Egypt Afterlife Beliefs

Ancient Egypt is a place like nowhere else. It holds a significant history which is still being discovered till this day. It displays some of the most inspiring pieces of Art and architecture in history. Everything they did, the way they lived, their beliefs, all of it reflected in their architecture. Firstly, the following text will outline ancient Egyptian’s beliefs and concepts of afterlife. Secondly, how their faith reflected on architecture. The paper will discuss specific beliefs and methods of afterlife, their beliefs in Gods and relating that to their architecture that stands till this day.

Among many of the beliefs, Ancient Egyptians believed in a life that was forever. After a death of a person, it was understood that the deceased

“The book of the dead” was something that the locals were believed in Ancient Egyptian times. The process of the judgement after death was explained in the book. The soul of the dead was believed to go through a couple of steps to enter through afterlife and was judged by Orisis. Orisis was worshiped by the people at the time and was considered as GOD of the underworld. It was believed that Orisis was the king of Egypt but became a God after his death by being murdered by his brother Seth. This gave hope to the people that even if one dies, he or she can miraculously be a better person in the afterlife. The journey of the underworld comprised with a couple of steps such as, passing different gateways that were guarded with different Gods and creatures. Once the soul pleaded their innocence, the guard would permit the access to another gate and so on. Among these judgements, there is a final judgment that the soul had to pass, otherwise they would’ve been left there moaning for

The architect Imhotep, not only was an architect but also was a physician, master sculptor, scribe and astronomer. He designed the pyramid in such a way which depicted the power of the king. It wasn’t just a pyramid like the previous burials of the kings were. It was a complex of 35 acre land. The complex included a temple, courtyards, a palace, store houses and tombs and a wall perimeter surrounding the space all giving a purpose to king’s soul to be roaming free around the space. The pyramid is constructed of stone, a new experiment where they used sun dried mud bricks for regular dwellings (kamil . J, 1985). The body of King Zoser lay beneath the pyramid, in a granite sarcophagus chamber, 27 meters below the ground. Originally, a simple stone mastaba was placed over it. This Mastaba enlarged three times in course of construction, it changed to 4 steps then finally to 6 steps, giving it a total height of 62 meters. The expansion of the mastabas is known to be resembling the relationship of the king and the sun God Re. The concept taken from the steps of the pyramid is to replicate steps or stairs climbing towards the Sun to unite for with the God (Kostof . S, 1985). The first step pyramid for King Zoser set an example for following burial ceremonies, after life beliefs and a great architectural view of building using