Religions of the ancient world, including Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, Persia, India, Phoenicia, Etruria, Greece, Rome . inal sentence at the handsof Osiris, judge of the dead, and, being condemnedto complete and absolute annihilation, was de-stroyed upon the steps of Heaven by Shu, theLord of Light.^ ^[lie good soul, having first beenfreed from its infirmities by passing through thebasin of purgatorial fire guarded by the four ape-faced genii, was made tlie companion of Osiris,for a period of three thousand years, after whichit returned from Amenti, re-entered its fonner many copies of the
Religions of the ancient world, including Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, Persia, India, Phoenicia, Etruria, Greece, Rome . inal sentence at the handsof Osiris, judge of the dead, and, being condemnedto complete and absolute annihilation, was de-stroyed upon the steps of Heaven by Shu, theLord of Light.^ ^[lie good soul, having first beenfreed from its infirmities by passing through thebasin of purgatorial fire guarded by the four ape-faced genii, was made tlie companion of Osiris,for a period of three thousand years, after whichit returned from Amenti, re-entered its fonner many copies of the Eitual of the Dead. (See the accom-panjing woodcut). * Birch, Guide to Museum, pp. 14, 15. 40 THE RELIGIOXS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. body, rose from the dead, and lived once more ahuman hfe upon the earth. This process wasgone through again and again, until a certainmystic cycle of years became complete, when, tocrown all, the^^d and blessed attainedJJie finaljoy of union with God, being absorbed into thedivine essence from which they had once emanated,and so attaining the full perfection and true endof their MUMMY AND DISEMBODIED SPIRIT. With their belief in a future life, and theiropinions regarding the fate of good and bad souls,were bound up in the closest way their arrange-ments with respect to dead bodies, and theircareful and elaborate preparation of tombs. Aseach man hoped to be among those who would be THE RELIGION OF THE AXCIENT EGYPTIANS. 41 received into Aahlu, and after dwelling with Osirisfor three thousand years would return to earth,and re-enter their old bodies, it was requisite thatbodies should be enabled to resist decay for thatlong period. Hence the entire system of embalm-ing, of swathing in linen, and then burying instone sarcophagi covered wdth lids that it wasscarcely possible to hft, or even to move. Hence,if a man was wealthy, he spent enormous sumson making himself a safe and commodious, anelegant and decorated tomb; either piling apyramid o
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