The Process of Mummification and Life After Death

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The Process of Mummification and Life After Death

Life After Death

In Ancient Egypt, all Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They spent

most of their lives preparing for the afterlife. The Pharaohs built

tombs so when they die, they can store their body and all of their

treasures. The majority of the tombs were filled with models,

drawings, sculptures and paintings. Egyptians carved his or her name

in the tomb to protect the dead in the afterlife.

Egyptians believed that they have to be judged by Osiris, the god of

the underworld. The dead sums up his or her life, during the ritual

identified as the weighing of the heart. If the Osiris thinks the

person has led a good life, he would let them go to the afterlife. The

priest reads a book called "Book of the Dead". The book is full of

spells and rituals to make sure that the deceased person passed the

test to go the afterlife.

The Process of Mummification

The whole process of mummification takes about 70 days to finish.

There are five steps to mummify a person. To complete the task several

embalmers work together. Embalmers are people who treat preservatives

in order to prevent decay. The head embalmer wears a jackal mask. He

represents Anubis, the god of mummification.

Before they can do anything, the embalmers have to remove every organ

inside the person's body except the heart. They left the heart in the

body because they believed that the heart was full of intelligence and

emotion. Once the organs were removed from the body, the embalmers

also mummified it and put in the jars. They placed the jars beside the

tomb at the time of the burial. To the Egyptians, they believed that

the brain was useless. They removed the brain by scooping it out

through the nose with a wire. Finally, they used sweet, oil-scented

linen to clean out the mouth.

Once the inside of the body was clean and emptied, they packed and

covered the body with natron.

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