Ancient Egypt. Life After Death and Mummies J. Gill June 2009

Ancient Egypt. Life After Death and Mummies J. Gill June 2009

What did the Egyptians believe would happen when they died? The Egyptians believed that when they died, they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved ready for the after life. Egyptians who were poor were buried in the sand whilst the rich ones were buried in a tomb.

Mummies Rich Egyptians were preserved properly. This process was called mummification. Mummification took 70 days.

How to create a mummy The body was washed with water from the Nile and taken to a place called per nefer where the mummies were made. The chief embalmer would make a cut on the left side of the abdomen and remove the internal organs. He would placed these in canopic jars.

Canopic jars

Imsety, the human headed God looked after the liver. Hapy, the baboon headed God looked after the lungs.

Duamutef, the jackal headed God looked after the stomach. Qebehsenuef , the falcon headed God looked after the lungs.

What happened next? The body was dried using salt and then filled with stuffing. It was then left for 40 days. The body was rubbed with oils and refilled with linen or sawdust. It was then wrapped in linen bandages.

Burial Chamber After the mummy was completed it was placed in a sarcophagus (coffin) which was decorated with pictures of Gods and spells. It was then placed in a burial chamber with the canopic jars and many different items for the journey to the after life such as food, games and furniture.

Inside the burial chamber The walls of the tombs were decorated with paintings and spells. Here are some examples of the wall art.