People's desire to stay alive is strong; so strong in fact that humanity in general has been reluctant to accept death throughout history. Ancient and modern burial customs suggest not only that the dead are alive, but also that they can influence people for better or for worse.
Regarding the beliefs of the ancient Babylonians,one professor of the Babylonian and Assyrian religions said:
It should not be assumed that the denial of immortality to man was a total elimination of conscious vitality. Neither the people nor the leaders of religious thought have ever seen the possibility of the total annihilation of what was once called. Death was a door to a different kind of life, and the denial of immortality only underscored the impossibility of escaping the change in existence caused by death. . . . The Babylonian religion does not go beyond the stage of the throne which is characteristic throughout primitive culture and which cannot imagine that life can come to an absolute end. Life in one form or another has always been accepted.”
Burial customs in Babylon
According to the ancient Babylonians, after death the people enter Arallu, the "wasteland", where they continue to lead a sad life. The Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states that “the body in which the departed soul was still very interested was buried or cremated, and the Saints provided it with the food, drink, clothing and utensils that characterized the profession . Human. On earth. Cremation and corporal burial have existed side by side since ancient times. "
According to the same reference work, he was also accompanied during the cremation of food and other objects. "The ashes were carefully collected in an urn, in which we put jugs of drinks (beer at the beginning, water later), bread, etc., to satisfy the immediate needs of the soul."
The ancient Babylonians believed not only that the dead were still alive, but that people could communicate and be influenced by them. The custom has developed to offer monthly night sacrifices in the shadow of "dead ancestors".
Professor Jastrow notes that fear was a major factor in rewarding the living who were paid for remembering the deceased. Yes, fear has led the living to participate in various rituals associated with the dead. Professor Jastrow said in this connection: "In order to give food and drink to the dead, to remember their virtues in need and to make sacrifices for their glory, such rituals were performed, both out of a desire for mourning." Secure the favor of the dead. as to chase them away. His evil merciful protectors, who of course were not absent. The dead who were not properly cared for by their surviving relatives would avenge the living by torturing those only a demon could. ""
Elimination of the dead in Egypt
Similar attitudes towards the dead prevailed in ancient Egypt. H. R. Hall, Scholar of Egyptian Antiquities, writes: “The fact that he who was now alive was absolutely and irrevocably dead was as unthinkable to the childlike mind of the oldest Egyptian as it was to any other primitive man. And among these, the most conservative of all races, the early idea became more detailed and evolved with rituals as civilization evolved."
In terms of funeral services, the Egyptians went beyond the Babylonians. In ancient times, Egyptian slaves were strangled and buried with their masters to serve them after death. The royal funeral involved a large number of items. H. R. Hall gives some examples:
“There were stacks of large jars of wine, corn and other foods coated with grease to contain the contents and covered with a ceramic stopper protected by a conical clay seal with the printed seal. of the king cylinder. There were containers with corn, roast beef, pottery, copper pots and other items that could be useful in the grave's awful kitchen. There were countless small objects that the dead monarch no doubt used throughout his life and that he would like to see again in the other world: carved ivory boxes, small plates for smoothing eye color, gold buttons, tool models. , models of vases with gold tips, ivory and ceramic figures and other works of art, King Den's royal gold seal in his ivory box, etc. "
Have you seen a picture of the giant pyramids in Egypt? They are richly decorated tombs for dead Egyptian kings. The Great Pyramid near Cairo is 146.59 meters high. Each side is 230.35 meters long. This huge structure consists of more than two million stones, each weighing two and a half tons and covering an area of 54,000 square meters with space for ten football pitches. Temples were attached to the pyramids to promote the cult of the dead pharaohs.
The preservation of the body by mummification was exceptional among Egyptian burial customs. The Greek historian Herodotus, an eyewitness to this process, mentions three methods, the most expensive of which is described below:
[The balsams] first take a twisted piece of iron and use it to extract the brain from the nostrils and remove part of it, while the medical rinsing frees the skull from the rest. Then they cut sideways with a sharp Ethiopian stone and extract all the contents of the stomach, which they then clean, wash well with palm wine and many times with an infusion of chopped herbs. They then fill the cavity with pure myrrh, cassia and all other spices except incense and sew the opening. Then the body is placed in sodium [sodium carbonate] for seventy days and completely covered. At the end of this period, which should not be exceeded, the body is washed and wrapped from head to toe in fine linen bandages covered with rubber, commonly used by Egyptians instead of American glue, and in this state, he returns to his parents who close him in a wooden box that they created for this purpose, in the form of a man. They then tie up the suitcase and place it in a burial chamber, leaning against the wall. "
What was the purpose of this elaborate embalming procedure? The ancient Egyptians believed that humans consisted of many parts. They were Ikhu (spark of intelligence), Ba (the soul of the bird), Ka (the double of the individual who followed him on earth) and Khaibit (his shadow). They were thought to separate from the body after death. In ancient times, the Egyptians believed that the soul of a dead person roamed the underworld or the desert during the day. But at night or in danger, he returned to his body. This was probably an important reason why these efforts were made to preserve the body.
The belief that the dead are alive has survived to this day. “Among many peoples,” explains the Encyclopædia Britannica, “the belief that the dead actually lived in their tombs led to the tombs of some saints becoming shrines visited by thousands of people in search of healing miracles. to earn religious merit. "Notable examples of such pilgrimage centers are the tombs of St. Peter in Rome, Muhammad in the Medina, and in ancient times, the tomb of Imhotep in Saqqara, Egypt."