Funerary Customs In Ancient Egypt

They created great rituals that would support their beliefs through mummification and the journey to the underworld. In time, the Egyptian way may not have lived on but it brought a history to refer to, and in this paper, I have explained to the best of my knowledge about the Ancient Egyptian way of preparing for a good afterlife, with the techniques of mummification and rituals taken part in the

Ancient Egyptian embalming was a very sacred process performed by experienced embalmers. Ancient Egyptians used to bury the deceased underground, but because of that they decayed faster in a coffin when they aren’t exposed to the hot sand of the desert. That is how they developed the process of embalming to preserve the bodies.

Egyptians would bury their dead with treasures like gold and other things that they believed that they could use in the afterlife. Egyptians also mummified the people so that they could preserve their bodies. Nowadays people just have a funeral or cremate the

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece both believed in life after death, though the process in which they follow that belief differ greatly. The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the spirit leaves the body in the form of a little gust of wind or a puff of breath. The Greeks believed in proper burial rights that were performed in three parts, and the relatives mostly women are the ones that conduct these rituals for the deceased. Much like the modern world these rituals consist of the first step; laying out the body to be dressed, the second funeral procession, and the third step was the cremation of the body. Unlike the Greeks the Egyptians developed a process in which they prepared and preserved the dead for the afterlife, known as mummification. This process is believed to have been the purpose of the Egyptians famous pyramids, believed to be the stairs that would lead the Pharaohs to their kingdom in the afterlife. Artifacts are buried in their tombs such as gold, wine, and sculptures to accompany the dead in life after death.

The Egyptians believed in an afterlife similar to the Romans. This was that the afterlife was just a continuation of the life on Earth. Both civilizations believed that there was more to be found beyond death. This is why they both cared so much about the way the dead person was buried. Unlike Rome, Egypt started to mummify people so they could be preserved. Although, mummification was not the only burial ritual. Bodies were also placed in coffins, much like the Romans. It was once believed that the Romans did not care about the outcome of a person once they died. This is entirely untrue because their funerary practices and ceremonies were well thought out and showed planing for the inevitable afterlife. This was shown through the exaggerated time the family spent on the funeral and how the ceremonies displayed thoughts of

Ancient Egyptian civilization was based on religion. Their belief in the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral practices. Death was simply a temporary interruption, rather than an end to life, and that eternal life could be ensured by means of worship to the gods, preservation of the physical form thru mummification, substantial ceremonies and detailed burial policies and procedures. Even though many today have varying views of an afterlife, many of the funerary practices that originated in Egypt can be seen in present day funeral services.

Regardless of social strata, death and the afterlife were almost always valued by the living in ancient Egypt. The afterlife was birthed and designed for great societal rulers but eventually trickled down and was adopted by other levels of society (Murnane in Obayashi, 1992, p. 42). Death was interpreted as “new life in another state” by ancient Egypt, and the ultimate goal of immortality could be attained if specific burial arrangements were made for the dead. This was to avoid a final death of the soul known as the “second death,” and measures such as burial with food, drink, and personal possessions, were taken to aid the soul on its journey into immortality (Murnane in Obayashi, 1992, p. 36).

The tombs had two main functions. The first function was a place that provided an eternal resting place in which the body could lay protected from thieves and scavengers. The second function of the tomb was a place where cults and ritual acts could be performed to ensure eternal life (Taylor, 2001:136). The body of the person was buried along with their belongings in the tomb to ensure the individual had all the proper materials needed for the afterlife. The Egyptians usually did this because “Tombs were constructed to mirror aspects of the afterlife” (Olson, 2009). These tombs were not only a place where bodies of a deceased lay; it was also a place where rituals would take place. One ritual that was done on the bodies was the ‘Opening of the Mouth’. This was a burial ritual that “accompanied the placement of funerary goods in a tomb- and was a necessary step in the deceased’s rebirth” (Olson, 2009). One very important service that had to be done was the mummification process in which the removal of organs

This photo essay demonstrates the value the ancient Egyptians placed in material goods and earthly possessions, even insisting on being buried with them to take to the afterlife. Many of the items Tutankhamen was buried with were things that might have been important to him in his life, and thus buried to be taken with him to the afterlife, however other items, such as the funerary barge and the ornate canopic jars, suggest that these elaborate items are connected to their belief of passage into the afterlife. If this is true, it emphasizes the point that treasures have emotional ties, the ancient Egyptians would have had an emotional connection to whether or not their pharaoh made a safe passage into the

Masks of deceased persons are part of traditions in many countries. The most important process of the funeral ceremony in ancient Egypt was the mummification of the body, which, after prayers and consecration, was put into a sarcophagus enameled and decorated with gold and gems. A special element of the rite was a sculpted mask, put on the face of the deceased. This mask was believed to strengthen the spirit of the mummy and guard the soul from evil spirits on its way to the afterworld.

The unique culture of ancient Egypt has attracted a great deal of attention in recent times due in no small part to the discovery of written documentation found entombed within the pyramids. Piecing together the elements of Egyptian myth, like reuniting the parts of Osiris’ scattered body, has proven an ambitious undertaking for scholars, historians and theologians alike. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is the best and most comprehensive volume of funerary texts available for present study. It is known to include and expound upon essential knowledge found in the Pyramid Texts, the “oldest epigraphic source of knowledge of the religion of dynastic Egypt”

Egyptians buried the dead in the ground and where there are little air and lots of heat and sand which dehydrated the bodies, resulting in the mummified body. During this process of natural decaying, the odor of this would smell and attract animals who would then eat the already decaying body. To prevent this, they created coffins, or boxes, to put the bodies in. Not only did they create coffins, but they also created tombs which they filled with items for the person to use when they reach the afterlife. However, they realized that these bodies were decaying as well. To preserve the bodies for the afterlife, the Egyptians created a process which included embalming, and wrapping the body in linens. This is known today as mummification.

For so long ancient Egyptians believed that it is critical to preserve a body of the dead in light of the facts that the spirits need to have a place where to abide after death. The preservation of a dead body was done through the process of mummification. Mummification is a process that included the expelling of internal organs and putting them in Canopic jars, then wrapping them in linen and mummifying them. It was believed to be very important for the soul to have the capacity to perceive the body so it can come back to it. Hence, the utilization of the death masks. Death masks were made in resemblance of the dead and from diverse materials. They were created using wood, in two different pieces that are associated with pegs. Following that,

The Egyptian Book of the Dead was used primarily from the establishment of the New Kingdom in 1550 BCE to 50 BCE. It consisted of the collection of texts and spells designed to assist the deceased in their journey to the next world. The book of the dead was part of a custom of memorial texts that consisted of the past Coffin Texts and the Pyramid Texts that were decorated on objects. Spells were drained from the past works and other Egyptian history courting to Third Intermediate Period (Budge, 2012:21).

In ancient Egypt the people often time used magic and medicine for the same things. The ancient Egyptians believed in spells or what we call magic and in medicine to solve their problems. The problems could have been something going on in their tribe or town or someone being sick. The Egyptians might chant out a magic spell that they believe works for certain situations and swallow medicine to help the same problem.