Ancient Egyptians several thousand years ago underwent elaborate practices of mummification and ritual, all in order to ensure that they would live forever in the afterlife. I wonder if they ever expected that the remains left over from their death practices would be seen the world over, thousands of years later.

Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum introduced its newest temporary exhibit on February 11th, entitled “To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum”. The massive exhibit features how different classes from ancient Egyptian society, poor, middle class and royalty, all underwent elaborate practices in order to prepare and receive death, all so they would live on happily in the afterlife. The exhibit’s collection is vast and features gargantuan sarcophagi, as well as the most minute pieces of statuary and jewelry that once adorned tombs and ensured the deceased the same standards of comfort in death as they had in life.

It was very interesting to learn about how lower and middle classes in Egyptian society used materials, and re-used objects for their own burial ceremonies. Because they were unable to afford expensive materials that royalty could (like Diorite, which is a black and heavy stone, and gold), lower classes often did creative things with the resources available. Instead of having caskets of stone, they would carve sarcophagi from wood and paint it yellow to resemble gold. Lower and middle classes even re-used items and statuary from other ceremonies for their own death rituals in order to save money.

What makes the exhibit so special is the fact that it highlights the average commoners that lived in ancient Egypt. Too often are we taken in my the stories of royalty and pharaohs that ruled the kingdoms of Egypt. However, this exhibit allows us insight into the lives of middle and poorer Egyptians, and reveals a little about how we ourselves may have faired in antiquity. 

Omaha is the 10th and final stop of the “To Live Forever” exhibit and runs through June 3rd.