Egyptian culture incorporated this concept of immortality quite nicely into their religious system through the Osiris myth. In fact, a minority of historians believe that Osiris was an actual real human being at one time in Egyptian history—perhaps an ancient ruler who experienced a civil war during his reign, and who received glory and deification post–mortem as the ancients often […]

The position of God’s Wife of Amun was one of the most politically powerful and spiritually significant in later Egyptian history. Elevated from a figurehead in the New Kingdom (c.1570-1069 BCE), the God’s Wife of Amun would hold power equal to a pharaoh by the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1069-525 BCE) when the God’s Wife would rule Upper Egypt. Although some scholars maintain that […]

The God’s Wives who came after the reign of Ahmose I all held this same power and prestige to greater or lesser degrees. Although some of these women were the daughters of high priests, the majority were related to the king. In addition to the God’s Wife, there were the honorary titles of Divine Adoratrice […]

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 in Egypt” (87) but not `eternity’ as in an afterlife above the clouds but, rather, an eternal Egypt which mirrored one’s life on earth. The afterlife […]

The Nile River was the source of life for the ancient Egyptians and so figured prominently in their religious beliefs. At night, the Milky Way was considered a heavenly Nile, associated with Hathor, and provider of all good things. The Nile was also linked to Uat-Ur, the Egyptian name for the Mediterranean Sea, which stretched out to unknown lands from the Delta and […]

In the biblical Book of Luke, the story is told of Lazarus and the Rich Man in which a man of wealth and the poorest beggar both die on the same day. The beggar, Lazarus, finds himself in paradise while the rich man is in torment. He looks up to see Father Abraham with Lazarus […]

A writer would receive a response from the dead in a number of different ways. One could hear from the deceased in a dream, receive some message or ‘sign’ in the course of a day, consult a seer, or simply find one’s problem suddenly resolved. The dead, after all, were in the company of the […]

The land of ancient Egypt was alive with the spirit of the gods. The sun god Ra broke from the darkness every morning in his great boat, bringing the light, and many of the gods watched over the people by night as the stars. Osiris caused the Nile River to flood its banks and fertilize […]