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kings of Egypt had ruled their bodies when they lived on earth. The
Egyptians found that their king, who was an incarnation of the "Great
God," died like other men, and they feared that, even if they succeeded
in effecting his resurrection by means of the Pyramid Texts, he might
die a second time in the Other World. They spared no effort and left no
means untried to make him not only a "living soul" in the Tuat, or Other
World, but to keep him alive there. The object of every prayer, every
spell, every hymn, and every incantation contained in these Texts, was
to preserve the king's life. This might be done in many ways. In the
first place it was necessary to provide a daily supply of offerings,
which were offered up in the funerary temple that was attached to every
pyramid. The carefully selected and duly appointed priest offered these
one by one, and as he presented each to the spirit of the king he
uttered a formula that was believed to convert the material food into a
substance possessing a spiritual character and fit to form the food of
the _ka_, or "double," or "vital power," of the dead king. The offerings
assisted in renewing his life, and any failure to perform this service
was counted a sin against the dead king's spirit. It was also necessary
to perform another set of ceremonies, the object of which was to "open
the mouth" of the dead king, _i.e._ to restore to him the power to
breathe, think, speak, taste, smell, and walk. At the performance of
these ceremonies it was all-important to present articles of food,
wearing apparel, scents and unguents, and, in short, every object that
the king was likely to require in the Other World. The spirits of all
these objects passed into the Other World ready for use by the spirit of
the king. It follows as a matter of course that the king in the Other
World needed a retinue, and a bodyguard, and a host of servants, just as
he needed slaves upon earth. In primitive times a large number of
slaves, both male and female, were slain when a king died, and their
bodies were buried in his tomb, whilst their spirits passed into the
Other World to serve the spirit of the king, just as their bodies had
served his body upon earth. As the king had enemies in this world, so it
was thought he would have enemies in the Other World, and men feared
that he would be attacked or molested by evilly-disposed gods and
spirits, and by deadly animals and serpents, and other noxious reptiles.
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