DEATH IS SLEEP

Abstract

In ancient Egypt, both textual and archaeological sources point to a tie between sleep and death. This connection takes different shapes such as the usage of beds and headrests in burials, the role of the sun in beliefs about the afterlife and the linkage between the netherworld and the world of dreams. It is argued here that the complementary conceptual metaphors death is sleep and awakening is resurrection allow for a unitary explanation of these observations. The theoretical background of conceptual metaphor and conceptual blending offers a useful approach to elucidate past imaginations due to its grounding in embodied realism. By recognizing material and multimodal metaphors in Egyptians burial customs, the infusion of magical agency into funerary rituals can be better understood. Especially the headrest acquired a reputation as an aid in entering the afterlife through a conflation of several layers of symbolism, thereby touching upon the mental, bodily and social aspect of religion.