Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Burial



By Emelia Suljic


Burial

When most people think of mummies, they think of Halloween! Or at least dead Egyptian people that have been wrapped in white linen. But, by definition, mummy really means a dead body that has been somehow preserved. The first mummies were preserved by accident when buried in the desert. People saw that the bodies had not decayed and that is when they started to think they needed to keep their form for the afterlife. They thought the gods were trying to tell them this. Then they started to preserve the bodies with a special process called mummification. First, they removed the intestines through a small slit on the left side of their body. The only organ they left in is the heart because they needed it in the afterlife. They saved all organs, except the brain, in canopic jars which were buried near them. They used a long brass hook that that they inserted through nose to mash the brain and tug it out. They did not put the brain in a conopic jar because they did not know the brain’s purpose, and thought it was useless. They rubbed oils and essence on the body.

Next they put the body on a rock slab and buried it in a type of salt called natron. This dried out the body and helped preserve it. It sat like this for about 40 days. After the 40 days, they used papyrus (Egyptian paper) to stuff the body so it would keep its form and then they sewed up the incision. They also stuffed wax up the nose to keep the head’s form.

They rubbed oils and essence on the body again. They wrapped the body in many layers of fine white linen. As they wrapped the body, the priests, dressed as a jackal-headed god, sang prayers and “cast magical spells” to protect the body in the afterlife. On the linen covering the head, artists painted the face of the dead person. They put the body in a fitted rock sarcoughigus and put another fitted gold sarcoughigus over that. On the head of the gold sarcoughigus, the artists painted the face once more. This ensured the gods who came to “pick up” the dead person’s soul, would recognized who it was. They put another giant rock tomb over the gold sarcoughigus. Then the pharaoh was buried in the pyramid.

On the walls of the tomb and on the funeral equipment, the priests wrote magical spells, called the Book of the Dead. This was to protect them on their journey to the afterlife. Artists painted scenes of Egyptian life that would make the pharaoh feel at home. They also made rock sculptures of the pharaoh’s favorite servants everywhere.

The Pharaoh was buried with many items, because they believed in an afterlife. The Egyptians believed he needed those items in the afterlife to remain a pharaoh. After the family chose the items and the burial was over, no one, not even the priests, were allowed in the tomb or near the precious items again. Archeologists believe this to be true because we know every pyramid was secured by several guards. Priests delivered food to the pharaoh’s soul, but were only allowed in the mortuary temple, positioned on the outside of the pyramid.

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