It was very important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method of artificial preservation, called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days.
The Egyptians believed in life after death. They believed that they had to preserve their bodies so they could use them in the afterlife.
The process of mummification had two stages. First the embalming of the body and then the wrapping and burial of the body.
It took a very long time, from start to finish, it took about 70 days to embalm a body. The priest in charge would wear the mask of a jackal representing the god Anubis.
- The body was washed and purified.
- Organs were removed. Only the heart remained.
- The body was filled with stuffing.
- The body was dried by covering it with a substance called natron. This substance absorbed all the moisture from the body.
- After 40 - 50 days the stuffing was removed and replaced with linen or sawdust.
- The body was wrapped in strands of linen and covered in a sheet called a shroud.
- The body was placed in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus.
No comments:
Post a Comment