To sum up, the essential idea of the Egyptian conception of
immortality was that the ghost or spirit of the man preserved the
personality and the form of the man in the existence after death;
that this spirit had the same desires, the same pleasures, the
same necessities, and the same fears as on earth. Life after
death was a duplicate of life on earth. On earth life depended on
work, on getting food from the fields and the herds, on forming
stone and metal, hide and vegetable fibre, into useful objects.
In other words, life depended on human power over the natural
materials of the earth. At the same time there were many things
which could not be controlled by power over the earth and its
elements,--the sting of the scorpion, the bite of the adder,
the rise of the Nile, sickness, the sudden onslaught of the
enemy, the straying of cattle, the disfavor of the god. For these
evils man's only hope was magic,--the set words spoken in the
proper manner which have power over all unseen influence. So in
the case of life after death, all which human strength can
provide of stores of grain and drink and garments must be secured
for his use; but he must also be provided with the magic words to
meet the chance evils of the future life.
It is not surprising that the unknown future presented to the
imagination many evils unknown on earth. The spirit might forget
its name, it might lose its heart, it might be bound fast by evil
powers in the grave and unable to come forth by day. The mummy
might decay; the spirit might forget its form. So, as time went
on, the use of magic words became of greater and greater
importance, until, to modern eyes, it seemed to overshadow all
else in the Egyptian conception of life after death.
As a part of the magical provisions of the dead, the Osiris myth,
probably built up in explanation of old rites, was drawn into the
belief in a future life, and apparently at the beginning _solely
for the benefit of the king_, for the benefit of those who
claimed a certain divinity on earth. The earth-god Osiris, god of
the living, had died and had been brought to life as god of the
dead. So, also, the earth-king, the Horus, the son of Ra, must
die, but he also would live again in the other world and share
the throne of Osiris. More than this even, he became Osiris. He
was admitted to the life of the gods. Of course the ideas of the
existence of the gods were never clear and consistent. They lived
in secret places, their whole life was mysterious as well as
powerful. These are the field of knowledge which the Egyptian
mind could not oversee with any satisfaction to itself. The most
it could do was to formulate the magic words, invoking the names
of the gods and conjuring them by the events in the Osiris myth
to accept this king as Osiris. The exceptional man, the
super-man, must have an exceptional future life; but to obtain
it, he must have the knowledge of the names and words necessary
to force the powers of the other world.
Thus the idea of an exceptional future life, a heaven, was
brought into the Egyptian conception of life after death.
Admission to it depended on the exceptional position on earth of
those admitted. As even this exceptional position was only of
avail when combined with the knowledge of certain formulas, it is
not difficult to see how the knowledge of these formulas might be
considered sufficient to obtain the better future life, even for
others than the king. When in the depression that followed the
extravagance of the pyramid age the central monarchy lost its
power, Egypt broke up into a series of tribal baronies (nomes).
In each was a ruler almost independent of the king, a man who
might presume with the proper knowledge to claim a glorified
future life similar to that of the king. And, indeed, we find
from the burial inscriptions of the Middle Empire that such was
the result. Feudalism extended the possibilities of heaven to the
great nobles. In the New Empire, the royal power was gradually
absorbed by the priestly organization of the national religion--
the religion of Amon-Ra; and the principle comes into practice
that any priest having the necessary knowledge could obtain for
himself an exceptional place in the future life. The Osirian
burial customs spread even among the people. The swathed body
extended on the back becomes universal, even though true
mummification was still only for the rich.
In the Ptolemaic period, the preparation of all the apparatus of
the Osiris burial was divided up into trades. Factories, one may
say, turned out mummy cases of various kinds, with a scale of
prices to fit every purse. Other factories turned out amulets and
charms. Magical texts, the preparation of the body, the
construction of the grave--all things were done by regular
crafts. The cheapening of the apparatus is most striking. At the
same time all but the poorest burials bear direct evidence of
their character as Osiris burials.
On the side of the moral requirement we must not look too
closely. There were powerful words which could compel even the
great judges of the dead to return a favorable verdict. There
were magic hearts of stone which might be worn in place of the
heart, and, laid in the scales by Anubis, weigh heavier than the
truth. One might by words compel Anubis to accept this stone
heart instead of the real heart.
In general, one may say that the hope of immortality had little
influence on the moral life of the ordinary Egyptian. The moral
code was simple and sound and not greatly different from other
primitive codes,--forbidding all those things which the body of
men regard as unpleasant in others, commanding the plain virtues
which were found pleasant in others. Here, again, I think we may
well look to modern Egypt for a picture of ancient Egypt. We must
not exaggerate the influence of the belief in immortality on
general morality. We must not think too well of the life of the
people--nor, on the other hand, too evil. They had their sins
and their virtues. The common herd was driven by necessity and
lived as it could. They clung to the belief in a life in the
grave. The greater people had leisure to learn and to provide the
magic necessary to secure a comfortable future life. They loved
life and hated death.
Thus it was when the priests of the Osiris-Isis religion made
their bid to the classical world. They offered immortality by
initiation. Learn the proper rites, learn the master words, and
secure eternal life among the great gods. It was a religion for
the exceptional man down to the last; it required training and
knowledge. Even in its most popular form in the Ptolemaic period,
a specially instructed class was required, who sold for money the
benefits of their knowledge, and men took rank in their security
of future life according to their means.
Not until Christianity came, offering eternal life free and
without price, did the common people find at last a road open to
equal immortality with the great men of the earth.