Preface

❖

Oa

v- jr

'* OCT 13 1909 *

'■Ml CAL Sttf

Division BL 24-50

Secti„„ . E ? B <? 2

1

!

'

36oo!?s on Egppt an5 Cbal&fea

VOL. I.

EGYPTIAN IDEAS OF THE
FUTURE LIFE

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.

►o*—

lx the year 1894 Dr. Wallis Budge prepared for Messrs. Kegan
Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. an elementary work on the Egyptian
language, entitled “ First Steps in Egyptian,” and two years
later the companion volume, “ An Egyptian Reading Book,” with
transliterations of all the texts printed in it, and a full vocabulary.
The success of these works proved that they had helped to satisfy
a want long felt by students of the Egyptian language, and as a
similar want existed among students of the languages written in
the cuneiform character, Mr. L. W. King, of the British Museum,
prepared, on the same lines as the two books mentioned above,
an elementary work on the Assyrian and Babylonian languages
(“First Steps in Assyrian”), which appeared in 1898. These
works, however, dealt mainly with the philological branch of
Egyptology and Assyriology, and it was impossible in the space
allowed to explain much that needed explanation in the other
branches of these subjects — that is to say, matters relating to the
archaeology, history, religion, etc., of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and
Babylonians. In answer to the numerous requests which have
been made, a series of short, popular handbooks on the most
important branches of Egyptology and Assyriology have been
prepared, and it is hoped that these will serve as introductions to
the larger works on these subjects. The present is the first volume
of the series, and the succeeding volumes will be published at short
intervals, and at moderate prices.

HBoofts on j£G£pt ant) Cbalbaja

EGYPTIAN IDEAS

OF THE

FUTURE LIFE

KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM

WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

SECOND EDITION

LONDON

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Lt°

PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD

1900

PRINTED BY

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES.

( The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved .)

SIR JOHN EVANS, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S

ETC., ETC., ETC.

IN GKATEFUL REMEMBRANCE

OF

MUCH FRIENDLY HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

PREFACE.

The following pages are intended to place before the
reader in a liandy form an account of the principal
ideas and beliefs held by the ancient Egyptians con¬
cerning the resurrection and the future life, which is
derived wholly from native religious works. The
literature of Egypt which deals with these subjects is
large and, as was to be expected, the product of different
periods which, taken together, cover several thousands
of years; and it is exceedingly difficult at times to
reconcile the statements and beliefs of a writer of one
period with those of a writer of another. Up to the
present no systematic account of the doctrine of the
resurrection and of the future life has been discovered,
and there is no reason for hoping that such a thing will
ever be found, for the Egyptians do not appear to have
thought that it was necessary to write a work of the
kind. The inherent difficulty of the subject, and the
natural impossibility that different men living in

x Preface.

different places and at different times should think
alike on matters which must, after all, belong always
to the region of faith, render it more than probable that
no college of priests, however powerful, was able to
formulate a system of beliefs which would be received
throughout Egypt by the clergy and the laity alike, and
would be copied by the scribes as a final and authorita¬
tive work on Egyptian eschatology. Besides this, the
genius and structure of the Egyptian language are such
as to preclude the possibility of composing in it works
of a philosophical or metaphysical character in the true
sense of the words. In spite of these difficulties, how¬
ever, it is possible to collect a great deal of important
information on the subject from the funereal and
religious works which have come down to us, especially
concerning the great central idea of immortality, which
existed unchanged for thousands of years, and formed
the pivot upon which the religious and social life of
the ancient Egyptians actually turned. From the
beginning to the end of his life the Egyptian’s chief
thought was of the life beyond the grave, and the
hewing of his tomb in the rock, and the providing of
its furniture, every detail of which was prescribed by
the custom of the country, absorbed the best thoughts
of his mind and a large share of his worldly goods, and
kept him ever mindful of the time when his mummified

Preface.

xi

body would be borne to his “ everlasting house ” in the
limestone plateau or hill.

The chief source of our information concerning the
doctrine of the resurrection and of the future life as
held by the Egyptians is, of course, the great collection
of religious texts generally known by the name of
“ Book of the Dead.” The various recensions of these
wonderful compositions cover a period of more than
five thousand years, and they reflect faithfully not only
the sublime beliefs, and the high ideals, and the noble
aspirations of the educated Egyptians, but also the
various superstitions and childish reverence for amulets,
and magical rites, and charms, which they probably
inherited from their pre-dynastic ancestors, and re¬
garded as essentials for their salvation. It must be
distinctly understood that many passages and allusions
in the Book of the Dead still remain obscure, and
that in some places any translator will be at a difficulty
in attempting to render certain important words into
any modern European language. But it is absurd to
talk of almost the whole text of the Book of the Dead
as being utterly corrupt, for royal personages, and
priests, and scribes, to say nothing of the ordinary
educated folk, would not have caused costly copies of
a very lengthy work to be multiplied, and illustrated by
artists possessing the highest skill, unless it had some

Xll

Preface.

meaning to them, and was necessary for the attainment
by them of the life which is beyond the grave. The
“ finds ” of recent years in Egypt have resulted in the
recovery of valuable texts whereby numerous difficulties
have been cleared away ; and we must hope that the
faults made in translating to-day may be corrected by
the discoveries of to-morrow. In spite of all difficulties,
both textual and grammatical, sufficient is now known
of the Egyptian religion to prove, with certainty, that
the Egyptians possessed, some six thousand years ago,
a religion and a system of morality which, when
stripped of all corrupt accretions, stand second to none
among those which have been developed by the greatest
nations of the world.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

Londox,

August 21sf, 1899.

CONTENTS.

- *o« -

CHAPTER PAGE