crificed and their blood was recognized as inspiring the deceased to speak. The Egyptians also were concerned with the ability of the deceased to speak in the next realm; this is exemplified in one of the most important spells in The Book of the Dead, the opening of the mouth. When all the funeraryrites had been done, the next step was to mark the spot of the deceased. "The grave is marked with a stone, the sign, sema." This grave stone would have the name of the soul,and often some type of epigram in verse form. Invariably near the grave, some type of guardian of the soul would be located. Lion and sphinx were found as grave markers andthis idea is paralleled in the practices of the natives of Egypt. A certain "cult image" was buried with the deceased in Egypt in order to look after and more importantly protect one's ba from being disturbed. It also acted as a type of "purge valve" for any ba which may have been unjustly disturbed in the tomb. Burial practices aside one can note an interesting difference between these two ancient civilizations. Differences can be observed concerning how amicable the afterlife was. The Egyptians had a positive outlook. They believed that after one became Osirus, They would moveinto a new world, which was nice, no one had to work, and everything was very clean. One could compare their lives in the next world with the children's classic board game,Candyland. In this game all was fine and dandy, the "don't worry be happy" attitude flourished, not distant from the life in the Fields of the Blessed. On the other hand,Greco-Roman afterlife was a rather dismal place. The dead Achilles summed everything up by saying to Odysseus, "Do not try to make light of death to me, I would sooner bebound to the soil in the hire of another man, a man without lot and without much to live on, than rule over all the perished dead." Needless to say, the Homeric afterlife wasno Candyland. Candyland or not, both cultures went to ...
