Mummification in ancient Egypt
Why was conservation so important?
According to the ancient Egyptian conception of the afterlife, the spirit of the dead wοuld travel to another world during the day and would return to his body at night. Maintaining the viability of the spirit was important and could only be achieved through this journey. The return to the body and the identification with it was indicative of the eternal preservation of the specific entity, while otherwise the body would be sentenced to death. For this reason the ancient Egyptians sought to preserve the body of the dead in such a way as to be as visually as possible a depiction of a living state. For this reason they developed the technique of mummification, which was a guarantee of eternal life for the spirit and which was integrated into their theological framework and preserved throughout the long historical course of ancient Egyptian civilization.
The seven steps to immortality
According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who recorded the stages of mummification, it was followed 7 stages, as recorded below: The body was washed well with wine and spices, while all the internal organs of the body that were to be decomposed were removed. First the brain was removed through the nose with the help of a long metal hook. A deep incision was made in the abdomen and the lungs, stomach, liver and intestines were removed.
They then filled the body with a bundle of strong drying salt called sodium. With the same material, they covered the body externally and placed it on a sloping sofa, in order to collect any liquids that would be removed from the body during its drying.
In a similar way, the parts of the body that had been removed were dried and then placed in small coffins after being wrapped in linen. These coffins were placed in a trunk divided into four parts. Each of these parts had a cap with the pharaoh's face. Alternatively, they placed them in the so-called canopic vessels, each of which bore the name of the sons of Horus.
After 40 days, the body was completely dry and shrunken and washed with oil and aromatic spices.
It was wrapped in linen with aromatic oil in such a way that it regained its shape before death. Then they groomed the mummified body with jewelry made of gold and precious stones.
They wrapped it in a savannah and tied it with strips of linen, until the mummy took on its original size.
The effect of these actions usually lasted about a week. Among the linen they placed magical objects that would protect the path of the mummy spirit to the other world. Let us not forget that the meaning of magic in ancient Egypt was different from the meaning given to it today and had a healing character.
After these actions, the mummy's head was sometimes covered with a portrait mask, so that it would be recognizable by the spirit during its daily return to it.
Finally, the mummified body was placed in a series of gilded wooden coffins and these in turn were gradually placed in the sarcophagus.