Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt

I have been reading a great deal about the Osiris myth; this, together with Tom Hare's book "Re-Membering Osiris" are truly valuable additions to anyone's Egyptology collection. Mr. Assman is a well-established author, and lays on the footnotes with scholarly frequency. His books are dense and a bit dry, but his viewpoint is clearly stated and provocative. I do not agree with his atheism, and find it a bit odd in a man who spends so much time writing about Gods and religion, but I will say that he is stunningly observant and objective in his recounting of the pure source material available to us today. Because his own perspective is clear and unapologetic, it is easy to examine his thoughts and observations from another perspective. Few writers so consistently provoke creative thought in the reader while informing and educating at the same time. Of the books he's written (and that I've read) this book is second only to "The Mind of Ancient Egypt" . Buy both! read them!!

Another quality book by Mr. Assmann. Everything I've read by this author is well worth it. Those without a lot of background in Egyptology will find it accessible, and those with familiarity will learn aspects they did not consider or were unaware of. Well researched and well written.

Transformative. A powerful book.

Tombs, funeral rites, and burial goods are the most familiar and best-understood aspect of ancient Egyptian culture, and plenty of books describe those subjects. Many more study the individual funerary texts where we get most of our information about Egyptian afterlife beliefs. But surprisingly few sources study the afterlife beliefs as a whole, in detail. This book fills that need, although, like most of Assmann's work, it is abstract and speculative and should be treated with some caution.The book is long and not easy to read but very informative. It's organized thematically. The first part dedicates a chapter to every major perspective on death: "Death as Social Isolation", "Death as Enemy", et cetera, ending with the more positive aspects that emphasize the attainment of immortality. The second part treats the texts and rituals surrounding death, although the final chapters are more about summarizing everything that's gone earlier in the book.Assmann doesn't much discuss how afterlife beliefs evolved over the course of Egyptian history, so Death and Salvation should ideally be read alongside  Following Osiris  by Mark Smith, which addresses exactly those changes. Smith also objects to some of Assmann's basic claims, like the idea that reaching the afterlife entailed becoming one with Osiris. Perhaps even more importantly, Assmann still assumes that commoners were not believed to enter the afterlife until the end of the Old Kingdom. That assumption came under serious assault in the late 2000s, with Smith leading the charge, and may soon be abandoned entirely. Nevertheless, this book is a dense but vivid examination of the Egyptians' perspectives on the afterlife and the only one to show how they all related to each other.

The single best and most informative book I have read on Ancient Egypt. I have never seen so much of the Ancient Egyptian literature so amazingly brought together and elucidated in such a consistent and compelling manner. All backed up with an incredible amount of methodical research. The interpretations that I do not agree with seem minor by comparison to the overall quality. You come away again and again and again feeling as if you are understanding things for the first time! Highly recommended!

This book is full of exceptional insights that set well with what I (a non-expert) know of ancient Egypt. Assmann groups concepts in unusual, but very plausible, ways. I was most struck by the originality and depth of exposition of his concept of the relationship between father & son following the death of the former. Also, his elucidation of eternity is well worth reading. A long book, it is one to be read carefully. It is a gem for those who wish to consider the traditional concepts of ancient Egypt in a new light.

This is a wonderful book and should be a must in a collection for those interested in Ancient Egypt.