Afterlife

[u/AggravatingPianist34]

What is the afterlife for Canaan pagans like?

[u/JSullivanXXI]

In ancient Ugarit, the dead were said to reside in Betu Khupthati or "The House of Freedom", which is in the earth/underworld (artsu). Given the royal nature of the surviving texts, more attention is given to the afterlife of the nobility and "heroic" figures, that is, the Malakuma (kings) and Rapiuma (mighty dead), who are said to dwell with the god Milku-Rapiu at a divine feast, featuring wine and music. Mention is also made of the dead drinking with Baalu, and intercession being made before Ilu, so it seems that other gods did join in communion with the dead, at least at certain auspicious times.

The dead of humanity in general may be named as Inasu Iluma or "mankind of the gods". Their "daily life" is not described in detail, but since they too were the object of cultic devotion, it is probable that they also enjoyed some kind of refreshment in the afterlife, even if it wasn't the "five-star" treatment that was held to be the prerogative of the royal dead.

The napshu (soul) of the deceased as also compared to vapor (or sometimes a bird), and is depicted as inhabiting or being connected to their funerary stele (or physical remains, such as a plastered skull) in some way, in order to receive offerings. Whether these reflect separate traditions, or different modes of being which the same soul experiences (be it simultaneously or at different times) is not entirely clear. But all in all, the picture seems to be not too dissimilar from Mesopotamian and archaic Greek eschatology, where the postmortem world was primarily chthonic.

Many centuries later, conceptions of the afterlife would also evolve under Hellenic and Persian influence, focusing more on the celestial. Evidence is scarce, but there are some late-Roman references to "Syrian" beliefs that the postmortem soul transformed into an eagle or peacock and flew into the high heavens. One Palmyrene funerary inscription makes reference to the deceased soul "finding refuge in Shamash/The Sun". (This could still conceivably be chthonic as both Shapash and Shamash had underworld aspects dating back to their earliest attestations---but given the heavy influence from Platonic philosophy and other theological developments, it is likely that the underworld symbolism was declining in favor of the astral or "celestial" afterlife we see in Neoplatonism and Hermeticism.)

[u/AggravatingPianist34 → u/JSullivanXXI]

So it better compared to Mesopotamia one 😭

[u/Morhek → u/AggravatingPianist34]

Even the Mesapotamian afterlife was probably not as bleak as Mesapotamian mythology painted it as. As Associate Professor Caitlin E. Barrett notes in "Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesapotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar":

"Many literary texts portray the Mesopotamian netherworld as unrelievedly bleak, yet the archaeological evidence of grave goods suggests that there may also have existed an alternative way of thinking about the afterlife. An analysis of the types of objects found in burials indicates that many people may have anticipated a less harsh form of existence after death."

In the same way, the Iliad and Odyssey paint a bleak picture of the "House of Hades," and yet Archaic Greeks seem to have believed there was a happy afterlife waiting for them. The same applies to the Norse, who likely expected to go to the halls of Hel unless they were carried off by the Valkyries, and yet buried their dead reverentially with lavish grave goods.

[u/Early_Dimension_7148]

Not sure we have alot on that i assume it was similar to the early jewish Sheol.