False Doors, Soul Houses & Letters

"Ancestor worship was an important part of household religion and the belief that the dead could not only be communicated with, but could also use their power to both help and hurt living beings, was an ingrained part of the ancient Egyptian belief system.

False doors were a specific type of funerary decoration often found in the tombs of the Egyptian elite during the Old Kingdom... False doors were carved from a single piece of limestone and took the form of a narrow doorway surrounded by inscribed door jambs and surmounted by a lintel. The tomb’s occupant was usually represented seated at a table laden with food offerings: vegetables, fruits, bread, wine, beer, and meats—everything a soul would need to sustain itself in the afterlife. The family members and friends of the deceased could also be immortalized on the false door. These carvings were not portraits, however, but idealized representations. Both men and women were shown in the prime of their life: strong, healthy, vigorous, and fertile.

....they crafted and fired small models of houses complete with courtyards. They filled the

courtyards with models of bread and vegetables, grain bins and pots filled with beer. Then they placed these objects, collectively known as soul houses, on top of the graves of their family and friends. The soul houses became imbued with magic and through them, food offerings could pass between the worlds of the living and the worlds of the dead.

Egyptians wrote letters to the dead. These were most commonly written with ink on clay bowls and placed outside the grave of an ancestor. The letters, several of which are preserved in museum collections in both Egypt and beyond, show the daily concerns of people who lived thousands of years ago. They worried about disease, about the safe birth of a newborn, about enemies—worldly and ethereal—who might be plotting against the family."

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