Despite its rather clichéd image, there is so much more to ancient Egypt than temples, tombs and Tutankhamun. As the world’s first nation-state, predating the civilisations of Greece and Rome by several millennia, Egypt was responsible for some of the great achievements in human history – it was one of the places where writing was invented in 3200 BC, the first stone monuments were erected and an entire culture set in place, which remained largely unchanged for thousands of years.
All of Egypt’s achievements were made possible by the Nile River, which brought life to this virtually rainless land. In contrast to the vast barren ‘red land’ of desert, which the Egyptians called deshret, the narrow river banks were known as kemet (black land), a reference to the rich silt deposited by the river’s annual floods. Abundant harvests grown in this red earth were then gathered as taxes by a highly organised bureaucracy working on behalf of the pharaoh. They used this wealth to run the administration and to fund ambitious building projects designed to enhance royal status.
The survival of these pyramids, temples and tombs often give the misleading impression that Egyptians were a morbid bunch obsessed with religion and death. In fact it seems they, or at least the elite, loved life so much that they went to enormous lengths to ensure the fun continued forever.
This longing for eternity suffused almost every aspect of ancient Egyptian life and gave the culture its incredible coherence and conservatism. Egyptians believed they had to appease their gods so they would take care of them. The pharaoh, who ruled by divine approval, ensured order in a world of chaos and was the intermediary between the people and the gods. Absolute monarchy was therefore integral to Egyptian culture.
Although successive invaders took over Egypt from the end of the New Kingdom (around 1069 BC), Egypt’s indigenous culture was so deeply rooted that they could not escape its influence. Libyans, Nubians and Persians all came to adopt traditional Egyptian ways, and their kings and emperors continued to build temples to the Egyptian gods, and to proclaim their divine birth on the temple walls. It was only at the end of the 4th century AD, when the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, that this ancient Egyptian belief system finally collapsed: their gods were taken from them, their temples were closed and all knowledge of the ‘pagan’ hieroglyphs that transmitted their culture was lost, until it was recovered in the 19th century.
Ancient Egyptians built a stunning array of monumental buildings along the Nile. They had very little wood, so they mainly used sun-baked mudbrick for their houses, fortresses and palaces. Of these, very little remains today. For their tombs and temples, however, they used quarried sandstone, limestone or granite, which in many cases have really withstood the test of time.
Many gods had their own cult centres, but they were also worshipped at various temples throughout Egypt. Built on sites considered sacred, existing temples were added to by successive pharaohs to demonstrate their piety. This is best seen at the enormous complex of Karnak, the culmination of 2000 years of reconstruction.
Surrounded by huge enclosure walls of mudbrick, the stone temples within were regarded as houses of the gods where daily rituals were performed on behalf of the pharaoh. As the intermediary between gods and humans, the pharaoh was high priest of every temple, although in practice these powers were delegated to each temple’s high priest.
As well as temples to house the gods (cult temples), there were also funerary (mortuary) temples where each pharaoh was worshipped after death. Eventually sited away from their tombs for security reasons, the best examples are on Luxor’s West Bank, where pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings had huge funerary temples built closer to the river. These include Ramses III’s temple at Medinat Habu, Amenhotep III’s once-vast temple marked by the Colossi of Memnon and the best known example built by Hatshepsut into the cliffs of Deir Al Bahri.
Initially, tombs were created to differentiate the burials of the elite from the majority, whose bodies were placed directly into the desert sand.
By around 3100 BC the mound of sand heaped over a grave was replaced by a more permanent structure of mudbrick, whose characteristic bench-shape is known as a mastaba, after the Arabic word for bench.
As stone replaced mudbrick, the addition of further levels to increase height created the pyramid, the first built at Saqqara for King Zoser. Its stepped sides soon evolved into the familiar smooth-sided structure, with the Pyramids of Giza the most famous examples.
Pyramids are generally surrounded by the mastaba tombs of officials wanting burial close to their pharaoh in order to share in an afterlife, which was still the prerogative of royalty.
When the power of the monarchy broke down at the end of the Old Kingdom, the afterlife became increasingly accessible to those outside the royal family, and as officials became more independent they began to opt for burial in their home towns.
With little room for grand superstructures along many of the narrow stretches beside the Nile, an alternative type of tomb developed, cut tunnel-fashion into the cliffs that border the river. Most were built on the west bank, the traditional place of burial where the sun was seen to sink down into the underworld each evening. These simple rock-cut tombs consisting of a single chamber gradually developed into more elaborate structures complete with an open courtyard, offering a chapel and entrance facade carved out of the rock, with a shaft leading down into a burial chamber.
The most impressive rock-cut tombs were those built for the kings of the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC), who relocated the royal burial ground south to the religious capital Thebes (modern Luxor), to a remote desert valley on the west bank, now known as the Valley of the Kings. There is evidence suggesting the first tomb (KV 39) here may have been built by Amenhotep I. The tomb of his successor Tuthmosis I was built by royal architect Ineni, whose biographical inscription states that he supervised its construction alone, ‘with no one seeing, no one hearing’. In a radical departure from tradition, the offering chapels that were once part of the tomb’s layout were now replaced by funerary (mortuary) temples built some distance away to preserve the tomb’s secret location.
The tombs themselves were designed with a long corridor descending to a network of chambers decorated with scenes to help the deceased reach the next world. Many of these were extracts from the Book of the Dead, the modern term for ancient funerary works including the Book of Amduat (literally, ‘that which is in the underworld’), the Book of Gates and the Litany of Ra. These describe the sun god’s nightly journey through the darkness of the underworld, the realm of Osiris, with each hour of the night regarded as a separate region guarded by demigods. In order for Ra and the dead souls who accompanied him to pass through on their way to rebirth at dawn, it was essential that they knew the demi gods’ names in order to get past them.
Egypt’s Pharaonic history is based on the regnal years of each pharaoh, a word derived from per-aa, meaning palace. Among the many hundreds of pharaohs who ruled Egypt over a 3000-year period, the following are some of the names found most frequently around the ancient sites:
Narmer (Menes; c 3100 BC) The first king to unite Lower and Upper Egypt. Narmer from south (Upper) Egypt is portrayed as victorious on the famous Narmer Palette in the Egyptian Museum. He is perhaps to be identified with the semi-mythical King Menes, founder of Egypt’s ancient capital city Memphis.
Zoser (Djoser; c 2667–2648 BC) As second king of the 3rd dynasty, Zoser was buried in Egypt’s first pyramid, the world’s oldest monumental stone building, designed by the architect Imhotep. Zoser’s statue in the foyer of the Egyptian Museum shows a long-haired king with a slight moustache.
Sneferu (c 2613–2589 BC) The first king of the 4th dynasty, and held in the highest esteem by later generations, Sneferu was Egypt’s greatest pyramid builder. He was responsible for four such structures, and his final resting place, the Red (Northern) Pyramid at Dahshur, was Egypt’s first true pyramid and a model for the more famous pyramids at Giza.
Khufu (Cheops; c 2589–2566 BC) As Sneferu’s son and successor, Khufu was the second king of the 4th dynasty. Best known for Egypt’s largest pyramid, the Great Pyramid at Giza, his only surviving likeness is Egypt’s smallest royal sculpture, a 7.5cm-high figurine in the Egyptian Museum.
Khafre (Khephren, Chephren; c 2558–2532 BC) Khafre was a younger son of Khufu who succeeded his half-brother to become fourth king of the 4th dynasty. He built the second of Giza’s famous pyramids and is best known as the model for the face of the Great Sphinx.
Menkaure (Mycerinus; c 2532–2503 BC) As the son of Khafre and fifth king of the 4th dynasty, Menkaure built the smallest of Giza’s three huge pyramids. He is also well represented by a series of superb sculptures in the Egyptian Museum.
Amenhotep I (c 1525–1504 BC) As second king of the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep I ruled for a time with his mother Ahmose-Nofretari. They founded the village of Deir Al Medina for the workers who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and Amenhotep I may have been the first king to be buried there.
Hatshepsut (c 1473–1458 BC) As the most famous of Egypt’s female pharaohs, Hatshepsut took power at the death of her brother-husband Tuthmosis II and initially ruled jointly with her nephew-stepson Tuthmosis III.
Tuthmosis III (c 1479–1425 BC) As sixth king of the 18th dynasty, Tuthmosis III (the Napoleon of ancient Egypt) expanded Egypt’s empire with a series of foreign campaigns into Syria. He built extensively at Karnak, added a chapel at Deir Al Bahri and his tomb was the first in the Valley of the Kings to be decorated.
Amenhotep III (c 1390–1352 BC) As ninth king of the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep III’s reign marks the zenith of Egypt’s culture and power. He is the creator of Luxor Temple and the largest ever funerary temple marked by the Colossi of Memnon, and his many innovations, including Aten worship, are usually credited to his son Amenhotep IV (later ‘Akhenaten’).
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV; c 1352–1336 BC) Changing his name from Amenhotep to distance himself from the state god Amun, Akhenaten relocated the royal capital to Amarna with his wife Nefertiti. While many still regard him as a monotheist and benign revolutionary, the evidence suggests he was a dictator whose reforms were political rather than religious.
Nefertiti (c 1338–1336 BC (?)) Famous for her painted bust in Berlin, Nefertiti ruled with her husband Akhenaten, and while the identity of his successor remains controversial, it may have been Nefertiti herself, using the throne name ‘Smenkhkare’.
Tutankhamun (c 1336–1327 BC) As the 11th king of the 18th dynasty, Tutankhamun’s fame is based on the great quantities of treasure discovered in his tomb in 1922. The son of Akhenaten by one of Akhenaten’s sisters, Tutankhamun reopened the traditional temples and restored Egypt’s fortunes after the disastrous reign of his father.
Horemheb (c 1323–1295 BC) As a military general, Horemheb restored Egypt’s empire under Tutankhamun and after the brief reign of Ay, eventually became king himself, marrying Nefertiti’s sister Mutnodjmet. His tomb at Saqqara was abandoned in favour of a royal burial in a superbly decorated tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Seti I (c 1294–1279 BC) The second king of the 19th dynasty, Seti I continued to consolidate Egypt’s empire with foreign campaigns. Best known for building Karnak’s Hypostyle Hall, a superb temple at Abydos and a huge tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Ramses II (c 1279–1213 BC) As son and successor of Seti I, Ramses II fought the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh and built temples including Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum, once adorned with the statue that inspired poet PB Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’.
Ramses III (c 1184–1153 BC) As second king of the 20th dynasty, Ramses III was the last of the warrior kings, repelling several attempted invasions portrayed in scenes at his funerary temple Medinat Habu.
Taharka (690–664 BC) As fourth king of the 25th dynasty, Taharka was one of Egypt’s Nubian pharaohs and his daughter Amenirdis II was high priestess at Karnak, where Taharka undertook building work. A fine sculpted head of the king is in Aswan’s Nubian Museum, and he was buried in a pyramid at Nuri in southern Nubia.
Alexander the Great (331–323 BC) Alexander invaded Egypt in 331 BC, founded Alexandria, visited Amun’s temple at Siwa Oasis to confirm his divinity, and after his untimely death in Babylon in 323 BC, his mummy was eventually buried in Alexandria.
Ptolemy I (323–283 BC) As Alexander’s general and rumoured half-brother, Ptolemy seized Egypt at Alexander’s death and established the Ptolemaic line of pharaohs. Ruling in traditional style for 300 years, they made Alexandria the greatest capital of the ancient world.
Cleopatra VII (51–30 BC) As the 19th ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Cleopatra VII ruled with her brothers Ptolemy XIII and then Ptolemy XIV before taking power herself. A brilliant politician who restored Egypt’s former glories, she married Julius Caesar then Mark Antony, whose defeat at Actium in 31 BC led to the couple’s suicide.
| EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD | |
| 1st Dynasty | 3100–2890 BC |
| Narmer (Menes) | c 3100 BC |
| 2nd Dynasty | 2890–2686 BC |
| OLD KINGDOM | |
| 3rd Dynasty | 2686–2613 BC |
| Zoser | 2667–2648 BC |
| Sekhemket | 2648–2640 BC |
| 4th Dynasty | 2613–2494 BC |
| Sneferu | 2613–2589 BC |
| Khufu (Cheops) | 2589–2566 BC |
| Djedefra | 2566–2558 BC |
| Khafre (Chephren) | 2558–2532 BC |
| Menkaure (Mycerinus) | 2532–2503 BC |
| Shepseskaf | 2503–2498 BC |
| 5th Dynasty | 2494–2345 BC |
| Userkaf | 2494–2487 BC |
| Sahure | 2487–2475 BC |
| Neferirkare | 2475–2455 BC |
| Shepseskare | 2455–2448 BC |
| Raneferef | 2448–2445 BC |
| Nyuserra | 2445–2421 BC |
| Unas | 2375–2345 BC |
| 6th Dynasty | 2345–2181 BC |
| Teti | 2345–2323 BC |
| Pepi I | 2321–2287 BC |
| Pepi II | 2278–2184 BC |
| 7th–8th Dynasties | 2181–2125 BC |
| FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD | |
| 9th–10th Dynasties | 2160–2025 BC |
| MIDDLE KINGDOM | |
| 11th Dynasty | 2055–1985 BC |
| Montuhotep II | 2055–2004 BC |
| Montuhotep III | 2004–1992 BC |
| 12th Dynasty | 1985–1795 BC |
| Amenemhat I | 1985–1955 BC |
| Sesostris I | 1965–1920 BC |
| Amenemhat II | 1922–1878 BC |
| Sesostris II | 1880–1874 BC |
| Sesostris III | 1874–1855 BC |
| Amenemhat III | 1855–1808 BC |
| Amenemhat IV | 1808–1799 BC |
| 13th–14th Dynasties | 1795–1650 BC |
| SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD | |
| 15th–17th Dynasties | 1650–1550 BC |
| NEW KINGDOM | |
| 18th Dynasty | 1550–1290 BC |
| Ahmose | 1550–1525 BC |
| Amenhotep I | 1525–1504 BC |
| Tuthmosis I | 1504–1492 BC |
| Tuthmosis II | 1492–1479 BC |
| Tuthmosis III | 1479–1425 BC |
| Hatshepsut | 1473–1458 BC |
| Amenhotep II | 1427–1400 BC |
| Tuthmosis IV | 1400–1390 BC |
| Amenhotep III | 1390–1352 BC |
| Akhenaten | 1352–1336 BC |
| Tutankhamun | 1336–1327 BC |
| Horemheb | 1323–1295 BC |
| 19th Dynasty | 1295–1186 BC |
| Ramses I | 1295–1294 BC |
| Seti I | 1294–1279 BC |
| Ramses II | 1279–1213 BC |
| Seti II | 1200–1194 BC |
| 20th Dynasty | 1186–1069 BC |
| Ramses III | 1184–1153 BC |
| THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD | |
| 21st Dynasty | 1069–945 BC |
| Psusennes I | 1039–991 BC |
| 22nd–23rd Dynasties | 945–712 BC |
| 24th–26th Dynasties | 727–525 BC |
| LATE PERIOD | |
| 27th Dynasty | 525–404 BC |
| Cambyses | 525–522 BC |
| Darius | 521–486 BC |
| 28th–31st Dynasties | 404–332 BC |
| GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD | |
| Macedonian and Ptolemaic | 332–30 BC |
| Alexander the Great | 332–323 BC |
| Ptolemy I | 305–282 BC |
| Ptolemy III | 246–222 BC |
| Ptolemy VIII | 170–163 and 145–116 BC |
| Cleopatra VII | 51–30 BC |
| Roman | 30–313 BC |
| Augustus | 30 BC–AD 14 |
| Hadrian | 117–138 |
| Diocletian | 284–305 |
Initially representing aspects of the natural world, Egypt’s gods and goddesses grew more complex through time. As they began to blend together and adopt each other’s characteristics, they started to become difficult to identify, although their distinctive headgear and clothing can provide clues as to who they are. The following brief descriptions should help travellers spot at least a few of the many hundreds who appear on monuments and in museums.
Amun The local god of Thebes (Luxor) who became the state god of the New Kingdom Egypt. Originally he may have been associated with the power of the wind, and he was a creator god. Later he became closely associated with the fertility god Min and combined with the sun god to create Amun-Ra, king of the gods. He is generally portrayed seated on a throne with a double-plumed crown and sometimes the horns of his sacred ram to accentuate his procreative vigour.
Anubis The funerary god who deals with burial and afterlife. Anubis is the god of mummification, the patron of embalmers and guardian of cemeteries is generally depicted as a black jackal or a jackal-headed man.
Apophis The huge snake embodying darkness and chaos was the enemy of the sun god Ra. It tried to destroy him every night during his journey through the underworld, to prevent him reaching the dawn. Seth speared the serpent, and the blood stain that was left explained the red sky at sunset and sunrise.
Aten The solar disc whose rays end in outstretched hands was worshipped as a god during the 18th dynasty, and became chief deity under the reign of Akhenaten.
Atum Creator god of Heliopolis who rose from the primeval waters and ejaculated (or sneezed, depending on the myth) to create gods and humans. He was also the god who would destroy everything at the end of times. Generally depicted as a man wearing the double crown, but sometimes also with the head of a ram or a scarab, Atum represented the setting sun.
Bastet Cat goddess whose cult centre was Bubastis; ferocious when defending her father Ra the sun god, she was often shown as a friendly deity, a symbol of motherhood, personified by the domestic cat.
Bes A household deity, Bes was a grotesque yet benign dwarf god fond of music and dancing; he kept evil from the home and protected women in childbirth by waving his knives and sticking out his tongue.
Geb God of the earth associated with vegetation and fertility, he is generally depicted as a green man lying beneath his sister-wife Nut, the sky goddess, supported by their father Shu, god of air. He is the father of Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephtys.
Hapy God of the Nile flood and the plump embodiment of fertility shown as an androgynous figure with sagging breasts and a swollen belly, sometimes shown with a clump of papyrus on his head.
Hathor Goddess of love, sexuality and pleasure represented as a cow or a woman with a crown of horns and sun disc in her guise as the sun god’s daughter. Patron of music and dancing whose principle cult centre was at Dendara, she was known as ‘she of the beautiful hair’ and ‘lady of drunkenness’. She was the wife of Horus.
Horus Falcon god of the sky and son of Isis and Osiris, he avenged his father to rule on earth and was personified by the ruling pharaoh. He can appear as a falcon or a man with a falcon’s head, and his eye (wedjat) was a powerful amulet. Horus, the husband of Hathor, was closely associated with kingship and is often seen hovering as a falcon over the pharaoh’s head.
Isis Goddess of magic and protector of her brother-husband Osiris and their son Horus. She represented the ideal wife, made the first mummy of Osiris’ body and was a protector of the dead. As symbolic mother of the pharaoh she appears as a woman with a throne-shaped crown, or sometimes has Hathor’s cow horns. She is often seen suckling the infant Horus.
Khepri God of the rising sun represented by the scarab beetle, whose habit of rolling balls of dirt was likened to the sun’s journey across the sky.
Khnum Ram-headed god who created life on a potter’s wheel; he also controlled the waters of the Nile flood from his cave at Elephantine and his cult centre was Esna.
Khons Young god of the moon and son of Amun and Mut. He is generally depicted in human form wearing a crescent moon crown and the ‘sidelock of youth’ hairstyle.
Maat Goddess of cosmic order, truth and justice, depicted as a woman wearing an ostrich feather on her head, or sometimes by the feather alone.
Mut Amun’s consort and one of the symbolic mothers of the king; her name means both ‘mother’ and ‘vulture’ and she is generally shown as a woman with a vulture headdress.
Nekhbet Vulture goddess of Upper Egypt worshipped at Al Kab; she often appears with her sister-goddess Wadjet the cobra, protecting the pharaoh.
Nut Sky goddess usually portrayed as a woman whose star-spangled body arches across tomb and temple ceilings. She swallows the sun each evening to give birth to it each morning.
Osiris God of death, fertility and resurrection whose main cult centre was at Abydos. As the first mummy created, he was magically revived by Isis to produce their son Horus, who took over the earthly kingship, while Osiris became ruler of the underworld and symbol of eternal life. He represented good, while his brother Seth represented evil.
Ptah Creator god of Memphis who brought the world into being by his thoughts and spoken words. He is patron of craftsmen, wears a tight-fitting robe and a skullcap, and usually clutches a tall sceptre (resembling a 1950s microphone).
Ra The supreme deity in the Egyptian pantheon, the sun god is generally shown as a man with a falcon’s head topped by a sun disc, although he can take many forms (eg Aten, Khepri) and other gods merge with him to enhance their powers (eg Amun-Ra, Ra-Atum). In his underworld aspect he can be shown with a ram’s head. Ra travelled through the skies in a boat, sinking down into the underworld each night before re-emerging at dawn to bring light.
Sekhmet Lioness goddess of Memphis whose name means ‘the powerful one’. As a daughter of sun god Ra she was capable of great destruction and was the bringer of pestilence; her priests functioned as doctors, and her statues were erected to protect Egypt from the plague.
Seth God of chaos and confusion personified by a mythological, composite animal. In pre-Dynastic times the king was revered as the incarnation of both Horus and Seth. However, during the Old Kingdom, the myth arose that after murdering his brother Osiris he was defeated by Horus, and from then on he was regarded as evil, too dangerous to be depicted on temple walls, even as a hieroglyph.
Sobek Crocodile god representing Pharaonic might, he was worshipped at Kom Ombo and Fayyum. Both sites had sacred lakes with crocodiles.
Taweret Hippopotamus goddess who often appears upright to scare evil from the home and protect women in childbirth.
Thoth God of knowledge and writing, and patron of scribes. He is portrayed as an ibis or baboon, or most frequently as an ibis-headed man holding a scribe’s palette, and his cult centre was at Hermopolis. He was closely identified with the moon, and was considered the guardian of the deceased in the underworld.
Ancient Egyptian art is instantly recognisable, its distinctive style remaining largely unchanged for more than three millennia. With its basic characteristics already in place at the beginning of the Pharaonic Period (c 3100 BC), the motif of the king smiting his enemies on the Narmer Palette was still used in Roman times.
Despite being described in modern terms as ‘works of art’, the reasons for the production of art in ancient Egypt are still very much misunderstood. Egyptian art was primarily functional, and closely linked to religion and ideology. All ancient Egyptian art was part of a unified system of representation; there was no tradition of an individual artistic expression. To represent an object in art was to make it eternal, to give it permanence. There was also a standard repertoire of funerary scenes, from the colourful images that adorn the walls of tombs to the highly detailed vignettes illuminating funerary texts. Each image, whether carved on stone or painted on papyrus, was designed to serve and protect the deceased on their journey into the afterlife.
The majority of artefacts were produced for religious and funerary purposes and, despite their breathtaking beauty, would have been hidden away from the public gaze, either within a temple’s dark interior or, like Tut’s mask, buried in a tomb with the dead. This only makes the objects – and those who made them – even more remarkable. Artists regarded the things they made as pieces of equipment to do a job rather than works of art to be displayed and admired.
The Egyptians believed it was essential that the things they portrayed had every relevant feature shown as clearly as possible. Then when they were magically reanimated through the correct rituals they would be able to function as effectively as possible, protecting and sustaining the unseen spirits of both the gods and the dead.
Figures needed a clear outline, with a profile of nose and mouth to let them breathe, and the eye shown whole as if seen from the front, to allow the figure to see. This explains why eyes were often painted on the sides of coffins to allow the dead to see out and why hieroglyphs such as snakes or enemy figures were sometimes shown in two halves to prevent them causing damage when re-activated.
Mummification was used by many ancient cultures, but the Egyptians were the masters of this highly complex procedure, which they refined over thousands of years.
At first bodies were simply buried in the desert away from cultivation. The hot, dry conditions and aridity of the sand allowed body fluids to drain away while preserving the skin, hair and nails intact.
As society developed, those who would once have been buried in a hole in the ground demanded tombs befitting their status. But as the bodies were no longer in direct contact with the sand, they rapidly decomposed. An alternative means of preservation was therefore required. After a long process of experimentation, and a good deal of trial and error, the Egyptians seem to have finally cracked it around 2600 BC when they started to remove the internal organs, where putrefaction begins.
All the organs were removed except the kidneys, which were hard to reach, and the heart, considered to be the source of intelligence. The brain was generally removed by inserting a metal probe up the nose and whisking until it had liquefied sufficiently to be drained down the nose. All the rest – lungs, liver, stomach and intestines – were removed through an opening cut in the left flank. Then the body and its separate organs were covered with natron salt (a combination of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) and left to dry out for 40 days, after which they were washed, purified and anointed with a range of oils, spices and resins. All were then wrapped in layers of linen, with the appropriate amulets set in place over the various parts of the body as priests recited the necessary incantations.
With each of the internal organs placed inside its own burial container (one of four Canopic jars), the wrapped body with its funerary mask was placed inside its coffin. It was then ready for the funeral procession to the tomb, where the vital Opening of the Mouth ceremony reanimated the soul and restored its senses. The essential offerings of food and drink then sustained the soul of the deceased that resided within the mummy as it was finally laid to rest inside the tomb.
While working within very restrictive conventions, the ancient artists still managed to capture a feeling of vitality. Inspired by the natural world around them, they selected images to reflect the concept of life and rebirth, as embodied by the scarab beetles and tilapia fish thought capable of self-generation. Since images were also believed able to transmit the life force they contained, fluttering birds, gambolling cattle and the speeding quarry of huntsmen were all favourite motifs. The life-giving properties of plants are also much in evidence, with wheat, grapes, onions and figs stacked side by side with the flowers the Egyptians loved so much. Particularly common are the lotus (water lily) and papyrus, the heraldic symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt often shown entwined to symbolise a kingdom united.
Egypt was represented politically by the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, fitted together in the dual crown to represent the unification of the two lands.
The country was also represented by the colours red and black, the red desert wastes of deshret contrasting with the fertile black land of kemet. For Egyptians, black was the colour of life, and black was the colour of choice to represent Osiris, the god of fertility and resurrection, in contrast to the redness associated with his brother Seth, god of chaos. Sometimes Osiris is also shown with green skin, the colour of vegetation and new life. Some of his fellow gods are blue to echo the ethereal blue of the sky, and the golden yellow of the sun is regularly employed for its protective qualities.
Human figures were initially represented with different-coloured skin tones, the red-brown of men contrasting with the paler, yellowed tones of women, and although this has been interpreted as indicating that men spent most of the time working outdoors whereas women led a more sheltered existence, changes in artistic convention meant everyone was eventually shown with the same red-brown skin tone.
Sculptors worked in a variety of different mediums, with stone often chosen for its colour – white limestone and alabaster (calcite), golden sandstone, green schist (slate), brown quartzite and both black and red granite. Smaller items could be made of red or yellow jasper; orange carnelian or blue lapis lazuli; metals such as copper, gold or silver; or less-costly materials such as wood or highly glazed blue faience pottery.
All these materials were used to produce a wide range of statuary for temples and tombs, from 20m-high stone colossi to gold figurines a few centimetres tall. Amulets and jewellery were another means of ensuring the security of the dead. While their beauty would enhance the appearance of the living, each piece was also carefully designed as a protective talisman or a means of communicating status. Even when creating such small-scale masterpieces, the same principles employed in larger-scale works of art applied, and little of the work that the ancient craftsmen produced was either accidental or frivolous.
Initially, the afterlife was restricted to royalty and the texts meant to guide the pharaohs towards eternity were inscribed on the walls of their burial chambers. Since the rulers of the Old Kingdom were buried in pyramids, the accompanying funerary writings are known as the Pyramid Texts.
In the hope of sharing in the royal afterlife, Old Kingdom officials built their tombs close to the pyramids until the pharaohs lost power at the end of the Old Kingdom. No longer reliant on the pharaoh’s favour, the officials began to use the royal funerary texts for themselves. Inscribed on their coffins, they are known as Coffin Texts – a Middle Kingdom version of the earlier Pyramid Texts, adapted for nonroyal use.
This ‘democratisation’ of the afterlife evolved even further when the Coffin Texts were literally brought out in paperback, inscribed on papyrus and made available to the masses during the New Kingdom. It’s now referred to by the modern term the Book of the Dead, but he Egyptians knew this as the Book of Coming Forth by Day. There are sections entitled ‘Spell for not dying a second time’, ‘Spell not to rot and not to do work in the land of the dead’ and ‘Spell for not having your magic taken away’. These spells and instructions acted as a kind of guidebook to the afterlife, with some of the texts accompanied by maps, and images of some of the gods and demons that would be encountered en route together with the correct way to address them.
The New Kingdom royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings are decorated with highly formal scenes showing the pharaoh in the company of the gods and all the forces of darkness defeated. Since the pharaoh was always pharaoh, even in death, there was no room for the informality and scenes of daily life that can be found in the tombs of lesser mortals.
The nonroyal tombs show a much more relaxed, almost eclectic nature of scenes, which feature everything from eating and drinking to dancing and hairdressing. But here again, these apparently random scenes of daily life carry the same message found throughout Egyptian art – the eternal continuity of life and the triumph of order over chaos. As the pharaoh is shown smiting the enemy and restoring peace to the land, his subjects contribute to this continual battle of opposites in which order must always triumph for life to continue.
A common tomb scene is the banquet at which guests enjoy generous quantities of food and drink. Although no doubt reflecting some of the pleasures the deceased had enjoyed in life, the food portrayed was also meant to sustain their souls, as would the accompanying scenes of bountiful harvests which would ensure supplies never ran out. Even the music and dance performed at these banquets indicate much more than a party in full swing – the lively proceedings were another way of reviving the deceased by awakening their senses.
The culmination of this idea can be found in the all-important Opening of the Mouth ceremony, performed by the deceased’s heir (either the next king or the eldest son). The ceremony was designed to reanimate the ka (soul), which could then go on to enjoy eternal life once all its senses had been restored. Noise and movement were believed to reactivate hearing and sight, while the sense of smell was restored with incense and flowers. The essential offerings of food and drink sustained the soul that resided within the mummy as it was finally laid to rest inside the tomb.
In one of the most common nonroyal tomb scenes, the tomb owner is seen hunting on the river. On a basic level one can see this as the deceased enjoying a day out boating with his family. However, the scene is far more complex than it first appears. The tomb owner, shown in a central position in the prime of life, strikes a formal pose as he restores order amid the chaos of nature all around him. In his task he is supported by the female members of his family, from his small daughter to the wife standing serenely beside him. Dressed far too impractically for a hunting trip on the river, his wife wears an outfit more in keeping with a priestess of Hathor, goddess of love and sensual pleasure. Yet Hathor is also the protector of the dead and capable of great violence as defender of her father, the sun god Ra, in his eternal struggle against the chaotic forces of darkness.
Some versions of this riverside hunting scene also feature a cat. Often described as a kind of ‘retriever’ (who ever heard of a retriever cat?), the cat is one of the creatures who was believed to defend the sun god on his nightly journey through the underworld. Similarly, the river’s teeming fish were regarded as pilots for the sun god’s boat and were themselves potent symbols of rebirth. Even the abundant lotus flowers are significant, since the lotus, whose petals open each morning, is the flower that symbolised rebirth. Once the coded meaning of ancient Egyptian art is understood, such previously silent images almost scream out the idea of ‘life’.
Hieroglyphs, meaning ‘sacred carvings’ in Greek, are the pictorial script used by the ancient Egyptians. It is generally agreed that writing was invented in Sumer, Mesopotamia. Egyptian hieroglyphs differ greatly from Mesopotamian cuneiform, but some suggest that the Egyptians took the concept of writing from the Sumerians, but developed their own script. Others believe that the Egyptians developed the world’s first script. For 3500 years it remained fairly unchanged, only written by a very small literary elite, while the spoken language underwent huge changes.
The small figures of humans, animals, birds and symbols that populate the script were believed to infuse each scene with divine power. In fact certain signs were considered so potent they were shown in two halves to prevent them causing havoc should they magically reanimate.
Yet the ancient Egyptians also liked a joke, and their language was often onomatopoeic – for example, the word for cat was ‘miw’ after the noise it makes, and the word for wine was ‘irp’, after the noise made by those who drank it.
It is very possible that the overall literacy rate in ancient Egypt was less than 1% of the entire population, but the impact of hieroglyphs on Egyptian culture cannot be overestimated, as they provided the means by which the state took shape. They were used by a civil service of scribes working on the king’s behalf to collect taxes and organise vast workforces.
During the Old Kingdom, literary works included funerary texts, letters, hymns and poems; by the early Middle Kingdom, narrative Egyptian literature was created by the growing intellectual class of scribes.
Within a few centuries, day-to-day transactions were undertaken in a shorthand version of hieroglyphs known as hieratic, whereas hieroglyphs remained the perfect medium for monumental inscriptions. Covering every available tomb and temple surface, hieroglyphs were regarded as ‘the words of Thoth’, the ibis-headed god of writing and patron deity of scribes, who, like the scribes, is often shown holding a reed pen and ink palette.
A huge civil service of scribes worked on the pharaoh’s behalf to record taxes and organise workers. Taught to read and write in the schools attached to temples where written texts were stored and studied, the great majority of scribes were male. However, some women are also shown with documents and literacy would have been necessary to undertake roles they are known to have held, including overseer, steward, teacher, doctor, high priestess, vizier and even pharaoh on at least six occasions.
Hieroglyphs may at first appear deceptively simple, but they are best understood if divided into three categories – logograms (ideograms), determinatives and phonograms. Logograms represent the thing they depict (eg the sun sign meaning ‘sun’), while determinatives are simply placed at the ends of words to reinforce their meaning (eg the sun sign in the verb ‘to shine’). Phonograms are less straightforward and represent either one, two or three consonants.
The 26 signs usually described in simple terms as ‘the hieroglyphic alphabet’ are the single consonant signs (eg the owl pronounced ‘m’, the zig-zag water sign ‘n’). Another 100 or so signs are biconsonantal (eg the bowl sign read as ‘nb’), and a further 50 are triconsonantal signs (eg ‘nfr’ meaning good, perfect or beautiful). There are no actual vowels as such.
It can be a bit tricky to read ancient Egyptian texts. Scribes usually wrote hieroglyphs from right to left, and in columns which needed to be read from top to bottom. But sometimes they wrote from left to right. To complicate matters further, no punctuation was used. The direction human figures or animals face is usually a pointer to the way one should read the text.
The majority of hieroglyphic inscriptions are endless repetitions of the names and titles of the pharaohs and gods, surrounded by protective symbols. Names were of tremendous importance to the Egyptians and as vital to an individual’s existence as their ka, and it was sincerely believed that ‘to speak the name of the dead is to make them live’.
Royal names were also followed by epithets such as ‘life, prosperity, health’, comparable to the way in which the name of the Prophet Mohammed is always followed by the phrase ‘peace be upon him’. For further protection, royal names were written inside a rectangular fortress wall known as a serekh, which later developed into the more familiar oval-shaped cartouche (the French word for cartridge).
Although each pharaoh had five names, cartouches were used to enclose the two most important ones: the ‘prenomen’ or ‘King of Upper and Lower Egypt’ name assumed at the coronation and written with a bee and a sedge plant; and the ‘nomen’ or ‘Son of Ra’ name, which was given at birth and written with a goose and a sun sign.
As an example, Amenhotep III is known by his nomen or Son of Ra name ‘Amun-hotep’ (meaning Amun is content), although his prenomen or King of Upper and Lower Egypt name was Neb-maat-Re (meaning Ra, lord of truth). His grandson had the most famous of all Egyptian names, Tut-ankh-amun, which literally translates as ‘the living image of Amun’, yet he had originally been named Tut-ankh-aten, meaning ‘the living image of the Aten’ – a change in name that reflects the shifting politics of the time.
The loss of one’s name meant permanent obliteration from history, and those unfortunate enough to incur official censure included commoners and pharaohs alike. At times it even happened to the gods themselves, a fate which befell the state god Amun during the reign of the ‘heretic’ pharaoh Akhenaten, who in turn suffered the same fate together with his god Aten when Amun was later restored.
In order to prevent this kind of obliteration, names were sometimes carved so deeply into the rock it is possible to place an outstretched hand right inside each hieroglyph, as is the case of Ramses III’s name and titles at his funerary temple of Medinat Habu.
Gods were incorporated into the names of ordinary people, and as well as Amunhotep there was Rahotep (the sun god Ra is content) and Ptahhotep (the creator god Ptah is content). By changing ‘hotep’ (meaning ‘content’) to ‘mose’ (meaning ‘born of’), the names Amenmose, Ramose and Ptahmose meant that these men were ‘born of’ these gods.
In similar fashion, goddesses featured in women’s names. Hathor, goddess of love, beauty and pleasure, was a particular favourite, with names such as Sithathor (daughter of Hathor). Standard male names could also be feminised by the simple addition of ‘t’, so Nefer (good, beautiful or perfect) becomes Nefert, which could be further embellished with the addition of a verb, as in the case of the famous name Nefertiti (goodness/beauty/perfection has come).
Others were known by their place of origin, such as Panehesy (the Nubian), or could be named after flora and fauna – Miwt (cat), Debet (hippopotamus) and Seshen (lotus), which is still in use today as the name Susan.
With ancient Egypt’s history focused on its royals, the part played by the rest of the ancient population is frequently ignored. The great emphasis on written history also excludes the 99% of the ancient population who were unable to write, and it can often seem as if the only people who lived in ancient Egypt were pharaohs, priests and scribes.
The silent majority are often dismissed as little more than illiterate peasants, although these were the very people who built the monuments and produced the wealth on which the culture was based.
Fortunately Egypt’s climate, at least, is democratic, and has preserved the remains of people throughout society, from the mummies of the wealthy in their grand tombs to the remains of the poorest individuals buried in hollows in the sand.
In Egypt’s dry climate, houses were traditionally built of mudbrick, whether they were the narrow back-to-back homes of workers or the sprawling palaces of the royals. The main differences were the number of rooms and the quality of fixtures and fittings. The villas of the wealthy often incorporated walled gardens with stone drainage systems for small pools, and some even had en-suite bathroom facilities – look out for the limestone toilet seat found at Amarna and now hanging in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Just like the mudbrick houses in rural Egypt today, ancient homes were warm in winter and cool in summer. Small, high-set windows reduced the sun’s heat but allowed breezes to blow through, and stairs gave access to the flat roof where the family could relax or sleep.
While homes were often whitewashed on the outside to deflect the heat, interiors were usually painted in bright colours, the walls and floors of wealthier homes further enhanced with gilding and inlaid tiles. Although the furniture of most homes would have been quite sparse – little more than a mudbrick bench, a couple of stools and a few sleeping mats – the wealthy could afford beautiful furniture, including inlaid chairs and footstools, storage chests, beds with linen sheets and feather-stuffed cushions. Most homes also had small shrines for household deities and busts of family ancestors, and a small raised area seems to have been reserved for women in childbirth.
The staple food was bread, produced in many varieties, including the dense calorie-laden loaves mass-produced for those working on government building schemes. Onions, leeks, garlic and pulses were eaten in great quantities along with dates, figs, pomegranates and grapes. Grapes were also used, along with honey, as sweeteners. Spices, herbs, nuts and seeds were added to food, along with oil extracted from native plants and imported almonds and olives. Although cows provided milk for drinking and making butter and cheese, meat was only eaten regularly by the wealthy and by priests allowed to eat temple offerings once the gods had been satisfied. This was mostly beef, although sheep, goats and pigs were also eaten, as were game and wild fowl. Fish was generally dried and salted and, because of its importance in workers’ diets, a fish-processing plant existed at the pyramid builders’ settlement at Giza.
Although the wealthy enjoyed wine (with the best produced in the vineyards of the Delta and western oases, or imported from Syria), the standard beverage was a rather soupy barley beer, which was drunk throughout society by everyone, including children.
The home was very much the female domain. The most common title for women of all social classes was nebet per (lady of the house), emphasising their control over most aspects of domestic life. Although there is little evidence of marriage ceremonies, monogamy was standard practice for the majority, with divorce and remarriage relatively common and initiated by either sex. With the same legal rights as men, women were responsible for running the home, and although there were male launderers, cleaners and cooks, it was mainly women who cared for the children, cleaned the house, made clothing and prepared food in small open-air kitchens adjoining the home.
The majority of ancient Egyptians were farmers, whose lives were based around the annual cycle of the Nile. Agriculture was so fundamental to life in both this world and the next that it was one of the dominant themes in tomb scenes. The standard repertoire of ploughing, sowing and reaping is often interspersed with officials checking field boundaries or calculating the grain to be paid as tax in this pre-coinage economy. The officials are often accompanied by scribes busily recording all transactions, with hieroglyphs now known to have been first developed c 3250 BC as a means of recording produce.
Closely related to the scribe’s profession were the artists and sculptors who produced the stunning artefacts synonymous with ancient Egypt. From colossal statues to delicate jewellery, all were fashioned using simple tools and natural materials.
Building stone was hewn by teams of labourers supplemented by prisoners, with granite obtained from Aswan, sandstone from Gebel Silsila, alabaster from Hatnub near Amarna and limestone from Tura near modern Cairo. Gold came from mines in the Eastern Desert and Nubia, and both copper and turquoise were mined in the Sinai. With such precious commodities being transported large distances, trade routes and border areas were patrolled by guards, police (known as medjay) and the army, when not out on campaign.
Men also plied their trade as potters, carpenters, builders, metalworkers, jewellers, weavers, fishermen and butchers, with many of these professions handed down from father to son: this is especially well portrayed in the tomb scenes of Rekhmire. There were also itinerant workers such as barbers, dancers and midwives, and those employed for their skills as magicians. Men worked alongside women as servants in wealthy homes, performing standard household duties, and thousands of people were employed in the temples, which formed the heart of every settlement as a combination of town hall, college, library and medical centre.
Personal appearance was clearly important to the Egyptians, with wigs, jewellery, cosmetics and perfumes worn by men and women alike. Garments were generally linen, made from the flax plant before the introduction of cotton in Ptolemaic times. Status was reflected in the fineness and quantity of the linen, but as it was expensive, surviving clothes show frequent patching and darning.
The most common garment was the loincloth, worn like underpants beneath other clothes. Men also wore a linen kilt, sometimes pleated, and both men and women wore the bag-tunic made from a rectangle of linen folded in half and sewn up each side. The most common female garments were dresses, most wrapped sari-like around the body, although there were also V-neck designs cut to shape, and detachable sleeves for easy cleaning.
Linen leggings have also been found, as well as socks with a gap between the toes for wearing with sandals made of vegetable fibre or leather. Plain headscarves were worn to protect the head from the sun or during messy work; the striped nemes (headcloth) was only worn by the pharaoh, who also had numerous crowns and diadems for ceremonial occasions.
Jewellery was worn by men and women throughout society for both aesthetic and magical purposes. It was made of various materials, from gold to glazed pottery, and included collars, necklaces, hair ornaments, bracelets, anklets, belts, earrings and finger rings.
Wigs and hair extensions were popular, at least from c 3400 BC, as was the use of henna (Lawsonia inermis) as a hair dye. Many people shaved or cropped their hair for cleanliness and to prevent head lice (which have been found in the hair of pharaohs). The clergy had to shave their heads for ritual purity and children’s heads were partially shaved to leave only a side lock of hair as a symbol of youth.
| akh | usually translated as ‘transfigured spirit’, produced when the ka (soul) and ba (spirit) united after the deceased was judged worthy enough to enter the afterlife |
| Ammut | composite monster of the underworld who was part crocodile, part lion and part hippo, and ate the hearts of the unworthy dead; her name means ‘The Devourer’ |
| ba | usually translated as ‘spirit’, which appeared after death as a human-headed bird, able to fly to and from the tomb and into the afterlife |
| Book of the Dead | modern term for the collection of ancient funerary texts designed to guide the dead through the afterlife, developed at the beginning of the New Kingdom and partly based on the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts |
| Canopic jars | containers usually made of limestone or calcite to store the preserved entrails (stomach, liver, lungs and intestines) of mummified individuals |
| cartouche | the protective oval shape (the name derived from the French word for cartridge), which surrounded the names of kings, queens and occasionally gods |
| cenotaph | a memorial structure set up in memory of a deceased king or queen, separate from their tomb or funerary temple |
| Coffin Texts | funerary texts developed from the earlier Pyramid Texts, which were then written on coffins during the Middle Kingdom |
| coregency | a period of joint rule by two pharaohs, usually father and son |
| cult temple | the standard religious building(s) designed to house the spirits of the gods and accessible only to the priesthood, usually located on the Nile’s east bank |
| deshret | ‘red land’, referring to barren desert |
| djed pillar | the symbolic backbone of Osiris, bestowing strength and stability and often worn as an amulet |
| false door | the means by which the soul of the deceased could enter and leave the world of the living to accept funerary offerings brought to their tomb |
| funerary (mortuary) temple | the religious structures where the souls of dead pharaohs were commemorated and sustained with offerings, usually built on the Nile’s west bank |
| Heb-Sed festival | the jubilee ceremony of royal renewal and rejuvenation, which pharaohs usually celebrated after 30 years’ rule |
| Heb-Sed race | part of the Heb-Sed festival when pharaohs undertook physical feats such as running to demonstrate their prowess and fitness to rule |
| hieratic | ancient shorthand version of hieroglyphs used for day-to-day transactions by scribes |
| hieroglyphs | Greek for ‘sacred carvings’, referring to ancient Egypt’s formal picture writing used mainly for tomb and temple walls |
| hypostyle hall | imposing section of temple characterised by densely packed monumental columns |
| ka | Usually translated as ‘soul’, this was a person’s ‘double’, which was created with them at birth and which lived on after death, sustained by offerings left by the living |
| kemet | ‘black land’, referring to the fertile areas along the Nile’s banks |
| king lists | chronological lists of each king’s names kept as a means of recording history |
| lotus (water lily) | the heraldic plant of Upper (southern) Egypt |
| mammisi | the Birth House attached to certain Late Period and Graeco-Roman temples and associated with the goddesses Isis and Hathor |
| mastaba | Arabic word for bench, used to describe the mudbrick tomb structures built over subterranean burial chambers and from which pyramids developed |
| name | an essential part of each individual given at birth, and spoken after their death to allow them to live again in the afterlife |
| naos | sanctuary containing the god’s statue, generally located in the centre of ancient temples |
| natron | mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate used to dry out the body during mummification and used by the living to clean linen, teeth and skin |
| nemes | the yellow-and-blue striped headcloth worn by pharaohs, the most famous example found on Tutankhamun’s golden death mask |
| nomarch | local governor of each of Egypt’s 42 nomes |
| nome | Greek term for Egypt’s 42 provinces – 22 in Upper Egypt and later 20 added in Lower Egypt |
| obelisk | monolithic stone pillar tapering to a pyramidal top that was often gilded to reflect sunlight around temples and usually set in pairs |
| Opening of the Mouth ceremony | the culmination of the funeral, performed on the mummy of the deceased by their heir or funerary priest using spells and implements to restore their senses |
| Opet festival | annual celebration held at Luxor Temple to restore the powers of the pharaoh at a secret meeting with the god Amun |
| papyrus | the heraldic plant of Lower (northern) Egypt whose reedlike stem was sliced and layered to create paperlike sheets for writing |
| pharaoh | term for an Egyptian king derived from the ancient Egyptian word for palace, per-aa |
| pylon | monumental gateway with sloping sides forming the entrance to temples |
| Pyramid Texts | funerary texts inscribed on the walls of late Old Kingdom pyramids and restricted to royalty |
| sacred animals | living creatures thought to represent certain gods – eg the crocodile (identified with Sobek), the cat (identified with Bastet) – and often mummified at death |
| sarcophagus | derived from the Greek for ‘flesh eating’ and referring to the large stone coffins used to house the mummy and its wooden coffin(s) |
| scarab | the sacred dung beetle believed to propel the sun’s disc through the sky in the same way the beetle pushes a ball of dung across the floor |
| serapeum | vast network of underground catacombs at Saqqara in which the Apis bulls were buried, later associated with the Ptolemaic god Serapis |
| serdab | from the Arabic word for cellar, a small room in a mastaba tomb containing a statue of the deceased to which offerings were presented |
| shabti (or ushabti) | small servant figurines placed in burials designed to undertake any manual work in the afterlife on behalf of the deceased |
| shadow | an essential part of each individual, the shadow was believed to offer protection, based on the importance of shade in an extremely hot climate |
| sidelock of youth | characteristic hairstyle of children and certain priests in which the head is shaved and a single lock of hair allowed to grow |
| solar barque | the boat in which the sun god Ra sailed through the heavens, with actual examples buried close to certain pyramids for use by the spirits of the pharaohs |
| Uraeus | an image of the cobra goddess Wadjet worn at the brow of royalty to symbolically protect them by spitting fire into the eyes of their enemies |
| Weighing of the Heart (The Judgement of Osiris) | the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of Maat with Osiris as judge; if light and free of sin they were allowed to spend eternity as an akh, but if their heart was heavy with sin it was eaten by Ammut and they were damned forever |