Not Dying a Second Time
The greatest fear was 'dying again' - final annihilation. Spells ensured the soul's survival, teaching that maintaining one's existence requires continuous effort.
The greatest fear was 'dying again' - final annihilation. Spells ensured the soul's survival, teaching that maintaining one's existence requires continuous effort.
I shall not die a second death in the underworld. I am established, I endure, I live.
Book of the Dead, Chapter 175
Written about in
- What ancient Egypt says about grief
Egypt's real terror was not death but the second death — annihilation, the name gone. This is the uncomfortable edge of the tradition: forgetting someone is not treated as neutral here, it is described as killing them again.