Mummification in Ancient Egypt was the most important ritual in the process of burial of the deceased. For representatives of this civilization, death was seen as a transition to another, better life in the afterlife. In general, this is typical of most fairly developed religions. Belief in a different, afterlife life forced different nations to put household items, weapons in their graves, and intentionally spoil (“kill”) these weapons. All this was done with the idea that things will serve their master at a new stage in his existence. Mummification in ancient Egypt pursued the same goals.
The origins of the rite in Egyptian civilization
It was believed that each person has three souls - ba, ah and ka. And so that they could all exist forever, bodily mummification was used. In ancient Egypt, however, over the long history of the development of civilization, a variety of options have been tried to preserve the bodies of the dead. So, in the pre-dynastic era of Upper Egypt, local residents buried their bodies in shallow pits in hot sand. They quickly dried out, which is why for a long time they were not subject to decomposition processes. Mummification in Ancient Egypt was appreciated and gained its spread already in the era of the New Kingdom. Initially, only aristocrats and kings were subjected to it. Cheaper ways for the poor were later invented.
The process of mummification in ancient Egypt
With the beginning of the New Kingdom, when a high-ranking nobleman was dying, the priests recited special prayers over the body, trying to bring it back to life in this way. Then the body went to a special workshop, where the rite of mummification began. In ancient Egypt there was a whole caste of specially trained embalmers who carefully removed the internal organs from the body and put them in special vessels with lids for storage. After this, the body was wrapped with special salt, which quickly dried it. A few days later, the dried internal cavity of the body was filled with sawdust, flax and resin. The body was wrapped in specially prepared tapes. Between the layers of tape cover, the craftsmen laid amulets and precious stones. The final stage of mummification was the laying of a mask on the head of the deceased by the main embalmer. After which the body was immersed in the sarcophagus.
Other mummification options
The process described above was applied to the highest and most affluent sections of the population. As already noted, over time, mummification began to be used by all the ancient Egyptians. A cheaper option was to pour cedar oil into a deceased body using a special tube. A few days later, the oil literally decomposed the inside of the deceased before the skin came off. A few days later, the oil was released, and the resulting mummy was buried in the ground. The poorest residents of the state, who could not even afford cedar oil, used radish juice instead. It took up to seventy days, but otherwise the process was identical.