Analyzing Pyramid Texts allows us to provide clues concerning the way the ancient Egyptians conceived of the divine body of the deceased, which was radically different from the human body. A metaphorical substitutive system can be highlighted through which every part of the human body is replaced by a divine one. More precisely, according to the Egyptian perspective, the deceased acquires new hard element (qs.w) and new soft elements (jwf), among which is a new skin, constituted by the ritual bandages of linen. He also gets a new conscience (jb) by the means of the “canopic jars,” in order to become a new form of the creator himself.
ancient Egypt; conception of the body; deification; divine body; funerary beliefs; Pyramid Texts; substitutive system
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