“After the funeral, the monument became the focus of its second, and in fact its most important, function: acting as the daily stage for the ‘eternal’ mortuary rituals, a recurrent offering ritual, necessary for the sustenance of the k3 [life-force] of the deceased.”
—From Doors, Entrances and Beyond …
In this second book on how Egyptians of the Old Kingdom perceived and interacted with the dead, Egyptologist Leo Roeten explores the layout, purpose and meaning of the different parts of tombs from the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth dynasties, specifically in the necropolises of
. From doors being both practical necessities required for priests and family to access a royal mortuary complex, as well as symbolic liminal spaces between the land of the dead and that of the living to the choice of a funerary chapel’s decoration being a reflection of the occupant’s life before and after death, this volume offers an exhaustive investigation of how the people of the time understood death and continued their relationship with the departed well after passing away. The whole is supported with an extensive and bibliography, as well as illustrations, pictures and diagrams of the and sites examples discussed.