Conception ontologique et Rites de conservation du corps humain en Egypte ancienne et dans le reste de l’Afrique noire moderne

Abstract

In this article, we will mention the Egyptian sources of the Pharaonic period and those of the classical authors in order to explain the ontological perception of the human body and the rites which enable the everlasting preservation of the corpse to avoid the second death. The second death is the disappearance from the collective memory, that of one’s parents and of society as a whole. This is the reason why bereaved Negro-Egyptian societies celebrated death through mourning, the purification of the body, its preservation through mummification, its placing in the sarcophagus, the celebration of burial rites, the construction of the tomb and the erection of funerary stele for the identification of the deceased and his integration into the society of the dead. This process of socialization of the dead is technically described in hieroglyphic texts. This contribution aims to re-examine these hieroglyphic texts.