Katherine Reece Wrote:
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> Well if you think about it, it’s pretty logical
> for people to think that by communicating their
> needs to their dead that the dead could in turn
> communicate their living descendant’s needs to
> god(s). Even today when someone has passed on
> people who believe in an afterlife say that
> they've gone to be with God, it’s a reasonable
> step after that to think that your relative might
> intercede for you if you give them honor.

Of course, and I don't want to step on anyone's toes or beliefs here, but even Judaeo-Christian religion tends to think that folks who are deceased and have gone to live with God also watch over and intercede on behalf of the living (such as the concept of "guardian angels"). Some folks today are known to leave letters on graves of loved one describing their grief and requesting relief from their sadness from the deceased: how much different is that from Egyptian letters to the dead, for example?

After all, what are saints in Judaeo-Christian religion but particularly favoured persons from previous ages who have since died and intercede on our behalf with the deity?

I would say the concept of ancestor worship for intercession with the gods is probably far more universal a concept than we care to admit, though we often couch it in other terms than simply "ancestor worship" today.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom