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Ancient Egyptian Religion
Egyptian religion was a combination of beliefs and practices which, in the modern day, would include Egyptian mythology, science, medicine, psychiatry, magic, spiritualism, herbology, as well as the modern understanding of 'religion' as belief...
Definition
Osiris
Osiris is the Egyptian Lord of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead, brother-husband to Isis, and one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The name `Osiris' is the Latinized form of the Egyptian Usir which is interpreted as 'powerful'...
Definition
Ancient Egyptian Burial
Egyptian burial is the common term for the ancient Egyptian funerary rituals concerning death and the soul's journey to the afterlife. Eternity, according to scholar Margaret Bunson, “was the common destination of each man, woman and child...
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Dead Sea Scroll of Pesher Isaiah
This is part of Pesher Isaiah, scroll number 4Q162, which was found in Cave 4 at Qumran (Khirbet Qumran or Wadi Qumran). A pesher is a type of commentary. The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish religious manuscripts. The majority were written...
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Book of the Dead of Userhat
This is an early example of a Book of the Dead papyrus by the scribe Userhat. The vignette shows the Field of Reeds, the goal of the blessed dead, in which agricultural activities were conducted. From Thebes, Egypt. 18th Dynasty, c. 1450...
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The Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts (c. 2134-2040 BCE) are 1,185 spells, incantations, and other forms of religious writing inscribed on coffins to help the deceased navigate the afterlife. They include the text known as the Book of Two Ways which is the first...
Article
Egyptian Afterlife - The Field of Reeds
The ancient Egyptians believed that life on earth was only one part of an eternal journey which ended, not in death, but in everlasting joy. When one's body failed, the soul did not die with it but continued on toward an afterlife where one...
Definition
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 90 - c. 20 BCE), better known simply as Vitruvius, was a Roman military engineer and architect who wrote De Architectura (On Architecture), a treatise which combines the history of ancient architecture and engineering...
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Spiritual Defense - Execration Rituals in Ancient Egypt
Magic was an integral aspect of life in ancient Egypt. The world was created through the power of heka (magic) as Atum stood on the primordial mound of the ben-ben in the middle of the endless waters of chaos with the god Heka, who personified...
Article
The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys
The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys is an ancient Egyptian text in which the two goddess-sisters call the soul of the god Osiris to rejoin the living. The poem takes the form of a call-and-response liturgy and the dual entreaties of the...