Egyptian Book of the Dead

1. Cultural values in civilizations can usually be linked to facets of their daily life
or experience; for example, Hammurabis code sanctions hard work, particularly
in agriculture, which was one of the most important industries of the Babylonian
kingdom in 1790BC. From the many references to maat in relation to purity and
deities, it is clear that it was a central value. Why was the concept of maat so
important to Egyptian culture?
Perhaps the Egyptians geographical location played a role in developing their
governing ideals of maat; that is, truth, justice, purity, balance, and order. Their
lifestyle as sedentary agriculturalists depended greatly on the River Nile, which
floods regularly every year, renewing the land and bringing rich, fertile alluvial
soil. This highly regular cycle of nature renewing the Egyptians source of life
came to be seen as an ideal of order. Furthermore, the long strips of land to the
east and west of the Nile were arid, hostile, uninhabitable desert, cementing the
Egyptians view that the Nile was the center of the ordered universe. Ancient
Egypts latitude also meant it received minimal rainfall, enhancing the regularity
of the suns rising and setting. The sun was also used with sundials to help
govern their work hours; yet another life-bringing cycle that appeared to show
order inherent in nature.
2. How were objects and places mentioned in the journey of the ka to the
Underworld significant to Egyptian culture and daily life? (e.g. the town north of
the moringa, the Leg and the Thigh, the lands of the Fenkhu, fire and a tablet of
crystal, a scepter of flint, northern city in the Field of the Grasshoppers)
3. In the second and third examinations, why is such significance given to
naming objects? Do these objects represent gods of certain affiliations, and how
did this come to be?