Mummification of the ancient Egyptians.

Mummification of the ancient Egyptians

• The Egyptian religion was associated with the doctrine of resurrection and eternity
• By their belief that death is a door to cross into the realm of permanent life
• And they were fond of it
• They called it the Eternal Life of Heaven
• The most desirable thing is to go to the underworld,
• Which makes the Egyptians looking for a way to secret eternity
• So they invented the art of mummification,
• Through the records of classical writers and historians who visited Egypt and the information provided by modern science by viewing the bodies
• And analyzing them and the tools and drugs used for mummification.
• In fact, despite the progress of the art of embalming, good methods of embalming
• Class I and II remained the exclusive domain
• Kings, princes and rich people,
• As for the ordinary Egyptians, their bodies were not embalmed in these ways
• Because of its high costs
• The Egyptians resorted to inventing a third method of inexpensive embalming for them, but it did not keep the body safe for a long time.
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• The concept of embalming
• At the beginning of the conversation about the art of mummification is an art that the ancient Egyptians excelled in,
• Mummification means a way to temporarily treat and cleanse the dead body
• From decomposition or rotting,
• As for the term mummy, we refer to the bodies that were found in Egypt
• It is a concept called on the body of any living being, whether an animal or a person,
• At the present time, other types of embalming have appeared, such as:
• Cryopreservation,
• And injecting the arteries with a liquid killing the microbes to spread in the body and keep it from degradation.
• When did the ancient Egyptians know the process of mummification:
• The start of mummification cannot be determined because mummies wrapped in linen were found from pre-dynastic times
• And that was burying their dead in a deep hole leaving the body
• Because sand is dry, hot, and sunlight,
• But it started from the beginning of the old country which witnessed the entry of sun worship
• And the construction of the pyramids of kings.Evolution in the mummification process:
• First: In the old country:
• Embalming was done by emptying the abdomen and then filling it with spices and resin
• Then the body is wrapped with linen.
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• Second: In the middle country:
• The embalming method was expensive using
• Glues with aroma, spices and resin
• And by removing the brain and internal organs and then soaked in natron for 70
• One day, they tried to save the body without a hole by injecting the body
• With cedar oil and turpentine.
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• Embalming accessories:
• As well as to embalming tools, I found other attachments:
• 1- Coffins and coffins:
• It is one of the ways to preserve the body through a situation inside
• A bowl of braided wood or straw which is called a coffin,
• In the third family it consisted of rectangular boxes of
• White limestone between untidy motifs,
• As for the era of the Old Kingdom, I confined myself to recording the name of the corpse and his nicknames on the coffin. In the modern state, the location of the decorations has changed.
• Just do not build it.
• 2- Linen Wraps:
• It is a soft fabric, used to make luxury clothing
• Dressed by priests, which were used to wrap and mummify mummified mummies.
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• 3- Amulets and Scarabs:
• They are magic amulets in the transformed Egyptians to protect their dead by
• Placed among the folds of wraps that spoil the body for protection in the afterlife
• Like the royal crown amulet.
• 4- Mummification Bed:
• The body of the dead was laying on the bed and gradually sliding toward the foot
• It was made of stone and it simulates with its legs and the forefront the lion shape
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• 5- Canopic vessels:
• The internal organs that were removed from the body were kept in four containers,
• This was called by the Greeks because of its covering
• Human or animal figures. The oldest vessels were found in the tomb of Queen Marsa Ankh, which was made of limestone or alabaster, but it was taken in
• Change takes different forms of human heads.Mummification steps:
• The researchers differed on the number of these steps, some of them said they were 13 and others said less, but these steps are in papyri
• The examination of Egyptian mummies is concentrated in six steps:
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• 1- Washing and disinfection:
• Embalms wash the deceased and clean it from dirt by putting it in
• Wash basin, and we rely at this stage on the views of the tomb of Jehuti - Huttab al-Barsha (20th century BC), the goal of washing with water and salt
• That is, it helps to resurrect and give birth.
• 2- Removal of the brain and viscera:
• The embalmer absorbed water into the body of the deceased and removed the viscera separately
• To dry it, the brain was removed first, then the abdomen and chest organs.
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• First: removal of the brain:
• The embalmers remove the brain through the filtered bone or from the opening
• Behind the neck, the mummified uses a long copper machine and burrows it inside the skull of the deceased and moves the other end outside the body, which is cut pieces to take it out of the nostrils.
• Insert it by the nose.
• Second: the viscera extract:
• The embalmer exits the heart, lungs, stomach, intestine, liver and kidneys
• By slitting the opening in the left side of the abdomen, it places these organs
• In natron salt, anoint it with rice oil, wrap it in linen and put it in the canopic vessels, and then return the heart and kidneys to the body of the deceased because the heart
• It has a role in the underworld as the intention.
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• 3- Laying the filling materials:
• This stage plays the role intended for mummified in the event of completion of 70 days.
• First: temporary filling materials:
• These substances are placed in the body of the dead and are not removed from it because they kill bacteria
• But they are removed from the body after the drying process, which are three types of linen wraps, which are: rollers with nitrile salt to absorb water, linen rolls that absorb the remaining fluids, linen rolls containing aromatic substances.
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• Second: permanent filling materials:
• They are fillers that remain in the hands between them: natron salt, sawdust,
• Bitter, cinnamon, linen rolls dipped in mucilage resin, onion.
• Third: Subcutaneous filler material:
• It is shown under the skin of the dead, giving the body its features when it was alive
• For the soul to recognize, it is placed in the middle layer of the epidermis
• It is the dermis and among these materials: clay, linen, sand, sawdust, butter and soda, these materials are placed through holes in
• Arms, legs and back.
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• 4- Drying:
• The embalmer throws large quantities of natron salt to the dead body
• For a period of 40 days to rid the body of body weight, which is water, and also rid it
• Of the foods eaten by the deceased, and nitrous salt consists of carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride and sodium sulfate so it plays an important role in
• The process of drying, at this point the deceased was put on
• A sloping stone bed and on top of the bed surface there is a canal that converges
• Water from the body is then collected in a basin under the bed. After the drying period has ended, the embalmer removes the nitrile salt and extracts the temporary filling materials.
• 5- Pouring oils and fats:
• This step treats physical transformations after drying, such as body color
• The burning of skin tissue, the contraction of fat under the skin, and embalming
• By pouring a boiling white liquid, which is the resin, on the dead body, the material
• To deal with this step: resin, rice oil, merry paint, beeswax, turpentine, and you took the mummified ten days to do the fat of the dead.
• He wrapped it in linen and clothes, and after mummification was over, he would pour the oils
• Body openings such as eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth by pressing the eyes to fall out and putting onion crust on top to prevent bacteria, blocking the ear and nose holes with resin disks, treating the mouth by filling it with linen and then sticking the lips with bees wax,
• As for the embalming hatch the mummified fear of entering evil spirits was attached
• On the hole, the protective eye amulet (flax lips) stitched with strings of linen and attached them to beeswax.
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• 6- Shrouding:
• After applying the face dye and applying the wigs, sandals and jewelry, the priest (Sashmo) then wraps the body two weeks with the shroud and each roll accompanies his reading
• For a spell, this stage aims to provide additional protection for the body to prevent decomposition. The shroud is colored red and the embalming steps are completed by placing the mask on the face of the deceased and then the supervisor reads the spells from the Book of the Dead
• The stuffed body is buried.
• Types of substances and drugs used for embalming: justice
• Natron:
• It is a substance consisting of bicarbonate and sodium carbonate and it is found in Wadi Natrun and when the lakes evaporate a white layer of salt is formed
• It is the natron, used by the fourth family to dry the bodies.
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• Bitumen:
• It is a substance that is placed in the hollows of the embalmed human body to protect it from decomposition
• Found after family and after.
• Resin materials:
• It is one of the main materials in embalming and it is a thick oil
• It is taken from the stem of the plant's juices: gum and myrrh.
• Beeswax:
• This substance was used in the mummification process to lock eyes, nose and mouth
• And paste the wound as a buffer.
• Schnepper (cassia) and cinnamon cucumber: Dried peels from trees in India and China, which are spices used as dried materials.
• the plants:
• Such as using onions to keep the corpse from mold and dates to dry the corpse of the corpse and the types of flowers to scent the corpse, and from the plant materials are sawdust and cotton to fill the corpse of the body and the henna plant to beautify the corpse.
• Smell-smelling drugs: They are used as scents with olive oil, frankincense, and resin-like resin.
• Salt (NaCl):
• Used as a substitute for natron, it is 50% present in natron.
• Embalming and workplace category:
• First: the embalming category:
• The information about the role of the mummifieds and their titles is inaccurate due to the secret of this profession, but through what Herodotus and Diodorus of Sicily mentioned and what was found from written traces, it was revealed that a special class of priests was performing the embalming process through learning and inheriting this profession from parents and grandparents, and it was for the mummified A chief supervises them, and he determines the cost of embalming the corpse. The embalms shared the responsibilities in the embalming process and wore a mask in the form of the head of Ibn Awi.Second: The workplace:
• The mummification process takes place in a special temple, the mummification temple, in which there are tools for embalming, sharp machines, types of ornaments, etc., and this temple is divided into three sections, namely:
• Section One:
• It is a place where deceased relatives are allowed to enter in order to agree with the mummified chief.
• The second section: It is a special place for mummified only.
• The third section: It is a place for handing the embalmed body to its relatives.