Page 57 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

with a human body and the head of a falcon. The phar- aoh took the title “Son of Re” because he was regarded as the earthly embodiment of Re.
River and land deities included Osiris (oh-SY-russ) and Isis (Y-sis) with their child Horus, who was related to the Nile and to the sun as well. Osiris became espe- cially important as a symbol of resurrection. A famous Egyptian myth told of the struggle between Osiris, who brought civilization to Egypt, and his evil brother Seth, who killed him, cut his body into fourteen parts, and tossed them into the Nile. Isis, the faithful wife of Osi- ris, found the pieces and, with help from other gods, restored Osiris to life. As a symbol of resurrection and as judge of the dead, Osiris took on an important role for the Egyptians. By identifying with Osiris, one could hope to gain new life, just as Osiris had done. The dead, embalmed and mummified, were placed in tombs (in the case of kings, in pyramidal tombs), given the name of Osiris, and by a process of magical identification became Osiris. Like Osiris, they would then be reborn.
Later Egyptian spiritual practice began to emphasize morality by stressing the role of Osiris as judge of the dead. The dead were asked to give an account of their earthly deeds to show whether they deserved a reward. Other means were also employed to gain immortality. Magical incantations, preserved in the Book of the Dead from the period of the New Kingdom, were used to ensure a favorable journey to a happy afterlife. Specific instructions explained what to do when confronted by the judge of the dead. These instructions had two aspects. In the negative confession, the deceased gave a detailed list of what he had not done:
I have not committed evil against men.
I have not mistreated cattle.
I have not blasphemed a god. . . .
I have not done violence to a poor man. . . . I have not made anyone sick. . . . Ihavenotkilled....
I have not caused anyone suffering. . . .
I have not had sexual relations with a boy. I have not defiled myself.9
Later the supplicant made a speech listing his good actions: “I have done that which men said and that with which gods are content. . . . I have given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, and a ferry-boat to him who was marooned. I have pro- vided divine offerings for the gods and mortuary offer- ings for the dead.”10
THE PYRAMIDS One of the great achievements of Egyp- tian civilization, the building of pyramids, occurred during the Old Kingdom. Pyramids were not built in isolation but as part of a larger complex dedicated to the dead—in effect, a city of the dead. The area included a large pyramid for the king’s burial, smaller pyramids for his family, and mastabas (MAS-tuh-buhs), rectangular structures with flat roofs, as tombs for the pharaoh’s noble officials. The tombs were well prepared for their residents. The rooms were furnished and stocked with numerous supplies, including chairs, boats, chests, weapons, games, dishes, and a variety of foods. The Egyptians believed that human beings had two bodies, a physical one and a spiritual one, which they called the ka. If the physical body was properly preserved (that is, mummified) and the tomb furnished with all the various objects of regular life, the ka could return and continue its life despite the death of the physical body.
To preserve the physical body after death, the Egyp- tians practiced mummification, a process of slowly dry- ing a dead body to prevent it from decomposing. Special workshops, run by priests, performed this pro- cedure, primarily for the wealthy families who could afford it. According to Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian (see Chapter 3) who visited Egypt around 450 B.C.E., “The most refined method is as follows: first of all they draw out the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook. . . . Then they make an incision in the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone through which they extract all the internal organs.”11 The liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines were placed in four special jars that were put in the tomb with the mummy. The priests then covered the corpse with a natural salt that absorbed the body’s water. Later, they filled the body with spices and wrapped it with layers of linen soaked in resin. At the end of the process, which took about seventy days, a lifelike mask was placed over the head and shoulders of the mummy, which was then sealed in a case and placed in its tomb in a pyramid.
The largest and most magnificent of all the pyra- mids was built under King Khufu (KOO-foo). Con- structed at Giza around 2540 B.C.E., the famous Great Pyramid covers almost 13 acres, measures 756 feet at each side of its base, and stands 481 feet high. Its four sides are almost precisely oriented to the four points of the compass. The interior included a grand gallery to the burial chamber, which was built of granite with a lidless sarcophagus for the pharaoh’s body. The Great Pyramid still stands as a visible symbol of the power of
Egyptian Civilization: “The Gift of the Nile” 19
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