Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt.

• Author: Morales, Antonio J.

Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt. By JAN ASSMANN, translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xiii + 490. $59.95.

The present work represents a comprehensive study of the concepts of death and afterlife in ancient Egypt.(1) Its author opts for a thematic rather than a historical analysis, covering the most important manifestations and evidence of Egyptian mortuary beliefs from the Old Kingdom to the Graeco-Roman period. His attempt to categorize and interpret these phenomena is addressed to a diverse audience, ultimately aiming to contribute to general cultural theory. The constant use of cross-references and the various strata of theoretical perspectives bring other approaches and schools of interpretation under examination, q.v. Plato, Hebrew Bible, Nietzsche, Freud. In addition, each chapter allows for an independent reading. The volume is composed of four well-organized sections, preceded by a table of contents and a translator's note. Endnotes and index close the book.

In the introduction, Assmann defines death as "the origin and center of culture" (p. 1), a twofold concept understood as a project of supplementary and compensatory amendment, and a surplus of knowledge that helps to mitigate the awareness of death. He distinguishes cultures that perceived death as an addendum to life ("pieced-on") from those in which life is permeated by death, and categorizes the ancient Egyptian as belonging to the second type.

Chapter one describes death and dismemberment as social isolation and disintegration. The heart (jb/h[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].tj) constitutes the center of the system of integration that must be recomposed through embalming and rituals. Chapter two deals with the social isolation that threatens the deceased (Osiris). By ritual, his son (Horus) restores his father's status. Assmann outlines the character of this connection by means of social memory and ethical behavior, detected in biographical and instructional texts. Chapter three explores the dangers of death, described as an unnatural phenomenon and embodiment of evil. After the New Kingdom, a new model of redemption found evil and judgment within the individual. Chapter four is directly concerned with the fundamental dissociation of the individual's parts: b[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], k[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], body (d.t), corpse (h[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII],t), mummy (s'h), [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]h...