15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
====The role of ritual in death and the transition to the afterlife====
[[File:Albany_museum,_egyptian_mummy_-_rsa.jpg|thumbnail|left|350px|Egyptian Mummy in Albany Museum Grahamstown]]
The mummification process involved a great deal of ritual and prayer. It was believed that death was the process of transitioning from the land of the living, a world of suffering and limitations, to the land of the dead, where the deceased (if properly buried) could assume godlike powers including everlasting life and the ability to take any form they choose.<ref>Hays, Harold M. ”Funerary Rituals (Pharaonic Period). ” ‘’’’UCLA Encyclopedia Of Egyptology’’’’. 2010 ed. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. Web. 11 Nov. 2015, p. 1.</ref> Any person who could afford it was mummified.<ref>Ikram,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 1.</ref>
When a person of great wealth or status died, the process of assisting them in their journey to the afterlife began immediately. The body was transported to the necropolis as a part of a ceremony that constituted a symbolic journey from the land of the living in the east, across the Nile to the land of the dead in the west.<ref>Jones, Dilwyn. ‘’’’Boats. Egyptian Bookshelf’’’’. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1995. Print. p. 25.</ref> When the body arrived on the west bank, it was met by a group of priests and priestesses who informed the gods that the deceased had arrived. Each priest involved played the role of a particular god who received the deceased and participated in their transition to the underworld.<ref>Riggs,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 4.</ref>
====The mummification process====
