EGYPTIAN BURIALS

The Mummification

Process

EGYPTIAN BURIALS

• Modern practices– How do we prepare the dead

body?

Modern Body preparation

• What is the modern way in which the dead are prepared for burial?– Taken to a mortuary (funeral home)– Body is washed – Body is embalmed– Body is dressed– Make up is applied– Body is placed in casket

• Religious items placed with body

– Body is viewed by loved ones (Wake)– Body is buried or cremated or placed in mausoleum

Modern Process of Preparing Dead Body

– An embalming report is filled out logging all jewelry and personal items on the body; details any discolorations, cuts, bruises, etc.

– All clothing is removed. A strong disinfectant spray is used to clean the skin, eyes, mouth, and other orifices.

– The body is normally shaved.– Next the body itself and the facial features are placed in the

position it will remain in the casket for viewing. – Arterial embalming is begun by injecting embalming fluid into an

artery while the blood is drained from a nearby vein or from the heart. The two gallons or so needed is usually a mixture of formaldehyde or other chemical and water.

– Cavity Embalming: 1) removal of gases and fluids from organs. 2) Cavity fluid is injected into torso

– Post embalming: Body and hair washed, masking of wounds, etc. Make up is applied. Body is dressed.

Modern Process

• Modern practices– Why do we prepare the dead?

• Attachment• Respect• Cleanliness• Religious purposes

– Do such practices mean we are obsessed with death?

MUMMIFICATION

• Many ancient civilizations believed in life after death.

• The ancient Egyptians believed that mummification would guarantee the soul

passage into the next life. • Egyptians believed the dead

would live on in the tomb and also go to the next world.– That being the case they

provided for both worlds.

MUMMIFICATION

• In addition to his ba (soul) and his ka (spirit) - an Egyptian had a soul, which flew away at death.

– During life the soul had resided within the body – after death it flew freely about the world, taking refuge in the

tomb at night – But in order to find the right tomb the soul be able to recognize

its body, hence the careful preservation techniques known as mummification.

MUMMIFICATION

• Mummy: An arabic word meaning “preservation by wax and bitumen”– Bitumen is a kind of resin, tar.

• The process of embalming a body in ancient Egypt was closely tied to their religion.– 70 day period for preparation of mummy.

– Each step in process was coordinated with religious ceremonies.

– The embalmers' shop might be a fixed place, as in the case of those connected with the larger temples.

• Or it could be a tent.

• Pharaohs had permanent mortuary temples built.

MUMMIFICATION PROCESS• Washing Body: Washing of body and removal of body parts

subject to extreme decay: inner organs except heart.– Body washed with solution of natron– Why remove organs? Organs contain lots of water (moisture).

• Moisture speeds up decay.– The body is placed on a narrow stand– Incision made in left side of body to remove organs.– The liver, the lungs, the stomach, and the intestines were each

placed in a separate jars. • called Canopic Jars. Each jar had image of a god on lid for

protection

MUMMIFICATION Process

• Brain: The brain is removed through the nostrils by various metal hooks.– Metal barb used to break bone in top of nose. – Metal hooks penetrate nose and proceed to mix

up brain like scrambled eggs.– Body is turned onto stomach and brain oozes

out of nostrils.

MUMMIFICATION Process

• The Body: The Body itself– Preservation of the body was done in a manner

somewhat similar to that of drying fish. – Natron, a salt solution was used to preserve body.

• Natron occurs in Egypt in a few places. • Small parcels of natron wrapped in linen were placed

inside the body. • The outside was covered with loose natron or

packages of linen-wrapped natron. • The natron absorbed all body moisture and turned the

skin like tanned leather, preserved.• Could take up to 70 days.

MUMMIFICATION• Bath: Post Natron Bath

– Natron packs removed, body given sponge bath.– Skin annointed with resins– Body cavity packed with wads of linen soaked in the same

material.– Now the body was ready to be bound into that bundle we

know as a mummy

MUMMIFICATION

• Wrapping: The Wrapping– Only linen was used in wrapping.– The arms and legs, sometimes

even the fingers and toes, were bandaged separately.

– Then some twenty or more layers of alternating shrouds and bandages were wrapped around the entire body.

• Between every few layers of linen a coating of resin was applied as a binding agent.

MUMMIFICATION

• Wrapping: The Wrapping (continued)– Proper wrapping of a mummy required several

hundred square yards of linen. – The shrouds were sheets six to nine feet square – The bandages--strips torn from other sheets were

from two to eight inches wide and three to twenty feet long.

– The linen used in wrapping mummies was for the most part, old household linen saved for this purpose.

• Often the linen is marked with the name of the former owner, faded from repeated washings. Occasionally bandages bear short religious texts written in ink.

MUMMIFICATION

• Wrapping:

MUMMIFICATION

• Wrapping:

MUMMIFICATION• Clean Up: Clean up and Tomb

Workers– Shop cleaned.– All tools, utensils used in process were

placed in jars for storage in tomb.– The artisans who were engaged

meanwhile in all the activities essential to proper burial might number in the hundreds.

– The construction and decoration of the tomb, if not already completed by the deceased during his lifetime, presented an enormous task.

– Woodworkers were constructing the coffin-or a series of coffins, each to fit within another - tailored to measure.

MUMMIFICATION• The Coffin making

– Artists were busy decorating the coffins

– The fine painting on the coffins was rarely done directly on the wood:

• but rather on a smooth plaster coating of whiting and glue over linen glued to the wood.

– The beautiful colors on many cases are pigments from minerals found in Egypt, often

covered with a clear varnish.

MUMMIFICATION

• Coffins:– The mummy was placed in

the brightly painted

wooden coffin. – Next the mummy and coffin

were placed in another wooden coffin. Like the first coffin, it is in the shape of the mummy but more simply decorated. The inside of the base is painted with a full-length

figure of a goddess

MUMMIFICATION

• Coffins:– The lid of the outer coffin

shows the face of the deceased

– Scarab beetle with wings hovers over the mummy.

– Below the scarab is a picture of the deceased worshipping a god

– 2 column inscription

MUMMIFICATION• Coffins:

– Finally the mummy and coffins were placed in a rectangular outermost coffin made primarily out of sycamore wood.

• Pharaohs received stone outer coffins or sarcophaci.

Posts: Religious texts on them

Anubis, Jackel god, patron of embalmers

MUMMIFICATION• Countless other helpers helped in constructing and

assembling the numerous articles to be deposited with the mummy when it was laid to rest in the tomb.

• An extremely important task during the seventy days of mummification was the preparation by priests or scribes of magical texts to be placed in the tomb. – Known as the 'Book of the Dead'

• Written on papyrus rolls varying in length from a few sheets to many sheets, some rolls approaching a length of one hundred feet.

• The chapters forming the Book of the Dead contained information necessary to the deceased in overcoming obstacles on his journey and in gaining admittance to the afterworld.

MUMMIFICATIONStep 7: Funeral Procession

-Elaborate funeral procession of priests, relatives, friends, servants, and professional mourners accompanied the mummy to the tomb.

-the mummy, in its magnificent coffin, was carried on a great sledge pulled by oxen

- In the procession were porters bearing gifts to be placed in the tomb such as: furniture, weapons, jewelry, food, linens – anything needed for next world.

MUMMIFICATION• Step 8: Opening of the Mouth Ceremony

– Final ceremony of burial process.– Through this ceremony the mummy was

thought to regain ability to move, to talk, and to eat.

– It was necessary that the priests perform this last rite which would restore to him the functions

of a living person.

MUMMIFICATION

• Step 9: The End of the Ceremony:– The mummy was then carried into the tomb and

sealed in the outer coffin or sarcophagus. – The Book of the Dead was placed near him,

mortuary gifts were piled about.– Priests in the guise of gods made sure no evil

spirits lurked in the tomb.

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• The entire civilization of Ancient Egypt was based on religion.

• Their belief in the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral practices. (resurrection).

• The Egyptians believed that death was simply a temporary interruption of life, not a finality.

• Eternal life could be ensured through the following of proper ritual: prep of body, burial, prayers.

• Each human consisted of the physical body, the 'ka', the 'ba' and a soul. To enjoy the afterlife, these elements had to be sustained and protected from harm.

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• When a person died:– the deceased appears before a panel of 14 judges to

make an accounting for his deeds during life. – Next, the jackal god Anubis who represents the

underworld and mummification leads the deceased before the scale.

– Anubis then weighs the heart of the deceased (left tray) against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice (right tray).

• Heart heavier than feather=evil deeds in life• Heart lighter than feather=righteous life.

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• When A Person Died:– If heart heavier, Ammit the god with the crocodile

head and hippopotamus legs will devour the heart, condemning the deceased to oblivion for eternity.

– If heart is lighter, the deceased is presented before Osiris to join the afterlife.

– Thoth, Ibis headed god records outcome.– Horus, falcon headed god, leads deceased to Osiris.– Osiris, god of underworld, sits on throne as a

mummy.– Osiris, Isis and Nephthys welcome person to afterlife.

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• Judgment

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• Judgment:

ThothAmmitAnubis Horus Osiris Isis

Religious Beliefs: Afterlife

• Another Painting of Judgement: