. The Mythology of all races .. . oured guests and are rowed by the god, as in Fig. 7. Theyactually become like Osiris, the personification of resurrection,to such an extent that they are kings and judges of the de-parted, wherefore each one who has passed away, whethermale or female, is addressed as Osiris N. N. Deceasedwomen are later styled also Hat-hor N. N. With Osiristhe dead may assume a solar, lunar, or stellar character andmay appear as this same deity in the other manifestations ofnature. The Book of the Dead, however, prays also that thedeceased may become in general a god and that
. The Mythology of all races .. . oured guests and are rowed by the god, as in Fig. 7. Theyactually become like Osiris, the personification of resurrection,to such an extent that they are kings and judges of the de-parted, wherefore each one who has passed away, whethermale or female, is addressed as Osiris N. N. Deceasedwomen are later styled also Hat-hor N. N. With Osiristhe dead may assume a solar, lunar, or stellar character andmay appear as this same deity in the other manifestations ofnature. The Book of the Dead, however, prays also that thedeceased may become in general a god and that he may beidentified with Ptah, etc.^^ Many of these expectations were originally suitable only forthe kings, who, being divine in their lifetime, claimed an exaltedposition after death; yet just as the costly burial customs weregradually extended from the Pharaohs to the nobles and thenceto the common folk, those high hopes of future life were soonappropriated by the nobility and finally by the ordinary popu- LIFE AFTER DEATH 179. lace. Thus followers of Horus (or of Re or Osiris) ^^ quicklycame to mean simply the blessed dead, although primarilyit seems to have been restricted to the kings, who alone hada right to be ad-mitted to thesolar bark. Onthe other hand,side by side withthese extrava-gant desires weare told that the hopes of some Fig. 186. The Dead before Osiris, the Balance of Jus-. , , , tice, the Lake of Fire, and the Swallower of the wealthy would be satisfied if their souls might dwell in their spaciousand comfortable tombs, sit on the green trees without, anddrink from the artificial lake that lay there; nor were the verymodest expectations of the peasants forgotten whose highestlonging was to dig the grounds in the fields of Osiris (p. 177).The Book of the Dead describes all these hopes and desires thateach and every one of them may be realized. These pleasant promises are only for the worthy. The soulsof the wicked are soon annihilated by the multitude of demon
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmythology, bookyear19
