Egypt Magic and the Afterlife

Egypt Magic and the Afterlife

Egypt:  Magic and the Afterlife examines Egyptian beliefs about life after death. The ancient Egyptians had well-developed ideas about what happened after they died, and they went to considerable effort to prepare the dead for the afterlife.  Magic played a major role in their preparations.

If a dead person belonged to a family with sufficient wealth, his or her body was preserved through a process called mummification.  The mummified body was then placed inside one or more decorated cases or coffins.  Amulets and sometimes written charms were included with the body to provide magical assistance during the deceased’s passage through the underworld.  

Thus equipped, the body was interred.  The grave itself could be anything from a simple hole in the ground to an elaborately decorated tomb. Anchoring Ancient Egypt:  Magic and the Afterlife are the 

Museum’s popular mummy coffins and cases, which date to the 22nd Dynasty (945-712 BCE).  These colorfully painted pieces, representing a high point in the history of 

Egyptian coffin decoration, have recently been conserved and have been remounted in new humidity-controlled display cases.

Also on view are several of the Museum’s small collection of funerary stelae, including a false door from the late Old Kingdom (late 3rd mill. BCE), an excellent example of a tomb stela of the First Intermediate Period (2134-2040 BCE) and a finely carved offering table dating to the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BCE).

The chief god of the dead, Osiris, is represented by an elegant bronze figurine with blue glass and white stone inlays (Ptolemaic Period, 304-30 BCE).  Smaller artifacts in the new exhibit include the brightly colored funerary figurines and amulets that were buried with the deceased in order to accompany them on their arduous journey into the afterlife.