Egyptian History Part 5

THE EGYPTIAN AFTERLIFE

The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife. The afterlife was a heavenly place complete with a heavenly Nile river. The ancient Egyptians called this lovely place “land of the two fields”. In the afterlife there was no sickness, no disappointment and of course no death.  They believed that the god Ra was in charge of transporting them to the afterlife and Ra would choose who could get on the “magical” boat to the afterlife. In the beginning, they believed that only pharaohs could board Ra magical boat and travel to the afterlife. But God Osiris changed that, he was a famous and important god to the ancient Egyptians because he opened the door to the afterlife to everyone. Just dying could not get you to the afterlife. You had to earn a place in Ra’s boat. To board Ra’s boat, your heart had to be light.  To keep your heart light, the ancient Egyptians believed you had to spend a lifetime doing good deeds. Crime was low in Egypt because people really wanted a light heart, to get on Ra’s boat. There were a couple other requirements you had to satisfy before you could an eternity in the afterlife. You had to have your name written down somewhere, and you had to have a preserved body. Why? Because the ancient Egyptians believed that everyone had a soul. If something happened to your preserved body, or if your name was not written down somewhere, a part of your soul would get lost and you would disappear and no longer be able to reach your afterlife. That’s why grave robbing was the most horrible crime in ancient Egypt. Grave robbers not only stole someone’s wealth, they stole their chance to live happily ever after in the land of the Two Fields.