What did the
PHA R AOHS know
about the KINGDOM
OF THE DEAD?
THE OSIRIS CODE:
T
his is the moment that the
priest has been dreading.
He has already performed
this procedure dozens of
times before, but the body that lies
before him is no ordinary corpse.
The deceased man is his pharaoh.
The priest follows
one of the oldest
codes in history—
it’s also one of the
most meticulous:
mummifi cation of
a god-king... The
priest can’t afford
a single mistake.
He carefully guides a hook into one
of the dead man’s nostrils. Then he
must whisk the brain until it’s liquid
enough to run out from the nose.
The challenge: The corpse’s face
has to remain completely intact.
Otherwise the pharaoh might not
be recognized by the judges of the
dead in the afterlife—which means
he could be denied rebirth in the
hereafter. That—rather than death
itself—was the biggest fear of the
members of this 3,000-year-old
civilization. This made priests the
mightiest of Egypt’s castes—and
their secret code for eternal life its
holiest relic: the Book of the Dead.
According to ancient Egyptian
wisdom, a person has two souls
rather than one, and both escape
from the body after death. The goal
is to persuade them to come back
by way of religious rituals. But an
incorrectly executed action—such
as an improperly disemboweled
body or a disfi gured face—could
jeopardize the rebirth. Therefore
dying far from home presented a
huge danger to ancient Egyptians.
That’s why Cleopatra committed
suicide in Alexandria in 30BC: By
avoiding capture
and an execution
in Rome, she was
able to ensure the
necessary rituals
were carried out.
Without these rites
the journey through
the underworld is
full of dangers, according to the
Book of the Dead. Most important
is the moment of truth before the
god Osiris and his 42 divine judges.
The dead person must place his or
her heart on a scale and list all the
sins that have not been committed.
To keep the heart from speaking
against its owner at this crucial
moment, a scarab was placed in
the grave along with the deceased.
Magic formulas from the Book of the
Dead were engraved on the gem.
This sacred text revealed the route
through the underworld and also
contained spells to protect against
all the dangers that lie in wait there.
Magic was regarded as the only
effective weapon against the soul-
eating monsters of the underworld.
For centuries researchers have tried
to elicit the deepest secrets of the
Book of the Dead. But there’s much
left to learn of its arcane knowledge.“I am Yesterday,
Today, and Tomorrow,
for I am born
again and again.”
BOOK OF THE DEAD
chapter 64ideasanddiscoveries.com 37 Mar 2017