The Beliefs Surrounding Death Have Taken Many Forms Throughout History
Death and grief can be extremely difficult and intense subjects to talk about, yet the beliefs surrounding the end of life and what comes after are as old as they are varied. It’s possible that these beliefs have helped to explain and make sense of death, something that can be so hard to grasp, as well as a way for the living to cope with the loss of their loved ones. Various belief systems from all over the world hold views of death that reveal just how different each culture can be in how they respond to and understand death.
For example, in Ancient China, dating back to 1600B.C., death was not viewed as an end to life, but rather a prolongation of it. The ancient Chinese held the belief that life would continue on for the departed after they died in spiritual form, and so would prepare necessities for their loved ones to use in their new life.
These provisions started out, disturbingly enough, as human sacrifices in the form of servants who would be buried alive with their masters in some royal Shang Dynasty tombs. Fortunately this trend eventually faded in favor of pottery, bronze vessels, spirit tablets and designing the tombs as elaborately as houses for the living. So strong was the belief that spirits continued their lives after they died, that it was thought that not honoring the dead by making offerings would anger them and lead them to cause mischief.
These beliefs were quite positive in comparison to the ones held by Ancient Mesopotamians. They were terrified of death, in part because of their belief that humans had been created from clay mixed with the blood of a sacrificed god. So similar to how the Chinese believed the spirit endured after death, the Mesopotamians thought of the departed spirit as immortal. Except to them, this spirit’s existence would continue on in misery with no access to the pleasures of the mortal plane. The only way to ease their suffering was through the food and offerings provided by their descendants.
The result of this was that the Mesopotamians not only feared death, but they were also afraid of the dead. They believed certain types of spirits could escape the realm of the dead and harass the living. To prevent this, the Mesopotamians made sure they gave even their enemies proper burials to avoid angering their spirits, and the confiscation of the bodies of enemies was considered a grave (hurr) punishment.
The Ancient Egyptians had a more optimistic outlook on the afterlife. They believed an entity called the ‘Ka,’ associated with the physical body could eat, drink, smell, and actively enjoy the afterlife. The ‘Ba’ was essentially what they thought of as the soul, and it couldn’t survive without the body, and needed to recognize said body to be able to come back to it. This led to the practice of the ritual of body preservation that involved leaving the dead in the desert so they would avoid decomposition in the dry climate, done in order to preserve the body so the departed soul could properly reach and enjoy the afterlife.
This ritual eventually gave way to mummification which remained in practice for 3,000 years. The body would be washed and organs like the liver, stomach, lungs and intestines were all removed and put in ‘canopic’ jars for burial with the body. The brain was removed through the nostrils, and disposed of while the heart would be or placed near the throat because it was thought that this organ was the source of one’s life force. The body was dried out and padded, allowing it to keep the proportions the person in question had in life, keeping it recognizable to the Ba.
Similar to how the Ancient Egyptians believed in Anubis as the God of Death, the Greeks and Romans believed in Hades and Pluto, death deities who ruled the underworld, sometimes known as Tartarus. Also similar to how Anubis judged the souls of the dead, souls in Greek and Roman religions would be required give an account of their lives to three judges. They would then be sent to either the Fields of Asphodel if they were judged to have lived a good life or the Pit of Tartarus if they were thought to be particularly wicked. Elysium was a heaven like place reserved for heroes and gods.
The process of sending off the dead in Greek and Roman belief systems involved placing a coin on the mouth of the corpse to provide the demonic boatman Charon payment for the trip across the River Styx. Some people even provided their departed with honey cakes to appease Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gates of the underworld.
In the same way the Mesopotamians believed not burying the dead properly could lead to trouble, the Greeks and Romans thought that failing to provide the departed with a proper ritual could cause their ghosts to linger. Their funeral rites consisted of erecting earth mounds, rectangular tombs, and elaborate marble statues. Later cremation became a popular way of handling the dead, though they would bury a severed finger joint where the body was cremated, perhaps for purification purposes.
Just as the Chinese and Mesopotamians thought that paying respects to the dead was necessary long after the funeral, the Romans and Greeks also believed that failing to make offerings to the dead would lead them to cause trouble for the living.
Each of these ancient belief systems reveal the attitudes these cultures had towards death and the afterlife. Despite their differences in how they treat their dead, there’s a curious connection in how they view the souls of the departed as they each believed continuous respects must be paid to their deceased. This may have been due to some subconscious desire for the spirits of their loved ones to endure in some form, or it could have been a manifestation of their own anxieties towards death and the unknown. Ultimately, each ritual of these ancient cultures demonstrate a need to respect the dead as they would the living.
