Ancient Egyptian mummies fascinated the world for centuries, especially after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The world's fascination with mummies started the day Howard Carter unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamun. The mummy had captured the imagination of historians throughout the world has led to a beginning endless quest to find answers and even mummies. Mummies, but not unique to ancient Egypt, were an important part of their culture. Death and the afterlife was an important aspect of their culture.
The ancient Egyptians had a god devoted to death, Anubis, the god of death, the surgeon and healers. It has been linked to the process of mummification. Previously, he was invoked while the Pharaoh is buried. The high priest donned the mask of Anubis while leading the mummification. This was done because of their belief that Anubis will direct them correctly during the process.
Therefore, their practice of embalming the dead stems from this fact. They were not satisfied with the simple funeral, it was necessary to precisely with all the rituals, more in the case of the Pharaohs. The process is long, about 70 days, and requires a lot of skill and complexity. All organs are removed, cleaned and dried, then put in pots "canopy", then buried with the mummy.
A mixture saline is used to dry the body and organs. Then the body is wrapped over and over again in long strips of linen. It has been done until every inch of the body, including the head and face was completely covered. In some cases, the mummies had a mask called "death mask" in case of damage to the actual header. Often the linen bandages were soaked in a kind of dye that has contributed to the preservation of the appearance of mummification.
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| Death mask |
Not just anyone could whip up a mummy at home, it should be done by an ordained priest who had been trained. Since the procedure was to perform certain rituals as well as the skill of a surgeon. Even so, not all temples had the power to make mummies, which were made Wabet, who was outside and away from the city. The ancient Egyptians had a long and detailed rites and rituals concerning the practice of mummification. After the mummy was created, it was placed in a tomb which was largely worked.
Sometimes wealthy people buried their dead relatives in a number of coffins, one inside the other. This results in excellent preservation of the body, including features such as was the case of Tutankhamun was placed in three coffins. We are therefore led to believe that the ancient Egyptians had a nearly perfect knowledge of human anatomy and chemistry as well. Other than that, we get an overview of the clothing habits that civilization, pottery, jewelry, etc., which were placed in the coffin beside the mummy in the belief that the deceased would need these items in the afterlife.
Ancient Egyptian Mummies pictures
