The ancient Egyptians came to believe that the Afterlife was the same as the Egypt they had known in life. They hoped they would live there forever. If families could afford it, they buried their dead with the belongings they thought they needed to enjoy this everlasting life.

Home comforts

Because they would need a home in the Afterlife, people sometimes buried real furniture in tombs. Others buried model houses and model furniture that would become real when they were needed.

Essentials and luxuries

They also buried more personal belongings, such as jewellery and make-up, as essentials. Luxury items such as perfumes were sometimes asked for in prayers on the stela (inscribed slab of stone or wood), or placed in the tomb.

Leisure activities

People hoped to enjoy themselves in the Afterlife. Some had games or hunting tools buried with them. For others, pictures of hunting or feasting on a stela or the wall decoration of a tomb meant they could take part in these activities after death.

More or less

Much depended on the fashions of the period when the person died, but most people were buried with few or no possessions. Often this was because they were poor, but sometimes wealthy people were buried with little or nothing.