Researchers at HSE University discovered that ancient Egyptians were not as afraid of death as previously thought.

The research was published in the journal "Steps." In the history of the study of Egyptian religion by European and British scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries, it often centered around the cult of death and afterlife practices. Notably, the works of the renowned archaeologist and orientalist Wallis Budge shaped the perception of ancient Egyptian culture as "mystical" and "other," with a focus on its obsession with death compared to Western civilizations.

This approach, known in social psychology as Terror Management Theory (TMT), suggested that the construction of pyramids or the creation of the "Book of the Dead" were attempts to cope with the inevitability of death. The texts contained spells that the Egyptians believed protected the deceased in the afterlife and helped them overcome dangers.

Ekaterina Alexandrovna proposes to enhance this approach to analyzing the religion of the ancient Egyptians with the Compensatory Control Theory (CCT). According to this theory, when individuals feel a lack of control over their lives, they turn to external sources—gods and rulers—to maintain order. By analyzing the "Pyramid Texts" and the "Book of the Dead," the researcher raises the question: what was the primary motivation behind the complex rituals—fear of death or the desire to maintain order and control over the world? Textual analysis shows that they reflect not only a fear of death but also efforts to preserve cosmic order, suggesting more complex motivations behind Egyptian religion.

According to the author, the main driving force of ancient Egyptian religion was not so much the desire to avoid death but the necessity to maintain stability and order both on earth and in the afterlife. The rituals served as a means of restoring cosmic harmony and emphasized the importance of controlling the forces of chaos. This was the role of the pharaohs—divine rulers responsible for preserving peace and harmony not only on earth but also in the afterlife, regarded as guarantors of order—maat.

In Egyptian culture, the practice of maintaining cosmic order, denoted by the term "maat"—a principle of harmony and stability—held significant importance. This order was constantly threatened by destructive forces known as "isefet."

The researcher emphasizes the significance of individual control in Egyptian burial practices. Ownership and threatening inscriptions in tombs often employed legal rhetoric as a warning to those who might desecrate the grave. In these inscriptions, the deceased not only expressed hope for justice to be restored in the court of the Great God in the afterlife but also relied on their own magical abilities to punish the grave robber. Death frightened the Egyptians, but it was the "second death" that occurred under unfortunate circumstances in the afterlife. To cope with this, the Egyptians had cultural technologies: for instance, "heart amulets" prevented the heart of the deceased from testifying against them in the judgment of Osiris.

Ekaterina Alexandrovna emphasizes that the fear of death is an individual experience. The means to alleviate this fear were viewed by the Egyptians as a good that was initially accessible only to the pharaoh and the elite, yet it was achieved through the colossal efforts of the entire country.

The Compensatory Control Theory allows us to see the burial practices of various social classes, from commoners to rulers, as part of a unified system where social status is directly linked to responsibility and contribution to maintaining world order. The higher the social status, the greater the responsibility, and, as the Egyptians believed, the greater the individual's contribution to upholding cosmic order.

"Ensuring the proper burial of the divine ruler is as evident a necessity as conducting temple worship. The royal funerary texts explicitly state that the 'awakened from the sleep of death' pharaoh establishes maat in place of isefet. This means that caring for the burial of the pharaoh not only enhances his personal afterlife well-being but is also aimed at the common good, as it works to ensure the stability of cosmic order," the author of the study concludes.