The Egyptians believed that the human soul used the first night after death to travel into the afterlife. However, the body, which the Egyptians believed was an essential element to the afterlife had to be mummified. And this process took 72 days to perform properly. This also gave them time to put finishing touches on the tomb and to pack all the deceased's worldly possessions, which they would surely need in the afterlife. (http://members.aol.com/egyptart/ani.html)

The Hall of Maat is where the judgement of the dead was performed. This was done by weighing one's heart (conscience) against the fe

When a person died, the priests recited prayers and a final attempt was made to revive the deceased. The body was then washed and purified in a special shelter called an ibu. The body was then taken the wabet, which was the embalmer's

The final value that all three cultures had in common was being truthful. All three cultures relied heavily on the truth. In Egypt, it was important that a man be truthful when brought before Osiris, because if they didn't tell the truth, they would be banished from the afterlife. One of the lines of the Book of the Dead reads "I have not committed sin in the place of truth."

For example, Horus, the sky god, had the head of a hawk, and body of a human. They considered animals such as the bull, the cat, and the crocodile to be holy. Their two chief gods were Amon-Ra and Osiris. Amon-Ra was believed to be the sun god and the lord of the universe. Osiris was the god of the underworld. Stories about him revolved around the idea of immortality. Osiris was the god that made a peaceful afterlife possible. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" contains the major ideas and beliefs in the ancient Egyptian religion. Because their religion stressed an afterlife, Egyptians devoted much time and wealth to preparing for survival in the next world.

The Egyptians had many tales about how the world began. According to one legend, it started with an ocean in darkness. Then a mound of dry land rose up and the sun god Re appeared. He created light and all things. Another version has the sun God emerging from a sacred blue lotus that grew out of the mud, while a third version has him appearing as a scarab beetle on the eastern horizon.

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