What to Expect When You're Dead

An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife

Robert Garland

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Pres
01 July 2025

History; Social & political philosophy; Aspects of religion (non-Christian); Sociology: death & dying

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An entertaining and enlightening book about how ancient peoples dealt with death

and what we might learn from them

A lively story of death, What to Expect When You're Dead explores the fascinating death-related beliefs and practices of a wide range of ancient cultures and traditions

Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, and Islamic. By drawing on the latest scholarship on ancient archaeology, art, literature, and funerary inscriptions, Robert Garland invites readers to put themselves in the sandals of ancient peoples and to imagine their mental state moment by moment as they sought

in ways that turn out to be remarkably similar to ours

to assist the dead on their journey to the next world and to understand life's greatest mystery.

What to Expect When You're Dead chronicles the ways ancient peoples answered questions such as: How to achieve a good death and afterlife? What's the best way to dispose of a body? Do the dead face a postmortem judgement

and where do they end up? Do the dead have bodies in the afterlife

and can they eat, drink, and have sex? And what can the living do to stay on good terms with the nonliving?

Filled with intriguing stories and frequent humour, What to Expect When You're Dead will be a morbidly delicious treat for every reader alive.

By: Robert Garland
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780691266176
ISBN 10: 0691266174
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 01 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert Garland is the Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor Emeritus of the Classics at Colgate University. He is the author of many books, including The Greek Way of Death, Wandering Greeks (Princeton), and Athens Burning. He has also recorded six courses for the Great Courses, most recently God against the Gods.

Reviews for What to Expect When You're Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife

""Fascinating. . . .As well as an incredible depth of knowledge, one of the highlights of this book is the occasional light, humorous touch that Garland brings to one of life’s most difficult topics. He shows us how past societies dealt with death and the idea of an afterlife in a way that was often full of vibrancy.""---Jackson von Uden, All About History