All it takes is a look at the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is nothing but a giant tomb, to realize that Egyptian civilization took death very seriously.

And for good reason. The afterlife - or rather, getting there - was a very serious thing in Egyptian mythology. Much like getting into Heaven, there was only one chance to get into the Egyptian afterlife, so they had to get it right the first time.

The Egyptians believed that when a person died, their soul, or ka was released, to begin the journey to the afterlife. The journey to the Egyptian afterlife was a long and dangerous one, and ancient Egyptians did not believe that the soul was immortal. The soul had to pass through the Duat, or underworld. The Duat was filled with demons and other creatures. For this reason, many people in ancient Egypt were buried with the Book of the Dead, which held prayers and spells to guide them through the Duat.

The end of the journey was the Hall of Two Truths. Here the soul was met by Anubis, the god of the dead, and his heart was weighed against the feather of Ma’at, the goddess of truth and justice. If the deceased was unworthy, their heart would be heavier then the feather, and it was eaten by Ammit, the devourer. If deceased had lived a life in keeping with Ma’at, then it was lighter then the feather, and the soul of the deceased was admitted to Aaru, the Egyptian afterlife.

In the afterlife, the deceased would live a perfect reflection of their previous life. They performed the same work, enjoyed the same hobbies and past times. However, the Egyptian afterlife indeed a perfect reflection, where none of the unhappiness of the prior life was repeated and the deceased could live in all happiness. Ancient Egyptians believed that anything which was buried with the deceased would be recreated for them in the afterlife. For this reason, tools, food and other supplies buried with the deceased. Especially the tools of their trade, and wax clay figures called shabti that were believed to come to live and act as servants in the afterlife.

The Egyptian afterlife was not just a reflection of the lives of the ancient Egyptians, the Aaru and Duat were also reflections of the physical Egypt, with a geography that included a great river that Ra, the sun god, would sail at night. When the sun set in the west at night, it entered the Duat, where it sailed from West to East, bringing day to the underworld and the dead, before rising in the East to bring day to the world of the living.