The creative and destructive forces of the sun and the river determined the fate of the fertile valley. The two phenomena shared a pattern of death and rebirth which made a profound impression on the people. The sun, sailing across the heavens, died on the western horizon every evening and was reborn the following morning on the eastern horizon. Similarly, each year the land died in the summer heat and the river brought the crops back to life with the flood. This natural sequence of rebirth after death may be the root of ancient Egyptian belief in an afterlife. Their conviction in life after death led them to include all their worldly possessions in burials. This became a highly ritualized affair with the pharaohs.
