History Paper Burial Practices Essay Example for Free

History Paper Burial Practices Essay The concept of afterlife existed among many ancient civilizations. It was met as a way of understanding the present or as a way to predict the future depending on their needs. As such, in order to explain the unknown phenomenon that impacted their daily life, early tribes saw natural events as simple as the rain and the winds or birth and death and regarded them to be controlled by supernatural powers related to the gods, demons, the moon, the sun or other external driving forces. Ancient people sought protection for survival and power to maintain order with the tribes by practicing rituals which were aimed to invoke the spirit of the deceased. However, as civilizations evolved with time, their beliefs became more complex and profound. Take ancient Romans and Egyptians for instance, they both believed in the afterlife and shared similar underlying ideas; nevertheless, their way to prepare the deceased for the next life and funeral services differed in many ways. To illustrate their practices, I have chosen two artifacts displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met): a coffin from Ancient Egypt and a cinerary urn from Ancient Roman’s times. Both pieces reflect different ways of treating the corpses of their deceased and prepare the dead for the journey to the afterlife which undoubtedly was a long and elaborated process. Ancient Romans and Egyptians demonstrated their firm conviction in the afterlife through solemn funeral services and burial rituals. Unlike the Egyptians who treasured the dead bodies and preserved them in sarcophagus or coffins, Romans cremated the dead bodies and kept the ashes in urns because they perceived the life in physical world to be short and temporary. When a person died, the spirit was released from the body and traveled to the afterlife. The only purpose of the physical body was to host the soul for a period long enough to prepare one to live a life free of suffering in the other world. Souls were sent to different places depending on the level of sins and crimes committed against society during the time people stayed in the mortal world. However, the suffering in the other world would end eventually. Romans’ funeral rituals usually included washing the corpse, laying it flat on a sofa or bed, and dressing it with the finest clothes that individual had ever possessed. A coin would then be placed under the tongue or on the eyes so that he could pay the â€Å"ferryman Charon† for rowing im to the land of the dead. The marble urn I observed at the Met dated from mid 1st – 2nd century A. D. was used to place the ashes of the deceased after the body was cremated. As time went by, they came to understand that the dissolution of the body was inevitable and the physical body was only a temporary host of the soul. This piece of artifact provided evidence that in ancient Romans’ point of view, the remains of the physical body had to be disintegrate d in order for the soul to begin a new life. It is reasonable to conclude that Romans regarded cremating the body of the dead as a naturally faster way to begin the life in the other world than slow disintegration of the corpse. On the other hand, Egyptians believed that the person’s physical body was more than a temporary host and it had to remain intact, a condition necessary to attain the afterlife. Moreover, they contemplated the idea that a person was the combination of several elements such as, the â€Å"ba†, which was the non physical part of the individual and the â€Å"ka† which was a universal force shared by all. Furthermore, in order to preserve the bodies, Egyptians developed a long and arduous process called mummification. This practice requires several steps such as the removal of the brain and internal organs and the cleaning of the body’s cavities with different oils and solutions. Once done, the body was laid to dry for more than a month. Although these steps were crucial for the preservation of the body, it was also believed that the transition process to the afterlife continues with the weighing of the heart. Egyptians believed that in order to gain their way to eternity one’s heart must be as light as a feather. This organ was not removed from the body and was left to be weighted by Anubis, the funeral god and Thoth, the god of knowledge. As such, it is believed that one’s heart is placed on a scale and weigh against a feather. If the scale is balanced, the deceased is deemed to have done good deeds in the present life and the gods would grant them immortality. When the mummification process is finished the preserved body is placed in a coffin as the one displayed at the Met, Gallery 112. This coffin, from Egypt Middle Kingdom time was made for a well respected and wealthy individual. The sophisticated decoration reflects the hierarchical social distinction in this particular society. In conclusion, though both ancient Romans and Egyptians believed in afterlife, they treated the corpses and practiced funeral rituals differently. These mainly resulted from their respective perception of how the mortal life was related to the afterlife as well as the importance to the physical body. By observing the two artifacts displayed at the Met, I’ve found that Egyptians placed more emphasis on the social class of the deceased by putting on splendid decorations on the coffins and sarcophagus than the Romans did on their urns. This difference reflects the core of Roman’s ancient culture which coincided with Greek’s idea of democracy by promoting a society structure with a less rigid hierarchy.