Throughout history, many civilizations believed in one or more gods and also believed in a concept of an afterlife, whether it is a reward or a punishment for what they have done in their life. . Death is the absolute truth about people's lives, whether we like it or not, death will come, and many religions have created a way to see the afterlife and what comes with it. Hope for life after death is a universal instinct, whether 5,000 years ago or today. It is still one of the most discussed topics, even though the technology is advanced. Scientists still can't explain life after death. On the other hand, almost every religion has a unique way of explaining the afterlife. For example, monolithic religions like Islam, Judaism, and Christianity believed that in the afterlife, people's souls existed in another world, while other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism believed in reincarnation. And some civilizations had the idea that they buried important people with their valuables such as golds, swords, jewelry and any other important items for the dead. So, in the afterlife, these people will be able to use them. Civilizations such as the Aztecs, Greeks and Romans, Egyptians, ancient Chinese or many ancient civilizations perceived the idea of ​​burying important objects with the people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Aztecs, believed to have originated as a nomadic tribe in Mexico, settled Mesoamerica in the early 13th century. They developed a large and complex social, religious and political organization that affected many cities under their control. The Aztec religion, which flourished in Mesoamerica, gained an infamous reputation for its harsh, inhumane and bloodthirsty sacrifice. For the Aztecs, sacrifices were essential because life would not be possible without offering the blood of the Gods, these sacrifices especially so that the sun would rise again. We can say that their belief about life after death was very strange compared to today. Many people in the past and today believe that life after death is determined by how you live your life, but in contrast, the Aztecs believed that how you live your life is not important to life. life after death. the problem is that this is how a person died. A person's afterlife was determined by the idea of ​​how they died. In their belief system, the afterlife had 4 sections which were East, West, North and South and people's death path determines where they go. For example, if you die fighting in a war, you will go to a paradise in the east where the sun rises in the morning or you will join the war god Huitzilopochtli in a battle. Or women who died in childbirth considered as honorable and glorious as men who died in war. But the women went to paradise which is in the west where the sun sets every day. These ideas of heaven are very different from our modern world religions that say people will go to another world where there will be everything they want. In contrast, people who died from illnesses, mundane deaths, or things like dying of old age are not considered a heavenly thing. Those who died from things like this went to the underworld and these people had to complete eight levels of challenges to finally find peace in their souls at the ninth level. It isone of the most divergent examples between Aztec religion and modern religions and how society views death. Among the Aztecs, if you die of old age and ordinary things, people won't see you the way they see warriors and people who died like that went to the underworld. The Aztecs mostly expected people to die prematurely but honorably. But in modern religions, if you die of illness or old age, it will not affect your afterlife, because that is not how you die; it's how you live that determines whether you go to heaven or hell. For the Aztecs, the sun was very important in their daily lives. And this greatly affected their beliefs in the afterlife. Their entire belief system was actually built around the Sun. In Greek and Roman civilizations, they believed in the existence of the afterlife. Although both civilizations have no religious origins for the belief in life after death, their myths have shaped their concepts of life after death. The Greeks believed that when a person died, the soul and body were separated. After death and burial, it's done. The souls are released from the body and begin a journey to the afterlife, to the river that separates the underworld called Hades and the world. Hermes or Charon assists the dead as they cross the river so that the dead go to the underworld. This river is guarded by the famous three-headed dog called Cerberus. The underworld ruled by the god Hades. In Hades, people were judged by their past actions and how they lived their lives, what they did wrong or right. If someone did a minor bad thing, he wasn't punished, but he wasn't rewarded either, he will just wander in the underworld while the person who did a bad thing will be punished . In early times, the Greeks believed that only the underworld existed in the afterlife. But some people believed that heroes and other great people did not wander through Hades and secretly went to Elysium, which is like a paradise where only the best of people, like heroes and relatives of the gods, can go. The Romans influenced the Greeks after death concept greatly, they believed in things like the immortality of the soul, reincarnation like the later Greeks. The Romans believed that the dead affected their daily lives, so they kept in touch with the dead through rituals and festivals. They honored the dead each year during Parentalia (February) and Lemuria (May). During Parentalia, people visited the graves of their ancestors and the dead and offered them wine and food. While in May, during Lemuria, they performed rituals to keep souls away from their homes and protect their families from the souls of the dead. The Romans believed that when a person dies, their soul goes to the place where if they do good things throughout their life, they go to a place that is like heaven and contains great joy . On the contrary, if someone has done bad things, they go to a place where they are tortured and punished. This place had 3 parts according to the Romans: the first where people received neither punishment nor reward, the second is Tartarus where people suffer for the rest of their lives and the third is where people with deeds go minors, where they lived temporarily before their reincarnation or their departure. at the Élysée. This idea of ​​the underworld is close to the idea of ​​hell in modern world religions like Islam or Christianity. Both religions have such a close idea of ​​hell and heaven that if one suffers enough for itsacts, he can then go to heaven. But there is no reincarnation in Christianity or Islam. In addition, the Romans replaced pagan beliefs with Christianity some time later. The idea of ​​life after death also spread widely throughout the Roman people. Before Christianity, the Romans had no organized religious system or anything. Some people believed in the idea of ​​life after death, others did not. There were cults at this time dedicated to a particular god or goddess, who promised people a happy and peaceful afterlife. But after Christianity, most people believed in the afterlife and because they already believed in a narrow belief, their transition from Roman beliefs to Christianity was not that difficult. The ancient Egyptians believed in immortality, so this greatly affected their idea of ​​life after death. and perceive it. They believe the death was a brief interruption in their lives. They believed that death was not the end but rather a new beginning towards another reality. According to the ancient Egyptians, after you died, you would be judged by Osiris, the god of the underworld, the afterlife and death. The Egyptians prepared the bodies of their dead in a manner complex for their time, called mummification, and built large tombs and performed many rituals. They buried important and precious objects with the dead, but they also buried everyday objects, because they believed that after death people remained their daily life. But these rituals are mainly for important and rich people, for example pharaohs, because the poor people of Egypt could not afford to bury their loved ones in a strict hierarchical system even after death. Hinduism, which is considered the oldest religion according to most scholars, is estimated to be around 4,000 years old. Hinduism believes in the reincarnation of souls. They believe that souls are immortal and last forever. Hinduism does not view death as a bad thing. It's not an ending, rather it's a natural thing that happens. The afterlife is like a period of rest where people's souls rest and prepare for the new journey of life when people return to earth. Death is only a temporary cessation of physical activity. Hinduism believes that each incarnation of the soul is like an opportunity to overcome its flaws. They believe that one cannot have likes or dislikes, preferences, attachments in order to be liberated. The soul must overcome these illusions to achieve wholeness. But what happens to the soul when someone dies? It depends on many factors, like what he did in his life or the time of death, his state of mind, the activities of his children. There are two paths to travel in the afterlife, the path of the Sun or the path of the Moon, these factors determine where will we go. When the soul actually reaches the path of the sun, it is a good thing like heaven, but when the soul goes to the path of the moon, it is more like a hellish path. It is difficult to completely reach the path of the sun. For example, if someone has committed bad deeds, he will go to the path of the moon and suffer there. On the contrary, if someone has done good things, he will go to the path of the sun and enjoy his life. The time of someone's death is also important. If one dies on a festival day while performing puja or bhajan, he will go to heaven regardless of his previous deeds. There is also another important thing is that someone's state of mind, at the time of someone's death, if they only think about money, they will return to life as a trader or.