Sorry, not falling for the attempt at baiting. My statement stands as presented. Pagans were known to offer prayers for the dead. If you wish to attempt to refute that simple statement of fact please do so.
Jews prayed for the dead before Christ, at the time of Christ, and today. That's as much a "simple statement of fact" as yours was. If prayer for the dead makes one a pagan, then Jews are pagans.
Why would anyone want to refute that?
Many pagans believed in life after death. Where such beliefs existed those pagan theories were combined with a theory of judgement after death by a God who judges souls.
Should we stop believing in the concept of an afterlife, and of judgement between the Good and the Bad, just because the Egyptians also believed something of the sort? No, of course not.
Some pagans also adopted a belief in monotheism. Should we junk monotheism because e.g. the Aten cult got a form of monotheism first? No, of course not.
Pagans prayed for the dead. That's not wrong just because pagans did it. Instead it sounds like they were acting on a God-given instinct.