Publisher's Synopsis
The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some minor differences among them), it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egypt had a developed view of the afterlife with rituals for preparing the body and soul for a peaceful life after death. Beliefs about the soul and afterlife focused mainly on preserving the body. This was because they believed that the ka (a part of a person's soul that was depicted as a bird with a persons head) was still living in the body after death and it was important for the ka to be reunited with the ba, the spirit or soul to form the akh. This meant that embalming and mummification were done, in order to preserve the person's identity in the afterlife. Originally the dead were buried in reed coffins in the hot sand, which caused the remains to dry quickly, and then were buried. Later, they started constructing wooden tombs, and the long process of mummification was developed by the Egyptians around the 4th Dynasty. All soft tissues were removed, and the cavities washed and packed with natron, then the outer body was buried in natron as well. The heart was the only organ left within the body as it was believed the heart had to be weighed in the underworld to see if the person was worthy of a peaceful afterlife. The other organs were placed in 'canopic jars' which had seals depicting the heads of the Gods that guarded the intestines: Imsety, an Egyptian man who guards the liver, Hapi, a baboon who guards the lungs, Duamutef, a jackal who guards the stomach and Qebehsenuef, a falcon who guards the intestines. After coming out of the natron, the bodies were coated inside and out with resin to preserve them, then wrapped with linen bandages, embedded with religious amulets and talismans. In the case of royalty, this was usually then placed inside a series of nested coffins. The outer layer of the coffins was a stone sarcophagus. Other creatures were also mummified, sometimes thought to be pets of Egyptian families, but more likely they represented the gods. They left the heart in place because they thought it was the home of the soul. The Book of the Dead was a series of almost two hundred spells represented as texts, songs and pictures written on papyrus. They were individually customized for the dead. They were buried along with the dead to make their passage into the underworld easier. After working their way through lakes of fire, spitting cobras, demon jackals and giant bugs their soul is led into a hall of judgment in Duat by Anubis (god of mummification) and the deceased's heart, which was the record of the morality of the owner, is weighed against a single feather representing Ma'at (the concept of truth, and order). A heart that weighed less than the feather was considered a pure heart. This resulted in a good outcome. A heart heavy with guilt and sin from one's life weighed more than the feather, and so the heart would be eaten by Ammit (Eater of Hearts)-part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus. If the outcome was good, the dead are taken to Osiris, god of the afterlife, in Aaru, but the if the outcome was bad, the demon Ammit destroyed their heart which killed the soul. The person would then be placed in a special place with food just out of reach of their hands. If they ever got the food, demons would put them into a hole to make it harder for them.