Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt

By Jan Assmann

Book Overview

"Human beings," the acclaimed Egyptologist Jan Assmann writes, "are the animals that have to live with the knowledge of their death, and culture is the world they create so they can live with that knowledge." In his new book, Assmann explores images of death and of death rites in ancient Egypt to provide startling new insights into the particular character of the civilization as a whole.Drawing on the unfamiliar genre of the death liturgy, he arrives at a remarkably comprehensive view of the religion of death in ancient Egypt. Assmann describes in detail nine different images of death: death as the body being torn apart, as social isolation, the notion of the court of the dead, the dead body, the mummy, the soul and ancestral spirit of the dead, death as separation and transition, as homecoming, and as secret. Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt also includes a fascinating discussion of rites that reflect beliefs about death through language and ritual.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801479738
• ISBN13: 9780801479731
• Release Date: October 2014
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 504 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher