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| The Afterlife
Most world cultures of antiquity have believed in the afterlife, a world beyond the grave. Some saw the afterlife in terms of death and rebirth cycles, others as a journey across a crucial threshold. And more recently, the afterlife has been envisioned as the ultimate reward of the good and moral. Here follows some notes on the Afterlife, as based on the following sources: "Life After Death" by Alan Segal; "The Pagan Book of the Dead" by Claude Lecouteux; and "The History of Death" by Michael Kerrigan. | | 1 |  | Guns N' Roses
Use Your Illusion I
Egypt. Being an agrarian society, the Egyptians originally believed in the death/rebirth cycle - and that the dead became the plant of Life (i.e., resurrection and life again from the Nile mud). In the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC) only the Pharoah was eligible for the afterlife. Following burial (i.e., embalming of the body on earth), the Pharoah commenced an upward-bound process to return to his father, Osiris - the lord of the underworld, and associated with setting and rising of the sun. The afterlife (Duat, Field of Reeds) was expected to be pleasurable, including the possessions that the Pharoah had acquired in life. Duat lay beyond the western horizon (where the sun set) - and was believed to consist of a great river (similar to the Nile) running through an open and level plain, and surrounded by mountains. Other deceased, if resurrected for the pleasure of the afterlife, served Osiris by cultivating crops. | | 2 |  | Guns N' Roses
Use Your Illusion II
Egypt. As time progressed, a notion of single "self" arose with the Egyptians, instead of being in harmony among forces. Immortality became the prerogative of the Pharaoh - and through the Osiris priests and mummification, was provided to those that the Pharaoh trusted. By the Middle Kingdom (2160-1580 BC), the clientele applying for attainment of Akh status had expanded. Non-royals could be allowed into the Afterlife, depending on correct moral behavior in life, amassing enough possessions for use in the Afterlife, and completing correct funeral rites. Coffin texts were developed to guide the dangerous journey of the deceased through the center of the earth, where they encountered chthonic demons, obstructing forces, and enemies of Osiris (e.g., shadows or souls in a pit of fire), and up to the sky with the Pharoah. Destiny in the Afterlife was dependent on judgement by a heavenly court, where either good or complaints/ill was laid in front of the court. Entry could be refuted. | | 3 |  | Guns N' Roses
Use Your Illusion
Egypt. In the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC), the Afterlife was a business by the priests of Osiris. A wooden Osiris bed (corn mummy) was developed to support resurrection, which was shaped as the god, filled with soil and seed, and germinated upon sealing of the tomb. The Book of the Dead compiled the coffin texts, consisted of 200 chapters, and contained spells to change one's immortal status in the Afterlife. Judgement became more important - as the deceased had to have led a moral life, be pious, and have provided a life of use and service to Egypt. In the Afterlife, to obtain entry, the deceased' heart was balanced against Ma'at (a single feather). By late antiquity (525 BC and beyond), negative judgment of the deceased by the public could result in denied burial and blocked entry into the Afterlife. | | 4 |  | System of a Down
Hypnotize
Mesopotamia. Based on recorded history from 3100-539 BC, the Mesopotamians (e.g., Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, etc.) believed that death was the lot of humanity; only the gods lived forever. The heavens existed in the high mountains and were the domain of the gods (no mortals, either alive or dead); all humans, upon death, went to the underworld (below the ground). Only some mortal heroes were provided a glimpse (only) of heaven. The gates of the underworld were located to the West, where the sun set. The underworld was an underground prison - gloomy, melancholy, and not pleasant - and all things rotted. some saw it as a well-ordered place, where all were together without rank or privilege. the Babylonians saw it as a lightless place where the deceased sat in darkens with dust and mud as their only sustenance. Heaven and the underworld had no moral meaning. | | 5 |  | System of a Down
Mezmerize
Mesopotamia. The Epic of Gilgamesh (2100-1200 BC) further described the Afterlife. As death was a constant in human life and comes to all; resignation and acceptance of death was advised - appreciate life and not hope for more of life's pleasures after death. The basic human predicament is loss of immortality, defining life as we know it, and wisdom is a result of knowing our mortality. In other words, humanity learned wisdom by losing immortality. The underworld was described as a "house of darkness" or "house of dust", a place of no return, where the deceased were transformed into bird-like creatures (similar to our conception of ghosts). Ultimately, a judgement arose in later versions of the Epic - where Gilgamesh presided over a court that adjugated cases of civil damage in the underworld. | | 6 |  | Metallica
Metallica
Canaan. Flourishing from 4500-1200 BC, the canaanites believed that humans had to die and, upon death, resided in the earth. In the earth - life didn't cease to exist, but continued in the Kingdom of Mot in a weak form and pictured as birds. Believing in immortality was to run afoul of the gods. There was no reward or punishment of the dead, and the Afterlife was neither optimistic or beatific. Returning to life was not anticipated - no one was expected to leave their tomb. | | 7 |  | Metallica
Load
Persia. Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in the 2nd millennium BC and included strong dualism. Ahura Mazda was the high god of Light (fire and purity) protecting wisdom and good/truth. Angra Mainyu was the opposing god of darkness who advanced evil and treachery. This dualism explained how a good god could allow evil into the world. In other words, sin and evil was understandable with a separate, evil god who was the author of everything bad. An eternal war - taking place at every level of existence (e.g., day vs night, light vs dark, truth vs. deceit) - existed between order and light, and darkness, disorder, and destruction. This war contributed to moral problems during life and continued to contest ownership of souls in death. Zoroastrianism provided the first example of different destinations of the righteous and sinful deceased - between heaven, purgatory, and damnation. | | 8 |  | Metallica
Reload
Persia. The deceased went to separate locations, based on morality. The good would be with Ahura Mazda in unimaginable bliss in the "House of Good Thought"; the deceitful would be in the "House of the Lie" or "House of Worst Thought", awaiting terrible punishment; and some deceased (with balanced good and evil lives) would exist in limbo (Hammistagan), to be subjected to cold and heat for purifying torment. However, all were believed to be forgiven at the final judgement at the apocalyptic end. Everyone will be saved, purged of sin and malfeasances, and enter a reconstituted earth. Bodily resurrection into a newly prepared spiritual or future body, with no need of eating/sustenance, was anticipated - and to continue into the next world. | | 9 |  | Stone Sour
House of Gold and Bones - Part 1
Israel. Early evidence indicates that Israelites saw Yahweh as a calf-headed deity, similar to Osiris-Apis of Egypt. During First Temple (1000 - 586 BC), destination of the dead was vague. The sky contained Yahweh; dead/spirits could not travel there. Per the covenant with Yahweh - life was the reward, not the afterlife, and fortune and misfortune depended on moral behavior. There was no notion of a beatific reward/heaven or hell at this time; humans existed as a pleasure of the deity and as a pure terrestrial creature. Yahweh gave his breath and that person lives - when breath removed, that person dies. However, the deceased ultimately resided in Sheol - an underground place of abandonment. Sheol was gated, far from God, and located in a region near the primal waters of the earth, and was dark, disordered, silent, and grim. The dead existed in a lethargic state, and there was no reward or punishment, and no discernment between good and wicked. Gehenna was a version of oblivion. | | 10 |  | Stone Sour
House of Gold and Bones - Part 2
Israel. Important to note that Israel was only briefly an independent state, and was controlled and influenced by surrounding cultures (e.g., Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia). In the Second Temple (515-70 BC) times, Persian influence is evident. For example, the Book of Daniel (2nd century BC) spoke of an apocalyptic end of the world, where God arrived in a fiery chariot to protect the righteous and deliver the sinners to perdition. Similar to Zoroastrianism, a belief in apocalyptical judgment - followed by body resurrection in a physical/perfected body (i.e., returning to a perfect life) and an afterlife (new heaven) on a perfected, reconstructed earth - is evident. The dualistic idea of heaven/hell also appears during this time in the Book of Isiah - seemingly also due to Persian/Zoroastrian influence - and hell is modeled after Mesopotamian and Canaanite versions of the afterlife. | | 11 |  | Coheed and Cambria
The Afterman: Ascension
Greece. Per Homer's (8th century BC) writings, the deceased's soul migrated, with Hermes as a guide, to the underworld, the final destination for spirits of all those who have died. Along this path, Cerberus (3-headed watchdog) was encountered - and payment of coins to Charon were required to ferry across the Styx. The underworld was shady, in darkness and gloom, and the dead existed as insubstantial shadows or shades (eidolon) - without strength or pleasure. The underworld was ruled by Hade and Persephone (with assistance of demons and spirits), included Tartarus (deepest region for criminals), and was surrounded by several rivers (e.g., Styx, Acheran, Charon, Cocytus, Pyriphlegethon, and Lethe). The underworld was not a place of punishment or reward; there was no retributive justice - except for perhaps in Tartarus. The virtuous and sinners each led the same life. The Fortunate Isles, the paradisical home of the just, was impossible to find. | | 12 |  | Coheed and Cambria
The Afterman: Descension
Greece. Upon being asked what death is, Socrates (470-399 BC) answered either annihilation (the dead ceases to be) or transmigration to another life. The former was like losing all senses into a sea of nothingness, entering a long, dreamless sleep, and not to feared. Plato (427-348 BC), Socrates' student, later aimed to prove the immortality of the soul. He theorized that the soul, completely superior to the bodyand defining life, could soar free of the body by contemplation and survive outside the body. Upon death, the soul departed and outlived the body. Plato believed that immortality was open to all - and could be achieved best by intellection. Plato also believed that the soul travelled through many bodies/incarnations - to learn how to behave (to perfect mental processes) and cleanse itself from human impurities. With Plato, Greeks began to believe in a transcendent self, and to focus on the afterlife and less on life (punishment). | | 13 |  | Coheed and Cambria
The Afterman (Live Edition)
Greece: Other ideas of the afterlife were also conceptualized. The Orphics and Pythagoreans (~5th and 6th Century BC) originally believed that humans could not defeat death, but later believed that the soul abided in the upper atmosphere and was punished for each life, before reincarnation and transmigration. Aristotle (384-322 BC), a student of Plato, believed that the soul retained nothing personal (no individuality) of its existence in matter and was an empty slate (Tabula rosa), and that memory (and loving and hating) adhered to the body and perished at death. Epicurians (~307 BC) believed that the soul was not incorporeal, that the body and soul were destroyed with death, and that there was no afterlife (and punishment after death) at all. Stoics (~300 BC) believed that the soul was corporal and survived death, but was perishable (whereas the universe was imperishable). | | 14 |  | Slipknot
Slipknot
Rome. A continued shift is evident, where the heavens contain the ultimate reward for the righteous, and the underworld contains punishment for evil. Similarly, the link with astronomy, astrology, and cosmology continues - justifying human destiny in the stars. Vergil (70-19BC) provided a vision of an aristocratic afterlife - where peers and heroes spend eternity. Here, there was no reward or punishment, Roman soldiers could continue to practice arms, and Romans experienced leisure depending on their service to the State. Great sinners, however, were delegated to a particular part of hell. This hell was reached by crossing the Archeron river via the boat of Charon, and traversing the Fields of Mourning and associated theatre of torture. Leading to Tartarus (twice as far down as Olympus was high), a river of fire (Phlegethon) and iron tower with chains, metallic noises, and moans was observed. | | 15 |  | Demon Hunter
War
Christianity. The afterlife is described in the Bible and apocryphal texts. The Christian view of the afterlife commenced in Jewish conceptions, but was also influenced by Greek and Persian ideologies. Platonism, defining the immortality of the soul, became a cornerstone of Christian doctrine. Greek thought also cemented human destiny and ultimate salvation in the heavens, and that this was a viable alternative to earthly existence. Similar to Zoroastrianism, heaven was viewed (from afar) as a paradise for the just, sealed off by a wall; hell was a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth for the damned, in the outer darkness; and limbo was a realm for those (who had never had the opportunity to receive God's grace) to live out eternity until final redemption. Will delve into hell more in a future list. | | 16 |  | Demon Hunter
Peace
Islam. Paradise is for the elect after the last judgement, and consists of 4 to 8 heavens. The elect are clad in silk, wear gold and silver bracelets, and sleep in golden beds encrusted with precious stones. The abode of the damned has 7 gates (guarded by angels), has several layers (e.g., Furnace, Inferno, Gehenna), and is supervised by 19 archangels. The damned suffer from thirst and fire, which is 70 times hotter than early fire. | |
Tunaboy45
11.23.24 | I'd like there to be something, but I doubt there is. If I'm wrong it'll be a pleasant surprise. | Egarran
11.23.24 | Ancient superstitions at least had some awesome artwork. | Trebor.
11.23.24 | The afterlife is when I don't have to hear Imagine Dragons anymore | JDubb
11.23.24 | Unfortunately, as I evaluate the historical descriptions of the Afterlife, I generally concur with Alan Segal. He states that the afterlife is a reflection on that specific society's ideas about what is most important in human life, religion framework, and notation of transcendence. In other words, the afterlife varies from society to society - and often suites our own interests in this world, and projects our own personal desires and goals. | JDubb
11.23.24 | With that said, there are some underlying currents in most afterlife descriptions - of a drab and gloomy afterlife, with the deceased in bird-like (or ghost) and weakened form - and ultimately perishable. I generally subscribe to this for any life after death. | ToSmokMuzyki
11.23.24 | didnt u post this once already | JDubb
11.24.24 | Nope, it’s new. | chemicalmarriage
11.24.24 | I've seen this before | JDubb
11.24.24 | This list is purposefully interlinked with my three Death lists - and does have some similarity to Death - Part 1, regarding different culture's viewpoints on the soul. | Egarran
11.24.24 | Ask a majority Christian what the afterlife is like and you get the lamest metaphysics you have ever heard. | unclereich
11.24.24 | you make great lists | Ambrosian
11.24.24 | Cool list I like this very informative |
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