Analysis Of The Coffin Of Horankh

Life after death is a mystery, some beliefs include heaven and rebirth, but no one really knows what the afterlife consists of. In Ancient Egypt, people believed that they needed to decorate the coffins with paint, images, or hieroglyphics and put objects such as paintings and jewelry inside or around the tomb for those who died. They believed that it would appease the gods and would allow their passage to the afterlife to be easier and regarded the objects and mummy as a place that the spirit of the diseased could inhibit after death. Egyptians had a strong spiritual belief that was equally important throughout the socioeconomic classes, their belief in the ka, which was the spirit that lived on after death, led them to create marvelous works

During that period, the Egyptian ruler attempted to restore the true traditions of Ancient Egypt and took the conventional ideas and beliefs of the previous periods. Therefore, the artwork of the Kushite period resembles several of art done during old, middle, and new kingdoms. Unlike the coffins of Tutankhamen, which was embellished with jewels and was made of gold, the coffins during this period reflected the coffins of earlier Egypt. The Coffin of Horankh portrays the figure of Horankh, an Egyptian that is believed to belong to the royal class of Egypt because of the coffin’s features. The mummy inside the coffin is wrapped in funerary shrouds and the gesso placed on top clearly depicts the shape of Horankh’s body. Paint placed on several parts of the upper part of the coffin and the added features such as the headdress and the beard add to the belief that Horankh was once a royal. His coffin is made of wooed, but is painted over and it is until you come close that the coffin appears to be made of wood and has two part that come apart. The wood is finely polished and seems to have smoothness throughout the

The painting Coffin Panel: Thoth and Horus Weigh the Heart of the Deceased, portrays one of the many hypotheses that Egyptians had of what occurs after death. It is painted on wood with a wide range of hues, but the blue is more prevalent throughout because it represents creation and rebirth, however, the panel does include other colors, such as white symbolizing purity and power and red symbolizing life. The most crucial part that the panel displays is the gold colored scale, which is used by the gods to determine if the person is worthy of the trip to the afterlife. The ceremony of weighing the heart determined if the heart was pure and free from sin, and if it was, the spirit would enter the afterlife. The heart was used for weighing because it was considered the most important organ of the body, since it was believed to be the center of emotion, memory, and though, therefore, when the mummy was put in the coffin, the only organ remaining would be the heart. On the panel, the heart is on the right and the blue feather from the goddess Ma’at is on the left, and the two are balancing on the scale. On the right side of the balance is Anubis, recognized by the head of a jackal and the crown, which is the god of mummification and assisted the rituals that took place after death. His garments include various colors in the panel because of the way he assists in