Egyptian and Mesopotamian Attitudes towards death

April 1, 2011
Within every culture, there is always something unusual to be seen by an outsider. Mesopotamian culture and Egyptian cultures are two of those cultures that it is somewhat hard for me to understand why some people not only do what they do but believe in what they believe in. To me it is a bit odd that someone believes a god of the earth can be cut up into fourteen pieces and scattered all over the world to only be put back together by a sister/ wife years after and be resurrected. Now some people think that it is ridiculous to believe that a man can just rise up from the grave three days after a violent death but of course to me it is not something that is seemed to be odd but it is my religion and my culture to believe in this just as the Egyptians believe in a man being killed twice and brought back twice from the dead.
In the Egyptian culture, it is believed that a man and a woman, husband and wife, who are also sister and brother lived together in happiness for many years. However, their brother Seth got jealous of their relationship and wanted it to end. Because of his envy, he held a banquet and told whoever could fit in a chest would win this game. No one could fit, so Osiris gave it a try. He took his crown off and fit in the closed chest. After he did so, Seth had his people nail the chest and let him die in there. After he was put out to see his sister and wife never stopped looking for him. When she finally found him washed up on shore, he was resurrected from the dead. For years they lived happily ever after together again until word got to the jealous brother Seth and he decided to kill him again. Only this time he cut his body into fourteen pieces and spread it all over the world so Isis could not put him back together. She did not give up and found him once again and for the second time he was resurrected from the dead. The Egyptian lifestyle seems to be that they never want to give up on life. No matter what, they will strive to never die. It’s almost as if they are all in denial. This story is funny to be just because I could never imagine that happening. However this is someone’s religion and they may look at my religion as funny also.
With the Mesopotamian culture, is different from the Egyptian culture as it is with all other cultures in the world. With them however, every god in their religious stories seems to be a warrior of some sort of just someone who people can rely on and look toward to save them from hurt and the inevitable death. People in all religions seem to look for someone to turn to in times of trouble and count on to help them. With their famous story, it is two brothers who at first fight with each other on who has more power and eventually they become very close until one dies and the other is left to mourn over the dead body for seven days and seven nights. He watches over the body until there are worms crawling on his dead brother. However death is once again inevitable even though many people try to avoid it. “How can I be silent how can I rest? He is dust and I too shall die and be laid in earth forever.” This is for all people everywhere. No matter what religion or beliefs, everyone dies a death.