It is amazing to hear how many people dream of seeing the pyramids. While they are worthy of a visit … a journey? After having spent a couple of weeks along the Nile, if not for a visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum – literally next door to the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the wonders of further south near Luxor are where I would set my sights upon. But the pyramids are impressive – especially when you consider their age – and worth a visit if you are in Cairo. Coming to Egypt, I recommend you visit the Memphis necropolis at Saqqara and Dashur first, however, to give you a little sense of how the pyramids developed from much simpler burial tombs and where they went after the Great Pyramid era ended with the end of the Fourth Dynasty.
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BOOK OF THE DEAD AND OTHER EGYPTIAN MAGIC IN THE NIGHT
There is no single source for the various myths, allusions, gods, goddesses and religious practices found in the almost four thousand years of ancient Egypt. The foundations of Egyptian belief are found on temple walls. A few papyri roll that survived the many centuries and within the thousands of funerary tombs of royals and those not-so-royal.
Rituals, processions and magic spells always played significant roles in the carrying out of the varied practices ruling the life – and afterlife – of the ancients. Similar to what one finds in medieval Christian churches, paintings helped to tell the stories to those illiterate, which numbered most people. But the stories, rituals and spells also lay inscribed on the walls of the tombs and temples. Here, we can gain a more complete idea of belief systems in place. One of the most important aspects of Egyptian religious practices centered around death and the belief in an afterlife.
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