1186 BCE) depicts the soul's journeying from earthly life to eternal bliss. Sennedjem is seen meeting the gods who grant him leave to laissez passer on to paradise and is then depicted with his wife, Iyneferti, enjoying their time together in the Field of Reeds where they harvest wheat, become to work, plow their field, and harvest fruit from their trees just as they used to practise on the earthly plane. Scholar Clare Gibson writes:
The Field of Reeds was an well-nigh unimaginably ideal version of Egypt where cultivated crops grew to extraordinary heights, trees diameter succulent fruit, and where transfigured souls (who all appeared physically perfect and in the prime of life) wanted for zip in the fashion of sustenance, luxuries, and even love. (202)
If a soul was non interested in plowing fields or harvesting grains in the afterlife, it could call on a shabti doll to practise the piece of work instead. Shabti dolls were funerary figures made of wood, rock, or faience which were placed in the tombs or graves with the dead. In the afterlife information technology was thought one could telephone call on these shabtis to practice one's piece of work while one relaxed and enjoyed ane'south self. Spell 472 of the Coffin Texts and Spell Six of The Egyptian Book of the Dead both are instructions for the soul to call the shabti to life in the Field of Reeds.
Once the shabti went off to piece of work, the soul could then go back to relaxing beneath a favorite tree with a proficient book or walk past a pleasant stream with one's dog. The Egyptian afterlife was perfect considering the soul was given back everything which had been lost. One'due south best friend, husband, married woman, mother, father, son, daughter, cherished cat or most dearly loved dog were there upon one's arrival or, at least, would be eventually; and at that place the souls of the expressionless would live forever in paradise and never take to part over again. In all of the ancient earth there was never a more than comforting afterlife imagined by any other culture.
This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/877/egyptian-afterlife---the-field-of-reeds/
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