Mummies & Mummification

The Journey Into the Afterlife

The Ancient Egyptians imagined that there existed an underworld below earth, which they called the Duat. Parts of it were filled with peril, like poisonous snakes, lakes of fire, demons and godly executioners. Spells to counteract these dangers were often written on coffins. These inscriptions, along with a map of the underworld known as the Prt m Hrw, The Book of the Coming Forth By Day (also known as the 'Book of the Dead') served to guide the deceased through the Duat. This book was an ancient "passport" through all the dangers lurking in the Duat. If you could recite the correct spells, you could pas through this treacherous land unharmed. The ultimate danger in the Duat was to fail the test set forth in the Hall of Double Ma'at. This is where the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of Ma'at. The Goddess Ma'at from the Tomb of Seti I The ab (heart) of the deceased bore the record of all the past deeds of that person. It was placed on the scales and the forty-two assessor gods, one for each district in Egypt, some of whom can be seen in the various papyri, interrogate the dead man, accusing him of various crimes, which he of course denies.If he ahs told the truth, the Ibis-headed Djehuti (Thoth) writes that the deceased is "True of Voice" and then they can go on. The punishment for failing the test is that the heart of the deceased is thrown to the Goddess Ammit, who eats the heart and it would be as if the deceased had never been. The Book of the Dead helped the deceased as much as possible to pass the test and appease the heart for past deeds done during life. Once the test was passed, they could then proceed to the Fields of Wasir and reach a land that was very much like Egypt itself.

References Used:                                    Brier, Bob"Egyptian Mummies" David, A. Rosalie "The Egyptian Kingdoms" Hart, George "Ancient Egypt" Steedman, Scott "Pocket Ancient Egypt"

The Ancient Egyptians loved their lives so much that they wanted it to continue on forever. They dreaded the thought that one day their world would cease to exist. From their belief in the power of magic they developed a funerary cult which ensured their survival forever in the afterworld.

To achieve this, they believed that a person's body needed to be preserved or mummified. The mummy was then buried with elaborate rites and a book of magical "spells" to help the deceased along their journey through the treacherous world of the Duat.

The earliest surviving Egyptian mummies date from around 3200 BC, this is about 100 years before Egypt became a unified country. Bodies were buried in the desert sand and preserved naturally. This happened quite probably by accident. It is likely that the discovery that the hot sand acted as a natural preservative inspired the Ancient Egyptians to fully develop the art and practice of mummification in later times.

The mummification process traditionally took seventy days. Special priests worked as embalmers, treating and wrapping the body in linen. Beyond knowing the correct rituals and prayers to be performed at various stages, these specialized or Setem priests also needed to have a detailed knowledge of the human anatomy.