The pyramids, temples and Egyptian tombs are imbued with a mystical essence that seemed to penetrate every circle them. A similar atmosphere is present in the ancient Mummies that above all things, infused with the deepest respect and admiration for the ancient Egyptian culture to be face to face with one of his immortal pharaohs.

Mummification History

Embalming was not an intentional process invented by the ancient Egyptians, it was simply the result of the evolution of a practice that goes back far beyond what is usually tend to think. The Predynastic period is where the first signs of what later in the dynastic era became an artificial process of preservation of the body.

Before the first pharaoh reigned in Egypt the custom of burying the dead was carried out and from there is that one can say that the Egyptian religion began its long journey over thousands of years of history, in fact, religion may of the ancient inhabitants of the Nile was thus born.

It is believed that the way we started the process of mummification is because of the dead were buried in the desert in a pit large enough for the body would fit together with some of their belongings. Such burials are not the result of imagination or a mere assumption Egyptologists of them, such burials have been found in the Nile valley showing the precocity of funerary cult at the dawn of the people in Egypt.

At that moment the way of life in Egypt was in tribes and impressively, although it apparently already was expressing a theory of its inhabitants about life after death so that the custom of these burials prospered.

The grand master of the post embalmers was the desert itself, the body buried in the sand fetal form, ie, lie on your side with your knees almost glued to his chest, was perfectly preserved by a natural process of dehydration was subjected body under the desert sand. All liquids were absorbed into the sand leaving the body without the opportunity to be invaded by bacteria that break down animal tissues.

Body subjected to a natural process of dehydration buried in the desert during the Dynastic Period Primitivo

Are believed to be buried at shallow depths, the bodies were unearthed by scavengers. The ancient Egyptians could then see the appearance of a stuffed body and tried to reproduce this voluntary appearance in later times. The first experiments that the Egyptians failed. They saw that those buried were kept well but did not know the process and elements operating in the tissues for storage. They began by wrapping the dead in linen but noted that even so the body decayed, and all that remained of this were the bones.

Then they found that the action of sweltering heat and the sand on the body was what determined the final preservation. Although not properly used the sand to try to preserve the bodies used in place of a solid substance that was in Egypt with great ease, was the natron, similar to salt. Gradually the Egyptians experiments were satisfactory and prepared for the world beyond. By the time that was achieved, the Egyptian religion was already well developed as mummification and religion are intermingled with one another to an almost inseparable.

Mummification and religion

The ancient Egyptians believed that every person was composed of several parts and at the time of death was that they were separating. These parts are first the physical body, the second of these is the Ka that is just the spiritual double of the person and the last is the personality of the deceased which was called Ba. When the body died three parties were separated but the Ka and Ba were depending on the body. When the Ka and Ba acknowledged the mummy of the deceased, were re-unite and conveying the Akh, the essence of eternal life.

The preservation of the body of the deceased was essential for the Akh might exist and whether the Ba and Ka could not find the body of the dead in good condition to recognize and bind, eternal life simply was not possible and the deceased did not happen to another world .

Mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II of Dynasty XIX.

This belief probably stemmed from the myth of Osiris. It says that the beginning of time, Osiris and Isis were the kings of Egypt. Seth to see his brother Osiris was the king became jealous. Then conspired to kill him his brother. To this end he designed a box that Osiris could fit into a banquet and urged his brother to prove whether it was possible. If I entered the enclosure perfectly belong to him. Deceived Osiris got into the box and this was sealed with lead and Osiris died.

The box was thrown into the Nile and much later was found by his wife Isis in one of his relentless search. She found that her dead husband went there. Seth Isis found the box when he slept and took in cutting it. Its parts were scattered over Egypt and Isis and Nephthys, her sister and wife of Osiris, again began the search for the body of her husband. In each place where they found a piece of Osiris erected a temple. Once all parts were found were to be coupled. To do this, all his pieces were attached with linen and thus the body of Osiris was mummified.

To revive Osiris, his wife Isis, the goddess of life and magic, along with Anubis performed some rituals that will restore life to the dead pharaoh. Thus, Osiris was animated and become the lord of the world beyond and god of the dead. However, there was the body of Osiris which came to life but through the process of mummification, the Ka and Ba were found and the Akh was created.

Another of the icons between mummification and religion, was the anthropomorphic god Anubis. This is represented most often as a jackal-headed man. Other times he only represented as a jackal.

Representation of the jackal god of mummification, Anubis.

As mentioned above, during the dynastic period the dead were buried in pits in the sand. It is believed that animals like the jackal used to dig up the dead for food. Egyptians probably witnessed the act and noted that the dead were in perfect condition on and associated with the jackal with that process.

Additionally, also Anubis embalming takes this authority to be present in the myth of Osiris. When they found the shattered parts of Osiris, was through magical processes to mummify the king returned to a full body. Based on these facts is that the jackal is become the god Anubis and is blamed for artificial mummification process and thereafter as the iconography became principal of preparing the body for eternal life. When the embalmers worked on the deceased to make a mummy, at least one of them was masked with a jackal-headed god Anubis to represent during the sacred process of mummification.

Life for every Egyptian was one cycle in the material world the sun arose in the morning and evening died, the Nile was a time of low flow and a flood. In the same way a man should be in harmony with nature and should participate in that cycle. When someone died there must be something more after death, otherwise the cycle was interrupted. The way to always have this cosmic harmony was that if after a certain time of inanimation-death-had a resuscitation-life-and the cycle was smooth and complete. That is why a man should live after death in the afterlife where Egypt was the same in a completely idealized paradise.

On the other hand, the sarcophagi were buried mummies varied by the preparation period. The main changes were in the shapes and decorations of the coffins. For example, during the Middle Kingdom coffins are accustomed to doing quite rectangular. On the inside of the coffin, to the left side of the head, painted eyes of Horus and the deceased there was hovering outside. Under this decoration is painted a false door to the spirit of the dead could leave their house, the coffin, to the rest of the tomb. The back door was also used by the deceased to go out and feed on the supplies that their families or priests left in the tomb.

The so-called back door was not only placed in the sarcophagus, was also carved on the walls of the tombs. The back door is not really a door for anyone to pass. This was simply carved on the stone and was used as the wear between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Through this door was that the deceased came to your first reaching beyond the realm of Osiris to live eternal life.

Moreover, during the New Kingdom coffins of the dead were beautifully decorated. Many times even the mummies were provided with faces masked idealized. The expressions on their faces are pretty standard because, according to Egyptian belief, at least to the Pharaohs, the signs of aging were not, were gods to be forever young forever all monarchs being almost the same physically. Most of the time were provided with false beards were mere identification of the deceased with the god of the dead and the underworld, Osiris.

As that Egypt was invaded by foreigners Pharaonic culture lost its original force. During the Saite period and the mummies were embalmed as previously accustomed to them, in fact, they were not embalmed. The dead were dressed as mummies, not even their internal organs were removed from the body. The canopic jars however, were still used but only in a symbolic way.

During the Greco-Roman era, for example, the god Anubis like other gods, was transformed pictorially. It became a combination of ancient Egyptian art and classical Greek art.

Even the usual funerary masks were no longer used. Instead, during the Greco-Roman mummies were painted on the first realistic portrayals of the whole story. One example is the mummy of Artemidorus where the outside of his sarcophagus is decorated with images of gods like Anubis and Horus. On these grounds, is painted the face of Artemidorus in the Roman style where even the dead man wearing a laurel wreath. It was thought then that the spirit of the mummy would readily recognize the body that was inhabited. Other times, like the mummy of a child, was painted in full body-size.

Roman mummy mask Egyptian decorations.