I have just attended another of Lucia Gahlin’s lectures at Taunton Egyptology Society.
In this one we were looking at the ritual period around death, which Lucia proposed reflects very closely the rituals around birth – with the ancient Egyptian regarding death, very much as a rebirth – a rebirth into an afterlife.

We were talked through their considering death as a rite of passage – and a ritualised, transitional stage within the human life cycle.

Lucia suggested that sequence of conception, birth and early childhood were mirrored for the ancient Egyptians by death, rebirth and the initial stage of that journey into the afterlife, when the dead required nourishment and protection during this very vulnerable phase.

We are familiar with many of the images that relate to beliefs and ideas about the afterlife, or ‘The Other World’ as the ancient Egyptians called it, and what that meant to them, and Lucia brought so much more to this lecture – as she always does.

It was another fascinating lecture, with much to think about – thanks Lucia