CONCEPTS OF DEAD AMONG ANCIENT CIVILIZATION 23 



the land. Defilement, disease and guilt, with no sharp line of di- 

 vision, ^vere regarded by them as contagious evils, which were 

 transmissible to other things, animate and inanimate. 



The primitive Japanese first buried their deceased. The 

 masses were merely interred by covering the bodies with soil 

 in waste lands remote from communities. Since they entertained 

 the universal belief in a life after death, with needs similar to 

 those in the former, their post-mortem requirements were simple, 

 nothing more than a little rice and water. By contrast, tombs or 

 great megalithic vaults, covered with huge mounds of earth, were 

 built for the royalty. Food, arms, utensils, ornaments and even 

 living servants were deposited with them. The last barbarous cus- 

 tom was later abandoned and images were placed in the sepulchres 

 as substitutes. This method of disposing of the dead slowly gave 

 way to cremation which became universal by the 9th Century 

 A.D. 



The ancient Japanese also believed in an abode for their 

 dead; it was considered to be located either in the depths of the 

 earth or beneath the sea. In either case, it was a place of utter 

 darkness, loathesome corruption and decaying bodies. Existing 

 there, were a group of ugly hags who fed upon the corpses. There 

 was no notion of retribution beyond life. They did fear the dead, 

 however, believing that their ghosts could cause all kinds of mis- 

 chief. So they made many offerings to their forefathers asking for 

 their protection arid help in attaining some measure of pros- 

 perity (Moore, '13). 



C. Egypt 



Of all the countries of the early civilized world, Egypt un- 

 doubtedly ranks first in originating new ideas about what may 

 happen in an afterlife. These people were very much concerned 

 about the dead and they initially conceived the far-reaching con- 

 cept of immortality and a possible retribution in another world; 

 eventually they became bold enough to pioneer in making in- 

 cisions on human corpses. The former was related to an intepreta- 

 tion given to an important Egyptian myth whereas the latter was 

 associated with a belief in reincarnation which led to the prac- 

 tice of mummification. 



