Customs and Beliefs

For example, many ancient tombs contain not just bones of the dead but evidence of food and drink, interred in the belief that the deceased had need of such things beyond the grave. Maps and eyes were painted on Egyptian wooden coffins to guide the departed. Tools and personal effects, such as jewelry, were also left on the assumption that the dead would be glad to have them in an afterlife.

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Eyes were painted on an ancient Egyptian coffin in the belief that ‘the soul of the deceased could thus peer out’

[Credit Line]

Courtesy of the British Museum, London