Ancient Egyptian Funerary Practices

The beliefs, values and attitudes of Ancient Egyptian society is depicted through the effects of their social hierarchy on their funerary practices. Ancient Egyptians were very religious, believing in many gods and goddess. Of course their religion had a major impact on their burials and funerary rituals that were performed during this period. The processes of these funerary practices were affected by change between the old kingdom and the new kingdom, yet some continuity in practices. Overall the culture of ancient Egypt was based on their religion, balance and the continuation of life on earth in the afterlife through their funerary Practices.

The culture of the ancient Egyptians was based on the hierarchy constructed by their attitudes,

Egyptians began with mummification, which was a process of drying the deceased over a period of 70 days. The process was conducted by priests who first removed the liver, lungs, stomach and the intestines which would then be stored in canopic jars. Among the other organs removed was the brain however the heart was left, so that Anubis; god of mummification, could weigh the heart for its worthiness. Over the next couple of days, the body was washed, stuffed, oiled and finally wrapped in linen cloth. The best quality of mummification was so expensive, that it was often only used for those of wealth such as the pharaohs, royal family and the rich whereas the poor would usually be left in the desert to be dried then buried in a shallow grave. After the process of mummification, funeral processions would display their status to partakers. The deceased relatives stood at either end of the coffin and the roles of Isis and Nephthys who were known as the goddess of mourning whom were acted by two females being priest or relatives. The canopic jars would then be placed beside the coffin along with other burial equipment. The equipment included, amulets and papyri which were often used to insure safety, food such as beer and bread, furniture, written spells and many other things that were needed in the afterlife. It was clear the Egyptians saw that who they were on earth would be who they were in the afterlife depicting they saw life and death the same. The procession continued with dancers, mourners, musicians and priests then the ceremony was taken across the Nile to the burial site. The funerary rites would take place next which was mainly known as the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony where the sense of the corpus would be restored for use in the afterlife. source … corubrates with this, stating Spell 23 from the book of the dead that was written on the inside of