Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt

Jan Assmann is Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at Heidelberg University and the 1998 winner of the prestigious Deutsche Historikerpreis (German History Prize). He is the author of The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, also from Cornell. The late David Lorton, an Egyptologist, was the translator of many books, including Ancient Egypt in 101 Questions and Answers, The Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus, The Secret Lore of Egypt, and Akhenaten and the Religion of Light, all from Cornell.

• Translator's NoteIntroduction: Death and CulturePart One. Images of DeathChapter 1. Death as DismembermentChapter 2. Death as Social IsolationChapter 3. Death as EnemyChapter 4. Death as Dissociation: The Person of the Deceased and Its Constituent ElementsChapter 5. Death as Separation and ReversalChapter 6. Death as TransitionChapter 7. Death as ReturnChapter 8. Death as MysteryChapter 9. Going Forth by DayPart Two. Rituals and RecitationsChapter 10. Mortuary Liturgies and Mortuary LiteratureChapter 11. In the Sign of the Enemy: The Protective Wake in the Place of EmbalmingChapter 12. The Night of VindicationChapter 13. Rituals of Transition from Home to TombChapter 14. Provisioning the DeadChapter 15. Sacramental ExplanationChapter 16. Freedom from the Yoke of Transitoriness: Resultativity and ContinuanceChapter 17. Freedom from the Yoke of Transitoriness: ImmortalityAfterword: Egypt and the History of DeathNotesIndex

Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt serves as a compendious introduction to how ancient Egyptians approached their mortality as well as their impending immortality. Throughout, Assmann continues to build upon his vast store of important publications, yet again bringing to his work a deep background in theoretical literature, especially anthropology and philosophy. This gives his work a decidedly comparative flair, citing parallels or contrasts with cultures ancient or modern, Near Eastern or otherwise. Much of Assmann's Egyptological work has become required reading, and Death and Salvation will be no exception. Controversial, insightful, incredibly informed, and in constant contact with the primary textual material, this volume will continue to inspire discussion for years to come.(Journal of Near Eastern Studies) Assmann astounds the reader with his deep knowledge of religious texts from all periods of Egyptian civilization and from the Greeks and Romans too. He is equally familiar with evidence from art and architecture.... He leads the reader through the maddeningly opaque pronouncements of Egyptian intellectuals about the nature of death, its origin, its meaning, its importance. Every page shines a fresh light on a topic that fascinates us all, but leaves us puzzled. Assmann's book will take its place as classic study and shows again why he is justly regarded as one of the great Egyptologists writing today.(Bryn Mawr Classical Review)