Discussion of Burial Traditions in the Middle Kingdom. The spread of the believe in the After Life to everyone in Egypt. Pyramid text which are instructions on how to bet into the After Life in the Old Kingdom were written on Pyramid Walls in the Middle Kingdom they become Coffin Text because they are written on insides of coffins.

1. Ancient Egyptian History, Class 4, Fall 10, Spring 2011, Middle Kingdom, Burial Traditions GCCC Encore Instructor – Joe Boisvert

3. Changed the capital from Memphis to Thebes

5. Then the Hyksos, nomads from Asia, invaded disunited Egypt, set fire to the cities, razed the temples, squandered the accumulated wealth, destroyed much of the accumulated art. For two hundred years subjected the Nile valley to the rule of the "Shepherd Kings.“ There are other theories. I Nvader s Hyksos

6. Burials Traditions Changed During Different Periods of Egyptian History Middle Kingdom Coffin Pit Burials Predynastic Period Old Kingdom Sarcophagus

7. Coffins in Ancient Egypt One of the most important objects purchased, whether for royalty or other elites, for a tomb was the coffin. It's purpose from the earliest times was the protection of the body, preserving it from deterioration or mutilation. During Predynastic times, the Egyptians shrouded corpses in mats or furs and enclosed them in pots, baskets or clay coffins.

8. Old Kingdom 3rd Dynasty Sarcophagus The first clearly established royal coffins date to the 3rd Dynasty, and some of these made of stone have been preserved. They were often very plain, with a flat cover, though some are more elaborate with vaulted lids and crosspieces. However, there was considerable differences between coffins belonging to private individuals as opposed to royalty

9. False Door The false door was intended to allow the deceased a link between the living and the dead So that the deceased could receive sustenance from the land of the living.

10. The Coffin Texts The Coffin Texts superseded the Pyramid Texts as magical funerary spells at the end of the Old Kingdom. Although they are principally a Middle Kingdom phenomenon, there are examples of the texts appearing as early as the late Old Kingdom period

11. Both Royal and Commoners Could Have Access to the Afterlife in Middle Kingdom Previously, the right to be embalmed and the prospect of a guaranteed afterlife were restricted to royalty and nobility The introduction of the Coffin Texts eliminated the exclusivity of the Pyramid Texts. They were inscribed on the coffins of both the royalty and the common people who could afford them

12. Middle Kingdom Coffin and Coffin Text – Did not need to be Royalty Instructions to the Afterlife

13. Providing an eerie greeting for the 20th-century visitors was a linen-wrapped painted head perched on top of a coffin,

14. In the coffin text, we now find that all of the deceased must be subjected to the "Judgment of the Dead", based on their actions during his or her life Coffin Text democratized the afterlife, eliminating the royal exclusivity of the Pyramid Text.

15. Decorations move from Pyramid Walls to the Sides of the Coffin, Middle Kingdom Udjat Eyes on a Coffin, Middle Kingdom (wood & paint) by Egyptian 12th Dynasty

16. c.1900 (sepia photo) by American Photographer (20th century) Private Collection used to take pictures of Egyptian Relics George R. Lawrence's (1869-1938) Mammoth Camera

17. Pyramid Texts Modern name for the writings inscribed in the inner chambers of late Old Kingdom (about 2686-2181 BC) pyramids; Instructions on how to get to After Life. In later periods some of these compositions continued to be used in ritual, and were sometimes copied as funerary texts

18. Pyramid Text Old Kingdom

19. Book of the Dead There is probably no text in the popular imagination more closely associated with the ancient Egyptian beliefs about life after death than the work popularly known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, This work received its name from the fact that many of the earliest specimens to reach Renaissance Europe—centuries before Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphs in 1824—had been found next to mummies in burials

20. Pyramid Text Become Coffin Test In the First Intermediate Period and in the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC) funeral texts from the pyramids are now also found in burial chambers of high officials and on many coffins. When used in Coffins now called Coffin Texts. Some Prayers for the Dead from the Pyramid Texts are still in use in the New Kingdom (about 1550-1069 BC) and in the Late Period.

21. The Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead represents the most important of the illustrated book in ancient Egypt. The text itself represents a continuation of an ancient tradition of afterworld guides that began with the royal Pyramid Texts in the Old Kingdom and continued with the more "democratized" Coffin Texts for wealthy individuals of the Middle Kingdom

22. The End