Egypt and Greece had very different views on afterlife. The Egyptians believed in Ka, which was their soul. It was portrayed on the walls of tombs as a human-headed bird leaving the body at death. As long as people kept control of their ka, they lived. But as soon as they died, it began a separate existence.It resembled the body that it formerly occupied, and still requiring food for sustenance. After an Egyptian died, no longer capable of motion, the body did not decay. The greatest care was taken to preserve it as a center of individual spirit manifestation.
The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then readied for interment conforming to the time honoured practices.They emphasized on the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity.
Source:Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
No comments:
Post a Comment