Pre-Dynastic Egyptians buried their dead in crouched positions with their tombs generously stocked with provisions for afterlife. The early Egyptians were very concerned about the ghosts of the newly dead which they believed continued to reside in the dead body till it decayed, and this explains the development of the art of embalming bodies into mummies to provide an abode for the Ka.
In early times trees were planted around burial grounds because the Egyptians believed that tree spirits, if properly petitioned, could make offerings of food and drink libations to the Ka (or ghost-double of the dead) on behalf of its living relations.
The dynastic Egyptians introduced the practice of building brick lined tombs in which the dead were laid on their backs, fully stretched out, and dressed up, decked in jewelry. The practice of secondary interment was observed by early historic Egyptians in which the bones of the dead were re-arranged in a heap, sometimes with dismemberment and decapitation. This was done as a ceremony of riddance to force the ghost to abandon the body permanently for the World of the Dead.
The act of dismemberment, in secondary interment, became very unpopular beginning from the Third dynasty in which kings and nobles began embalming and building stately tombs for themselves. This, of course, is evidence of a change in their afterlife belief. It appeared that the Old Kingdom Egyptians became convinced that the physical body was connected with the life of the ka in the after-world. Massive tombs began to be build and bodies mummified.
In ancient Egypt embalmers were licensed professionals. The elaborateness of the embalming service they provided depended on how much the client was willing to spend. The most elaborate method involved a process in which the brain was first extracted through the nostrils with surgical instruments and chemicals. An incision was then made in the trunk to allow the internal organs (liver, heart, intestines and lungs) removed. The body was then thoroughly cleansed and soaked in palm wine, and then perfumed. After the body had been thoroughly dried it was filled with myrrh and cassia and then sewn up. The body was then laid in niter for several days after which it was washed and wrapped in strips of bandages soaked with gum.
The body was then placed in a coffin with magic spells and charms all over it. The coffin was decorated with religious symbols of afterlife. For those who could not afford this elaborate and expensive process another process was adopted. Chemical substances were first injected into the body. The body was laid in niter for several days before the intestines were drawn out. In all cases the drawn out intestines were placed in jars and left in the tomb alongside the body at burial. On the lids of the jars were representations of the sons of Horus who were supposed to guard the contents of the jars.
When the body was ready, the funeral procession, consisting of all members of the deceased's family, with loud mourning and crying made its way to the west bank of the Nile where bodies were buried, with the mummy drawn along on a sled. At the cemetery the ceremony began with the chief mourner who recited a long prayer like a modern day priest with appropriate responses by the relatives. A very important job to be done at the ceremony was that of carefully providing detailed instructions to the deceased on how to reach the fields of Aalu, the Egyptian heaven. The deceased needed to know the correct magic formulae, and these were spoken into his ears, but perchance he forgets, the magic formulae were inscribed on his coffin and on the walls of his burial tomb. Later, papyrus scrolls with full instructions written were provided and laid in the coffin or better still under the rolls of the mummy's bandages.
The coffin was then lowered down the tomb chamber in which had been placed pictures of the deceased's personal effects and furniture, and then sealed. A funeral feast followed which could be very elaborate indeed.
The writer JohnThomas Didymus is the author of "Confessions of God:The Gospel According to St. JohnThomas Didymus" |
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