Product Information
This book studies Egyptian ideas about death and the afterlife during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. Mark Smith analyses Egyptian attitudes toward death, looks at the various means by which the Egyptians attempted to ensure a smooth transition from existence in this world to that in the next, and examines how they envisaged life in the hereafter. Traversing Eternity is based on a corpus of sixty texts specially selected for the light which they throw upon these topics. Some of the texts are ritual in character, and were recited for the benefit of the deceased by priests, while others were interred along with the dead so that they themselves could make use of them in the afterlife. Each text is translated in its entirety, with annotation to elucidate obscure points, and each is supplied with a detailed introduction. Smith also addresses key issues such as that of continuity and change in Egyptian religious beliefs during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods and attempts to answer the question of why the composition of texts for the afterlife flourished to such a remarkable extent at this time.Product Identifiers
PublisherOxford University Press
ISBN-139780198154648
eBay Product ID (ePID)89503854
Product Key Features
Number of Pages760 Pages
Publication NameTraversing Eternity: Texts for the Afterlife from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt
LanguageEnglish
SubjectArchaeology, History
Publication Year2009
TypeTextbook
AuthorMark Smith
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height241 mm
Item Weight1417 g
Additional Product Features
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
Title_AuthorMark Smith