To Keep it From Rotting Away: A body was preserved by embalming. After the internal organs were removed, the corpse was washed, dried out with natural salts, and then coated with oils and resins. Finally, it was wrapped in many layers of tight linen bandages. The whole process took 70 days.
The internal organs were removed through an incision cut in the abdomen. The brain was drawn out with a hook passed through the nose.
Cuts made in the flesh were covered with plates like this one. It bears a sacred symbol, the Eye of Horus, to protect the body.
Canopic Jars: Intestines, lungs, stomach, and liver were mummified seperately and put in four canopic jars. The lids depicted gods, who stopped evil forces using the organs in spells against the dead.
The heads of the canopic jars represented the Four Sons of Horus: Hapi (a babboon) guarded the lungs. Duamutef (a jackal or wild dog) guarded the stomach. Imseti (a human) guarded the liver. Qebehsenuef (a falcon) Guarded the intestines.
To stop decay, a body must be thoroughly dried out. The Egyptians did this with crystals of natron, a natural salt found by the desert lakes. The proceedure took 40 days.
Before wrapping, the dried body was stuffed with linen and sawdust to restore shape. Sunken cheeks might be padded out and artificial eyes put in.
A mummy could be wrapped in more than 20 layers of bandages. As each one was added, it was brushed with oils and resins.
The preparation of a mummy was a painstaking process, dictated by established ritual and carried out by specialists. Bandaging involved yards of linen wrapped strips. Each finger and toe, and arm and leg were covered seperately. Special care was taken to preserve the features of the face. The whole was covered with a shroud secured by more strips of linen. Finally, a mask with features of the deceased was laid over the head and shoulders. The mummy was then placed in a coffin, which is typical of the Twenty-first Dynasty, about 1000 B.C.
Opening the Mouth: During mummification there were constant prayers and rituals. The most important was the Opening of the Mouth, held just before burial. It was meant to restore the mummie's senses.
A priest wearing the mask of Anubis holds the coffin upright. Behind the grieving wife and daughter, priests scatter purified water and touch the mouth of the mummy case with ritual insruments. The eldest son burns incense and a spell is recited.
Anubis: The god Anubis was supposed to be responsible for the ritual of embalming. His titles included "He who is in the place of embalming."
Mummy Labels: Small wooden tags attached to mummies identified the body and gave protection. Since embalming was done by special priests, they made sure body parts were not mixed up by tying labels to the mummies.
Everlasting Bodies The Final Stage in the enbalming process was to put the body into its coffin. For a rich person, this could be an elaborate container made of several differant richly decorated layers. The body would then be well preserved and, as far as the Egyptians were concerned, would last forever. They thought that after a persons physical death a number of elements lived on. The most important was the persons Ka, which they thought of as the body's double and which could bring the corpse back to life. Another spirit that survived was the person's Ba, which had the head of the deceased and the body of a hawk. The Egyptians also thought that a person's shadow as well as his name had an eternal existence. The process of mummification was intended to make an everlasting body out of a corpse and to provide the Ka with a home in the afterlife. The superbly preserved bodies that have been found in Egyptian tombs show how successful the embalmers were.
To Keep it From Rotting Away: A body was preserved by embalming. After the internal organs were removed, the corpse was washed, dried out with natural salts, and then coated with oils and resins. Finally, it was wrapped in many layers of tight linen bandages. The whole process took 70 days.
