Egyptian Afterlife Revealed The Process of Embalming

Why did ancient Egyptians make mummies?

Mummification was an important part of ancient Egyptian culture and today we are going to learn why…

Life After Death Egyptians believed in life after death. They thought that life in the next world would be BETTER than life on Earth! Following a long journey, the dead would reach a place of peace & plenty.

But not all Egyptians were entitled to enjoy the afterlife… For centuries, it was believed only pharaohs and an elite few experienced an afterlife.

Why mummification? It was also believed that the pharaoh’s spirit needed a “body” to make the journey to the afterlife Without a “body” and if the pharaoh’s body decayed after death, his spirit would be forced to wander forever…

In other words… it was very important that a pharaoh’s spirit reached the next world… There, the pharaoh would continue to care for Egypt and its people.

To protect the pharaoh’s body, the Egyptians developed a process called embalming.

The Embalming Process The entire process took 70 days to complete. Several embalmers conducted the task in a special embalming shop. The chief embalmer wore a jackal mask to represent Anubis, the god of mummification.

Step 1: Embalmers removed the brain through the nose using a long hook.

The hook stirred up the brain until it was liquefied. Then embalmers would turn the body face down to allow the brain to ooze out the nostrils. The brain was then thrown out since Egyptians thought it was a useless organ!

Step 2: Next, moist body parts that would cause decay were removed. A deep incision was made in the left side of the abdomen to remove the internal organs : – lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines

Step 3 : The body was stuffed with bundles of strong drying salt called natron …

…the body was then completely covered with natron and placed on a slanted table so that fluids could drip out as the body was drying.

While the body dried, internal organs were also dried and preserved with natron. Why do you think they kept the internal organs?

Egyptians believed that ALL body parts would be reunited in the afterlife and the body would become whole AGAIN. Once dry, the organs were wrapped in strips of linen and put into containers called canopic jars. Canopic jars were usually stored in a chest that was later placed inside the tomb with the mummy.

Step 4 : After 40 days, the body was completely dried, the skin shrunken, wrinkled, and leathery. The bundles of natron were removed from the body cavity. The mummy was cleaned one more time and rubbed with sacred oils to soften the skin.

Step 5: The mummy’s head and body were packed with herbs, sawdust, and linen soaked in scented oil so that the body could regain the shape it had in life. Stones were placed under the eyelids to restore a lifelike appearance. Once this was done, the mummy could be covered with necklaces, rings and bracelets made of gold and gems.

Step 6: The entire body was then covered in and bound with strips of linen until the mummy had returned to its original size.

Step 7 : After it was wrapped, the head of the mummy was covered with a portrait mask. Why was it so important to cover the mummified pharaoh with this mask?

The mummy was covered with a portrait mask to make sure that the spirit would recognize it in the afterlife!

Step 8: The masked mummy was put into several wooden coffins and put into a sarcophagus.

The Pharoah was now ready for burial in a tomb.

Animals were also mummified.