The 'letters to the dead' and ancient Egyptian religion

The author discusses the characteristics of the genre of the Letters to the Dead, their historical and geographical distribution, bowls as text bearers, their provenance, the worldview of the letters, the sender and recipients, the problems submitted and the alleviations suggested, the motivations for intervention on behalf of the living, the frequent reference to a tribunal of the afterlife, dream visions and incubation, and the sparseness of reference to gods. He concludes that the Letters to the Dead reflect a general belief, characteristic of Egyptian religion, that the dead and the living can still influence each other's lives and, more particularly, that the dead can have either a benign or a maleficent influence on the living. The assistance asked for is usually against another spirit of the dead who is afflicting the suppliant or his family and the redress is sought in legalistic terms. (OEB)