What Mythology Tells us About Egyption Burial
The Lesson in the Myth
Myths serve many purposes. Some are simply good stories told to entertain others. Some are the muddled memories of historical events long passed. Some were mandated by ancient governments for political means. Another set of myths was created for the sole purpose of explaining why the world or society was the way it was.
People are curious. We want to know and understand why things are the way they are. Myths were a form of trying to rationalize and bring logic to the world. Especially in a time lacking the methods of record keeping, research means, and scientific inquires that we have today. One such myth is the death of the Egyptian god Osiris and what it tells of burial practices in ancient Egypt. The myth offers a spiritual reasoning, so to speak, for certain practices. If you are unfamiliar with the myth, I encourage you to view the episodes of the Ancient Mythos Podcast below:
Sarcophagus
Osiris is killed when Set locks him in a box, and he suffocates. This box represents the sarcophagus that houses bodies after mumification, particularly those of the pharaohs. The box in the myth is specifically tailored to Osiris’ measurements and beautifully decorated. Set even seals it to keep Osiris in, much like how bodies are sealed in Sarcophagus. The myth establishes this memorable practice.
Burried at Home
After Osiris is killed, his wife, Isis, goes on a quest to find his remains and bring them back home for burial. This seems logical, he is brought to his homeland for burial. This is actually an important part of Egyptian Burial practices. Egyptians must be buried in Egypt to put their souls to rest and enter the afterlife. This is part of why ancient Egypt never went on to conquer large amounts of foreign land. No one would have wanted to colonize another land and be buried outside Egypt and out of reach of the afterlife.
Leave Nothing Behind
When Set destroys Osiris’ body, Isis searches for it. This speaks to the practice of needing all parts of the body preserved to reach the afterlife. During mumification, the body is carefully cleaned and prepared. Internal organs are taken out and preserved separately. It was believed that if a person wasn’t buried with all their organs and limbs, or even a fake/substitute to replace missing pieces, they would be without it in the next world. Isis’ grand quest for Osiris’ remains drives home the belief that the entire body needs to be preserved for burial.
Resurection
We’ve touched on how the myth validates certain burial practices but not why. We have mentioned the belief that if the rituals were not followed, someone couldn’t enter the afterlife or would enter incomplete. This is due to Osiris’ resurrection in the myth. After Isis goes through recovering and preparing his body for burial, Osiris becomes resurrected in the Duat, a spiritual realm of the gods. He is still dead, but he becomes the god of the dead and rules over the underworld as he ruled over Egypt in life. This detail cements everything else in the myth. If Egyptians follow the established burial practices, they will be reborn in the afterlife like Osiris.
It is impossible to say which came first. The myth or the practices. Personally, I think the death of Osiris was already an established myth as it factors into the story of Horus defeating his uncle to claim control of Egypt, establishing him as one of Egypt's more important gods. Then, after mumification practices were developed, details were added to the myth to give greater legitimacy and importance to those practices. We will never know the truth, unfortunately. We do, however, know how important burial practices and rituals were to the Egyptians as they took the time to immortalize them in their mythology.
References
World Encyclopidia History-Ancient Egyptian Burial