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Unusual mummification in ancient Egypt

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, forced different nations to put objects of everyday life, weapons, intentionally to spoil ("kill") these weapons. All this was done with the idea that things will serve their master at a new stage of 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 in order that they all could exist for eternity, bodily mummification was used. In ancient Egypt, however, during the long history 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 bodies in shallow pits in hot sand. Those quickly dried up, which for a long time was not subject to decomposition processes. Mummification in Ancient Egypt was appreciated and received its spread already in the era of the New Kingdom. Initially, she was subjected exclusively to aristocrats and kings. Later, cheaper ways were developed for the poor.

The process of mummification in ancient Egypt

With the beginning of the New Kingdom era, when a high-ranking nobleman was dying, the priests read special prayers over the body, trying to bring him back to life in this way. Then the body was sent to a special workshop, where the mummification ceremony began. In ancient Egypt, there was a whole caste of specially trained embalmers who gently extracted internal organs from the body and placed them in special vessels with lids for storage. After that, the body was coated with a 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 ribbon covers lay masters amulets and precious stones. The final stage of mummification was the imposition of a mask on the deceased's head by the chief embalmer. After that, the body was submerged in a sarcophagus.

Other variants of mummification

The process described above was applied to the highest and most affluent segments of the population. As already noted, over time, mummification was used by all ancient Egyptians. A cheaper option was to pour a special tube of cedar oil into the body of the deceased. A few days later, the oil literally decomposed the dead man's body before the skin came off. A few days later, oil was released, and the resulting mummy was buried in the ground. The poorest inhabitants of the state, who could not afford even cedar oil, used instead of it radish juice. It took up to seventy days, but otherwise the process was identical.

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