Ancient Egyptian culture flourished between 6000 BC with the development of new crafts and arts (evidenced by ceramics) and 30 BC with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. One of the most prominent aspects of ancient Egyptian culture was the mysterious process of mummification. With the belief in life after death, the Egyptians developed advanced methods and technologies to preserve mummies for many centuries. If you are looking to learn more about ancient Egyptian culture and the mummification process on an Egypt tour, follow Nadova Travel to find out in this article!
Ancient Egyptian Culture
Ancient Egyptian culture is one of the oldest and most famous civilizations in the world. This civilization developed along the Nile River basin, which provided water and fertile land for agriculture. Favorable natural conditions helped the ancient Egyptians develop a unique culture. Religious life
For the ancient Egyptians, the universe consisted of two sides – fertility and barrenness, life and death, order and chaos – kept in balance by the goddess Maat. To maintain this balance, they built huge temples dedicated to the gods.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the world was ruled by a number of gods, each of whom oversaw a specific area of life. The major gods of ancient Egypt included: Ra: God of the Sun – the supreme god of ancient Egypt; Osiris: God of rebirth and the underworld; Isis: Goddess of magic and fertility; Horus: God of the sky, war and hunting. The ancient Egyptians also believed in the existence of a soul, called a “ba”. The “ba” was a part of a person that did not remain with the body but flew away after death.
To put their souls at rest, the ancient Egyptians practiced many religious rituals, including mummification and the construction of pyramids. The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians have left a great legacy for humanity. Stories about the gods and spirits of ancient Egypt have been pᴀssed down through the centuries and still influence the culture and art of many civilizations, attracting large numbers of Egyptian tourists from all over the world.
Hieroglyphics
The Egyptians were one of the first cultures to invent writing, with the earliest inscriptions dating back some 5,200 years. They used symbols called hieroglyphs to represent sounds, words and ideas, meaning “sacred writing”. There are over seven hundred hieroglyphs, and the ancient Egyptians called their writing medu-netjer, meaning “speech of the gods” because they believed the god Thoth had invented writing.
Hieroglyphs could convey complex information, and they could be read from right to left, left to right or top to bottom. The invention of writing was a major turning point in human history. It allows people to store and communicate information more effectively, contributing to the development of civilization. That is why exploring Egypt is always the dream of many “believers” who love the beauty of history and culture.
Did you know that the English word “paper” comes from the Egyptian word “papyrus”? The Egyptians invented papyrus, a paper made from the papyrus plant. First, the outer part of the plant was removed, then the soft inner part was cut into strips, layered, and pounded together. Once the papyrus sheets were dry, they could be written on with pigments made from plants and minerals.
Papyrus was just one of the technological advances of ancient Egyptian culture. The Egyptians were also responsible for the development of ramps, levers and geometry for construction purposes, advances in mathematics and astronomy (also used in construction as illustrated by the location of the pyramids and certain temples, such as Abu Simbel), improvements in irrigation and agriculture (probably learned from the Mesopotamians), shipbuilding and aerodynamics (possibly introduced by the Phoenicians), the wheel (brought to Egypt by the Hyksos) and medicine.
The Afterlife and Mummification
The ancient Egyptians believed that after people died in this world, they would continue to live in another world. The body was preserved or protected through mummification, a very long and expensive process that not everyone could afford. The mummy was wrapped and placed in a coffin and buried in a tomb or grave. Special spells and instructions were often written in hieroglyphics on the coffin and in the tomb to protect and ward off evil, including protective charms, similar to lucky charms, which were sometimes wrapped with the mummy.
In addition, the Egyptians painted eyes on the outside of the coffins so that the mummies could see the sunrise each day. They believed that, just as the sun was reborn each morning, so too were humans reborn in the afterlife. Everyday objects, such as food containers, slippers, games, and even razors, were placed with the deceased for use in the afterlife. In addition, the shabti box – a box containing shabti figurines – was also buried with the deceased in ancient Egyptian culture. These shabti figurines acted as servants to serve the deceased in the afterlife.
Sometimes objects are depicted in art, but for the Egyptians, these paintings can still be used (or eaten or drunk) in the next world. Let’s follow Nadova Travel to discover the ancient Egyptian mummification ritual that any Egyptian tourist is curious about right now!
Ancient Egyptian mummification ritual
Embalming has been practiced in Egypt for 3,000 years. The embalmer is a priest wearing an Anubis mask. Anubis is the jackal-headed god of death, and he is closely ᴀssociated with embalming, so the priests would wear an Anubis mask when performing the embalming ritual. Over time, the embalming techniques have changed and evolved, and the final product has become far superior to previous eras. Simply put, the ancient Egyptians were better at embalming.
The Origin of Embalming
During the Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613–2181 BC), mummification became a standard practice in the treatment of the deceased, and mortuary rituals developed around death and mummification. These rituals and their symbolism were largely derived from the cult of Osiris, who had become a prominent deity. Osiris and his sister Isis were the mythical first rulers of Egypt, given land soon after the world was created.
They ruled a peaceful and tranquil kingdom, teaching the people the arts of agriculture, civilization, and giving men and women equal rights to live in balance and harmony. However, Osiris’ younger brother Seth became jealous of his brother’s power and success and murdered him. First by sealing her brother in a coffin and dumping him in the Nile, then by cutting his body into pieces and scattering them across Egypt. Isis retrieved Osiris’s parts, reᴀssembled them, and then with the help of her sister Nephthys brought Osiris back to life.
Having been resurrected, Osiris became lord and judge of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. This myth became so widespread that it permeated the culture, ᴀssimilating earlier gods and myths to create a central belief in the afterlife and the possibility of resurrection. Osiris was often depicted as a mummified king and was often shown with green or black skin symbolizing both death and resurrection.
Egyptologist Margaret Bunson writes: The cult of Osiris began to influence funerary rituals and the ideal of death as a “gateway to eternity.” This god, after ᴀssuming the cultural and ritual powers of other gods in the cemetery or burial grounds, brought salvation, resurrection, and eternal happiness to humans.
However, eternal life could only occur if a person’s body remained intact. A person’s name, their idenтιтy, represented their immortal soul, and this idenтιтy was tied to a person’s physical form. The priests of Osiris were taught that the human body was sacred and could not be abandoned to the wild beasts of the desert, because the body gave birth to the radiant shell and the rebirth of the pure soul.
The process of mummification
In prehistoric times, attempts were made to preserve the body by drying it or applying a prepared resin, and over the centuries this crude process developed into the elaborate art of mummification, with its dark but artistic rituals. By the Middle Kingdom, as can be seen in the tomb of Beni Hᴀssan, it was common practice to remove the internal organs and place them in a four-compartment box with the names of the four gods representing each organ.
The art of mummification reached its peak in the XXI Dynasty, during which time the process was extremely expensive, costing around £700. The process of mummification went like this:
Step 1: The embalmer inserts a hook through a hole near the nose and pulls out a portion of the brain
Step 2: Makes an incision on the left side of the body near the abdomen
Step 3: Removes all internal organs
Step 4: Allows the organs to dry
Step 5: Places the lungs, intestines, stomach, and liver in a canopic jar
Step 6: Returns the heart to the body
Step 7: Cleans the inside of the body with wine and spices
Step 8: Covers the deceased body with natron (salt) for 70 days
Step 9: After 40 days, stuffs the body with linen or sand to make it more human-like
Step 10: After 70 days, wraps the body from head to toe in bandages
Step 11: Places it in a coffin (a box that resembles a coffin)
If the person was a Pharaoh, they would be placed in a special burial chamber with a lot of treasure. Members of the nobility and officials often received similar treatment, and sometimes even common people. However, the process was very expensive, beyond the means of many.
For religious reasons, some animals were also mummified. The sacred bulls of the early dynasties had their own cemetery in Sakkara. Baboons, cats, birds and crocodiles, which had great religious significance, were sometimes mummified, especially in the later dynasties.
Egypt, with its great ruins shrouded in silence and mystery, has long attracted the curiosity of tourists on Egypt tours. Because the traditions of its advanced civilization, its religion, government and culture… still linger in the memory of humanity. There, in the temples, pyramids, castles, cities, people have searched for and excavated evidence proving the existence of that ancient kingdom.
