The Netherworld in Ancient Egypt and China: An Imagined Paradise

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Considering the striking similarities between the treatment of the dead and conceptions of the netherworld in ancient Egypt and China, how can we compare the two traditions Mu-chou Poo considers this question, and provides a new perspective on archaeological materials, including tomb structures and funerary texts, by addressing them in the context of universal human problems such as death, the future of the dead, and the search for happiness in life. Poo chronologically reconstructs the emergence of the idea of the netherworld and its evolution in both ancient Egypt and ancient China. He explores the relationship between religious beliefs and social ethics in these civilizations, considers why similar social and material conditions could have produced varied expressions of the afterlife, and what such variations reveal about each culture. Poo argues that a comparison between both visions of the netherworld and their relationship to life experience gives further insight into the nature of each civilization. Through this analysis, Poo shows that thematic comparison of ancient civilizations is not only possible, but also relevant to modern society.

Reviews

A nuanced and well-focused work from one of the grand masters of comparative civilization studies. By peering through the lens of happiness and reflecting the lived experience of the real world, Professor Poo gives us a fresh perspective on the afterlife in both Ancient Egypt and Early China. * Anthony Barbieri, Professor of Early Chinese History, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA *
[This] volume, although concise, contains succinct comparative remarks on the very different roles reserved for religious thought and practice in the two traditions. It is a strikingly readable and original contribution to an essential topic of religious studies. * Religious Studies Review *

Author Bio

Mu-chou Poo is Research Professor of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.