Opening of the Mouth Ceremony Term Paper

Moreover, it helps explain the practice of embalming and mummification, which restored a body that had been rendered into multiple pieces into a single whole, in a hope of defeating death. The bodies did not have to be dismembered in the mummification process, because death was a form of dismemberment. Osiris dies, but is reborn through the sky-goddess and becomes a god, himself. Osiris plays a role in the justification of the dead. The deceased has to justify himself as the personification of death, with respect to an enemy, and with respect to a divine prosecutor where the deceased has to answer for his conduct on earth (Assmann 1989, p.146).

4. What are the main concerns of the deceased in the "Declaration of Innocence" from Chapter 125? What do these tell us about Egyptian ideas of morality?

The main concerns of the deceased in the "Declaration of Innocence" are in demonstrating that he has led a moral life that is alignment with the ethical norms and expectations of his lifetime. This helps explain the moral and ethical beleifs of ancient Egypt. "Practical religious action needs to be related to conceptions of ethics and morality. These two terms do not refer to two different things so much as to two aspects of the same thing…Morality is integral to the normal interchanges of social life" (Baines 1991, p.130).The deceased states what he has not done; lied, impoverished others, done no evil, caused people to work too much for him, slandered others, hurt others, starved others, killed others, or caused unnecessary suffering. What these suggest is that the Egyptians were very concerned about causing intentional harm to others, and believed that loafing or stealing by not contributing to society was a way of causing harm to the group. Moreover, the emphasis on not cheating children revealed a concern for the young, which made sense in a society with a very high mortality rate and a very low life expectancy.

.References

Assmann, J. 1989, 'Death and initiation in the funerary religion of ancient Egypt' in Religion

philosophy in ancient Egypt, Yale University, New Haven, pp. 135-159.

Baines, J. 1991, 'Society, morality, and religious practice,' in Shafer, B., ed., Religion in ancient

Egypt: gods, myths, and personal practice, Cornell University Press, Ithica, pp.123-200).

D'Auria, S., Lacovara, P., & Roehrig, C. 1988, 'Funerary mythology' in Mummies & magic: the funerary arts of….....