Human world
This part of the gallery looks at the Egyptians’ belief in the afterlife. It will tell you about the mummification process, explain why Egyptians decorated their coffins and introduce you to ‘The Book of the Dead’. Highlights of this part of the gallery include 4,000 year old coffins and the mummified hand of a princess.
Detail of a child mummy. Roman period (about AD 100 - 150)
The Egyptians believed in another world similar to their own where the god Osiris ruled as the king of the dead. Here the reborn dead lived for eternity. To enter this world the dead needed to; prove their faithfulness to the gods, protect their body from destruction and ensure they were remembered by the living.
In this audio feature Osiris says: "You are now entering my realm. I am Osiris. I once ruled the Earth, but now I rule the underworld. I died but I did not rot. I judge the dead, those who are unworthy are fed to my beast. Dare you enter?"
At death, the spirit of a person left the body and journeyed west to a dark place beneath the earth called Duat. Here the spirit bravely wandered corridors, passed through gates and crossed fields of fire to find the Hall of Judgement where his or her fate would be decided. Osiris and a jury of 42 gods decided on their fate.
Only honest and pure people whose heart weighed less than a feather were allowed to enter the afterlife. Those who failed the test were fed to a ‘swallowing monster’ called Ammut.
In this video, the Chantress tells us about about how she writes a chant for a ceremony. To view subtitles please select the full-screen option, shown by the four arrows icon. Read a transcript for this video here.