The Egyptian Conception of Immortality: The Ingersoll Lecture, 1911 — John Shaqi
The Egyptian Conception of Immortality: The Ingersoll Lecture, 1911Reisner, George Andrew
Religion
The Egyptian Conception of Immortality: The Ingersoll Lecture, 1911
Reisner, George Andrew
Eschatology, Egyptian; Immortality
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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