Why egyptians mummified bodies

While this may seem contradictory, for Egyptians, it made perfect sense: They believed that life would continue after death and that they would still need their physical bodies. Thus, preserving bodies in as lifelike a way as possible was the goal of mummification, and essential to the continuation of life.

The Egyptians believed that the mummified body housed one's soul or spirit. If the body was destroyed, the spirit could be lost and not make its entrance into the afterlife. This is also why tomb preparation was a crucial ritual in Egyptian society.

Though the practice of mummification began in Egypt around B. These attitudes slowly shifted around B. A study on the materials used during the mummification procedure in ancient Egypt revealed that the process took 70 days. During this time, priests worked as embalmers and performed rituals and prayers in addition to treating and wrapping the body. The general steps involved in the mummification process are as follows: First, internal body parts that could decay, such as the brain, are removed.

The next step involved removing all the moisture from the body by covering the body with natron , a type of salt that acted as a preservative and drying agent. Wrapping up the corpse was the last step in the procedure and involved more than a hundred yards of linen, smeared over with gum.

If the person had been a Pharaoh, he would be placed inside his special burial chamber with lots of treasure! Embalming tips. Egyptian Pottery Jar. As part of the funeral, priests performed special religious rites at the tomb's entrance. The most important part of the ceremony was called the "Opening of the Mouth. By touching the instrument to the mouth, the dead person could now speak and eat.

He was now ready for his journey to the Afterlife. The mummy was placed in his coffin, or coffins, in the burial chamber and the entrance sealed up. Such elaborate burial practices might suggest that the Egyptians were preoccupied with thoughts of death. On the contrary, they began early to make plans for their death because of their great love of life.

They could think of no life better than the present, and they wanted to be sure it would continue after death. But why preserve the body? The Egyptians believed that the mummified body was the home for this soul or spirit. If the body was destroyed, the spirit might be lost. The idea of "spirit" was complex involving really three spirits: the ka, ba, and akh.

The ka, a "double" of the person, would remain in the tomb and needed the offerings and objects there. The ba, or "soul", was free to fly out of the tomb and return to it. And it was the akh, perhaps translated as "spirit", which had to travel through the Underworld to the Final Judgment and entrance to the Afterlife. To the Egyptian, all three were essential. After death, the pharaohs of Egypt usually were mummified and buried in elaborate tombs.

Members of the nobility and officials also often received the same treatment, and occasionally, common people. However, the process was an expensive one, beyond the means of many. For religious reasons, some animals were also mummified. The sacred bulls from the early dynasties had their own cemetery at Sakkara.

Baboons, cats, birds, and crocodiles, which also had great religious significance, were sometimes mummified, especially in the later dynasties. Ancient writers, modern scientists, and the mummies themselves all help us better understand the Egyptian mummification process and the culture in which it existed. Much of what we know about the actual process is based on the writings of early historians such as Herodotus who carefully recorded the process during his travels to Egypt around BCE.

In ancient Egypt, mummies were preserved bodies for the return of the soul so that the dead could have a smooth afterlife experience. The idea came to ancient Egyptians when they saw dead bodies naturally preserved in hot sand. Thus, mummifying became the way to deal with death. Bitumen is a black tarry substance that was mistakenly believed to have been used for mummification. When an Egyptian died, the dead body was transferred to the embalmers on the west bank of Nile.

The West was where the sun would set and the supposed home of the dead. How exactly did the process go? The best source describing the Egyptian mummification process is the historical writings of Herodotus. He was a Greek historian who adored Egypt and wrote the year-old processes he witnessed in the fifth century B. Based on his writings, not all people were mummified the same way since the costs differed.

The perfect way was the day process. Watch it now, on Wondrium. The ideal mummification process took 80 days. Next, the brain was drawn out through the nostrils by a long needle. Then the interior of the body was cleansed, and the incision was sewed.