Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life8
A Vignette From the Egyptian Book of the Dead
This edition of Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, by E. A. Wallis Budge was first published in 1899 and is reproduced here from the 1908 third edition. As the title implies, the book explores the Egyptian's conception of life after death, including the concept of the judgment of the soul.
Budge (born July 27, 1857 – died November 23, 1934) was a noted was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on ancient Egypt. While this book still has much useful information about Egyptian mythology and religious beliefs, it must be kept in mind that it does not reflect over 100 years of later research and exploration. Furthermore, Budge held the belief that despite the fact that the Egyptians worshipped many gods, they in fact believed in one true omnipotent god of which all the other gods were merely aspects of the One. This may have reflected Budge's own religious and cultural biases rather than actual religious thought, which seems to have been for the most part unapologetically polytheistic.
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