OEB 32997 (AEB 1991.10375) : "... In part II prominence is given to the Egyptian material because its influence on the other cultures was of basic significance with respect to belief in posthumous judgement of the individual. The author has drawn here on earlier treatments of the themes, which are here revised or expanded (e.g. AEB 60300, 75293, 83.0525). The author begins in ch. 9 with pointing out that he aims at describing and explaining the ideas themselves as they appear in the separate cultures, and at ascertaining the mutual influence exerted by these traditions. He then sketches the evolution of the idea of judgement after death in Egypt. The Egyptian belief in life after death stimulated the idea of a future judgement and posthumous litigation of opposing parties, with reference to Horus and Seth. The author then reviews the various divine actors in the legal procedure, best known from B.D. 125: the Great God, Ma'at, the president of the tribunal (Re, Osiris, Geb, Anubis) and the 42 assessor-judges, whose connections with the nomes are discussed. These 42 play a role in the combination of test and ordeal, by acting as examiners in the judgement and as intimidating executioners. Knowledge is here the key to success. The role of magic and morality as opposites is then assessed; their relative lack of importance is best resolved on the basis of the varying standards of the people involved in the judgement. For the great illiterate majority the main emphasis was probably magical. The author then elaborates the question of the priestly parallels to the Declarations of the Innocence, which occur only in the Graeco-Roman Period, long after the establishment of the idea of judgement after death, and thus tributary to it. The contents of the declarations were, however, widely applied. In the course of time changes took place in the detailed manner of presentation: the weighing of the heart; the blissful right and the baleful left; the gods Shaï, Meskhenet, and Renenet; the composition of the triad of assistant arbiters; the question of a third alternative, a purgatory, besides heaven and hell; the possibility of transference of the tribunal of the dead under Osiris to a temple of the living, and thus implicating the living. Some facets of impact on Judaeo-Christian thought are presented at the end of the first part of ch. 9, concerned with Egypt and Judaeo-Christian thought. These are: the fear of the second death; the crown of righteousness as reward of success in the judgement; the weighing and recording of the righteous and wrongdoers and their acts. Iran, Judaism and the Christian consummation are the subject of the second part of the chapter. Here the author assesses the impact of Iranian eschatology (see the enumeration of possible influences from Iran or Egypt on p. 254-257). In the rest of the chapter Egypt turns up occasionally, but is no part of the argument. Proceeding in ch. 10 from the Islands of the Blest in some Greek sources and the Egyptian Fields of Iaru, the author considers the possibility of influence via Crete. First studying types of influence of Egypt on Crete, such as the cases of the Haghia Triada sarcophagus and the symbolic gold scales from tombs, the author turns to possible evidence from Linear B texts and the Minoan judges of the dead. Generally speaking, the strong ethical background of the Egyptian judgement is absent here. In ch. 11 posthumous judgement in Israel is studied in the light of possible Egyptian influences. The weighing of the heart in the balance in the Egyptian psychostasia is found back in O.T. imagery, but it may be doubted that a stage in a future life is envisaged. The O.T. Book of Job is considered in the light of the early Egyptian belief in the possibility of litigation after death through a civil dispute or law-suit involving an accuser. It is concluded that the Book of Job does not follow any outline of Osirian eschatology, but rather adheres to the early Hebraic rejection of immortality. The last ch. 12 reviews divine judgement in the mystery religions among which the Isiac mysteries, as known fro m Apuleius of Madauros. The author studies the subsequent episodes: confession, judgement and forgiveness. The Isiac cult embraced a man's fate in the next world through death and rebirth in the initiation. Compared to the earlier phase eschatology there is a change in perspective, a transfer to the life of the believer here and now. The author discusses briefly in how far the idea of spiritual regeneration in this life can be traced back to aspects of the Egyptian tradition or to the impact of the Greek mysteries. There seems to be some evidence for a non-funerary interpretation of a judgement scene in the Ptolemaic temple of Deir el-Medîna. In the epilogue Egypt's powerful influence on the concept and imagery of judgement, whose symbolism is so central, is summarized. The bibliography is arranged by culture (section 10: Egypt on p.379-387). Indexes of subjects and sources, and of Biblical and related references added." |