Why Did the Egyptians Make Mummies?
Because the ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death, they reasoned that a person would need his body with him. They therefore developed a method of preserving, or embalming, bodies to make mummies. Ancient books describe the complete embalming process, which took 70 days. First, the embalmer made a small incis
They had to maintain their identities into the next realm, the next life….Egyptians didn’t have the kind of dualism that is known from other ancient cultures, that is known in a large part of the modern Western world – where the spiritual things are the good things and the physical things are the bad things. Egyptians had no such problem living a life in the physical world and having bodies and enjoying themselves. So in the next world they wanted their lives, as much as possible, the way it was here – or the way it should’ve been here, the ideal, so you take your body, too. Where was the next realm – where did they believe it was? Heaven, they called it the sky. It goes back to the very ancient belief of the Egyptians that the dead would go and join the stars around the North Pole; the circumpolar stars never set. Egypt is still far enough north that the stars around the North Star don’t set. So they thought they just kept going up there and living there forever and ever. Then it be
The Egyptians believed in life after death. They believed that they had to perserve their bodies so they could use them in the afterlife. What is the afterlife? The Egyptians believed that when they died, they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. They would need all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved. Egyptians who were poor were buried in the sand whilst the rich ones were buried in a tomb. What was the name of the process the Egyptians used to preserve their bodies? It was called mummification. How were mummies made? It took a very long time, from start to finish, it took about 70 days to embalm a body. The priest in charge would wear the mask of a jackal representing the god Anubis. 1. The body was washed and purified. 2. Organs were removed. Only the heart remained. 3. The body was filled with stuffing.
