The Field Of Rushes: The Egyptian Book Of The Dead

Throughout the life of an Egyptian, he/she would prepare themselves for the afterlife or what they called it – The Field of Rushes. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was almost a guide book for the deceased containing various spells and incantations that would aid in ones travel to the afterlife and the process of becoming immortal. The ancient Egyptians strongly believed in the afterlife and that each mummified corpse was expected to resurrect in another world. The Book of the Dead gave the Egyptians insight on what obstacles one would face reaching the afterlife.
The origins of the Book of the Dead have been traced back to the end of the Fifth Dynasty in Egypt’s Age of the Pyramids (around 2400 B.C.E.) and is said to be the oldest religious writing that has been
She was the personification of righteousness, truth, and justice and was the daughter of the sun god Rā. She appeared as a woman with her symbol being an ostrich feather, which she wore on her head. She assisted in carrying out the work of creation with her main duty assisting the judgment of the souls of the dead. If they were to succeed, she would lead the deceased into the Hall of Judgment. There was a two part process a deceased would have to partake in to further into the afterlife and the first process was the pleading of their innocence to the 42 gods who are seated in a row down the center of the Hall. The 42 gods had different faces and heads on them yet were in the form of a mummy with an ostrich feather upon their head. Nos. 1-5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13-20, 22-25, 27-34, 36, 37, 41 and 42 all had the heads of men. Number 6 had the head of a lion, number 9 had the head of a crocodile, and number 12 had a human head turned behind him. Numbers 21, 28-40 had snakes’ heads, number 26 had a hawks head and number 35 had the head of a hippopotamus. After ones plea to the gods, and if proven innocent, one would then continue further into the