Offerings Importance in Ancient Egypt

Sun 09 Jun 2019 | 08:27 AM

Ali Abu Dashish

Belief in resurrection and life after death was the primary motivation for the Pharaohs to offer oblations to their dead, through written texts or engravings or by offering oblations and funerary equipment in their graves.

The Egyptian archaeologist Hussein Bassir explained that there was a famous formula known as the oblation formula or "Hetep Di nisw" in ancient Egyptian .

Egyptian archaeologist Hussein Bassir

It often consisted of a specific set of words which can be read through the actual realization of the deceased spirit and the magical activation of the word, which was transformed into real oblations based on the ancient Egyptian faith in the power and effectiveness of the word. The oblations formula was usually written by hieroglyphic script.

The actual oblations were placed in the graves at the burial place, which was provided to the dead by some members of the family such as the son, the heir, some parents who visited the cemetery, or some of those passing through the deceased's grave and who see or read his or her own funerary painting.

Offerings Importance in Ancient Egypt

Also, the oblations were offered to the gods, through kings or their representatives such as the high priest or his representative inside Egypt's temples.

These customs of the ancient Egyptians are similar to the contemporary Egypt where today's families pay visits to cemeteries and read El- Fatiha- the first chapter of the Quran and other verses for their dead ones.