What Are The Mummies Of Ancient Culture

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

The two cultures that I decided to compare and contrast is the Mexican culture and ancient Egyptians. Mexicans have embraced death as a part of life. The Mayan and Aztecs practiced human sacrifices which gave and example of acceptance of death. In Mexico when a loved one passed on to a better life the viewing traditional takes place at the family’s home. A catholic priest comes to the family’s home and leads a mass in honor of the recently departed. The coffin in placed on a table along with candles on the side. After the funeral the family members get together and pray for nine days to guide the deceased into haven and ask forgiveness for their sins.On the other hand Egyptians were buried in pyramids directly in the ground. Often bodies were

The Egyptians also worried very much about the after life and made many preparations before the afterlife. There graves were very important to them, and they also did much to keep them from decaying after they passed. That is why they had the idea of mummification to allow them to not decay long after they passed. We also pay a lot of money to allow us to keep from decaying on our burials and the coffins.

Ancient Egyptians believed that if they lived a good life that they would be allowed to live in a paradise in death. When an Egyptian would die, they would be mummified. Properly burying and preserving the body was very important because they believed that the soul would not actually disconnect from the body. Organs deemed important were put in jars and buried with the body. The heart was left inside the body. Once the body was cured in preserving solutions, it was then wrapped in linen cloths. Rich individuals were buried in temples with their most prized possessions. A priest would pray to Anubis for the dead to help them on their journey.

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.

Poorer citizens were not buried with a coffin and outer sarcophagi where as wealthier citizens were. Citizens of higher strata were also buried with precious stones and gold. Thus, the socioeconomic structures of specific groups can be analyzed and broken down as to who was a peasant and who was deemed of higher social strata by examining the way ancient Egyptians practiced burial.

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

Burial in the Jewish nation most commonly occurred in a family tomb, usually a cave located outside the city proper, and therefore away from where people lived. In the Old Testament, the euphemism for death, “slept with his fathers,” references the familial tomb (eg. 1 Kings 2:10; 1 Kings 11:43; 2 Kings 15:7,22,38; 2 Chr. 26:2,23).

Even though they believed in an afterlife, the thought of it was not pleasant. The people of Mesopotamia lived very difficult lives and when one was deceased it was more of a reminder of how hard life was. “Likewise, the dead could rise up and torment the living if not given a proper burial, so the bodies of enemies were buried in a manner such as to prevent this from happening.” (4) Unlike where we burry the deceased today, some of the Mesopotamian children were found buried in various places such as under the floors in houses and even in cooking

Scientists, philosophers, and the general population have attempted to answer what happens after death and what

In ancient Egypt much like today the more money or power or influence you had the grander your burial. people with more money had grander sarcophaguses or caskets as they are known today. There burial place was also a status symbol many not smooch today but within western culture and also other cultures rich influence family had tombs were they could lay to rest all the dependents of the family Egypt had large pyramids that served as tombs. Though our tombs were not booby trapped like the Egyptian pyramids.

culture. They dressed themselves after the Egyptian Rulers, built large tombs, and were buried with

The reason why Egyptians took too much care of their dead is the belief that they put a faith in after life as an important step to living well in the afterlife. Therefore the decoration, material of construction and the technique became vital for them. Already by the end of the Ptolemaic Period burials were no longer being equipped with many types of object which had been made for the tomb for over one and a half thousand years such as canopic jars. Objects of daily use were not common in the Late and Ptolemaic Period of Egypt, but became a popular for burial again under Roman rule .Much research has been applied on the development of single types of the objects placed in Roman tombs such as the mummy portraits, because, they were influenced by Roman art as a result of roman interaction.

Mankind’s history of burial practices and funeral customs are as old as civilization itself. There is no specific way to planning a funeral. Every civilization and culture has provided for their dead in different ways. Religion and personal beliefs play an important role in the burial practices and funeral customs of a given culture or civilization. Furthermore, each civilization and cultured ever studied have three things in common: some type of funeral rites, rituals, and ceremonies; A sacred place for the dead; and memorialization of the dead. As far back as the time of Christ, burials have been noted to take place. In time burial and funeral customs have become very distinct, interesting and