The Process of Mummification
Learn about mummification, how did the Egyptians do it, and why did they mummify their dead.
You might have heard about the mummies like that of King Tutankhamen. But do you know what a mummy is? Well let’s understand. A mummy is a dead body that was preserved long ago in ancient Egypt. The Egyptian embalmers could do it so well, that some of them survived even after a gap of 5,000 years. But how could they do it so well and why did they even do it? Well let’s know about it.
The Ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. Life after death means that after a person would die, he/she would go into afterlife after being judged by the god Osiris. To come back to life, the soul needed its body. That is why, the Egyptians mummified their dead. But how did they do it?
The first step was to wash the body and remove the brain through the nostrils. They embalmers used hooks for that. The hooks were put through the nostrils and the brain was mashed up, taken out in pieces, and disposed, as the brain wasn’t considered important in Ancient Egypt.
Then, an incision was placed on the left side of the body, through which, all the organs were taken out. The four major organs were places in canopic jars who heads represented the sons of the god Horus. The intestines into the canopic jar of Qebehseneuf, who had a falcon’s head; the stomach went into the canopic jar of Duamutef, who had the head of a jackal; the lungs went into the canopic jar of Hapi, who had the head of a baboon and lastly, the liver went into the canopic jar of Imsety, who had the head of a human.
The heart was left inside the body, as the Egyptians believed it was the seat of character, identity, and consciousness and not the brain. Another reason for leaving the heart was that they believed the deceased would need it so that Anubis could weigh it against Ma’at’s feather. If the heart was lighter, the person would be granted afterlife. If not, then the heart was fed to the crocodile-headed demon Ammit.
Thereafter, the body was kept in a special type of salt called Natron for 40 days. The Natron caused the body to dry. After the natron was removed, the body was rubbed with oil and fragrances and linen was put inside the body to make it look filled. Thereafter, the body was wrapped in layers of linen, starting from the head and neck. Then the limbs and finally, the torso would be covered. It was estimated that 150 layers of linen were used for one mummy. On top of each layer, resin was put as it could act as glue.
After the previous step, a death mask, which depicted the face of the dead, was put on the deceased’s head and a shroud was also put on the body. This shroud was decorated with hieroglyphics which were verses from the funerary text the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead has spells to guide souls in the afterlife. These were written in hieroglyphic writing, a form of pictographic writing in which different symbols represented some idea. They were written on papyrus, an early form of paper.
Then, the body was put in three coffins, which were later put in a sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was decorated with gold, jewels, diamonds etc. Lastly, the sarcophagus was put in a burial chamber in the pyramid with the person’s valuables as the Egyptians believed the deceased would need his/her valuables in afterlife.
Through this detailed process of mummification, we get to know that ancient Egypt was an advanced civilization and the ancient Egyptians had a very good knowledge of human anatomy and chemistry. I hope you liked this article. To know more about history, stay tuned.
Thank you
Bibliography-
Information from BBC History Extra
Pictures from Google
