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"Eternal Houses"
To secure the process of resurrection and immortality, it was necessary to prepare a safe cemetery, which the Egyptians called several names, most notably "Bar en Jet", "Hat Int Nah" and "Hat Int Jat", all of which mean "eternity houses", constructed of bricks or stone, which is a phrase About a house or dwelling for the deceased, consisting of a burial chamber, in addition to funerary chapels or a temple for kings to perform rituals, in a symbolic separation between the world of the living from the world of the dead.And if spacious mud-brick tombs were built in the cemeteries of Abydos and Saqqara, in the fourth millennium BC, the dimensions of the funerary buildings changed since the third millennium BC with the emergence of the pyramids, all the way to the famous tombs of the Valley of the Kings and the temples of the modern state.Throughout the eras of the kings of the modern state, with the exception of King Amenhotep IV "Akhenaten", who prepared for himself a royal cemetery in the Amarna area, all kings were buried in the western mainland of the city of Thebes, the city of "Amon-Ra", the god of the ruling family. The cemetery and the place of funeral rites, after King Thutmose I of the 18th dynasty inaugurated the excavation of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, to the west of Deir el-Bahari.The decorations were engraved on the walls of the tombs of kings of different ages. On the pillars of the chambers, the ancient Egyptian depicted the deities receiving the king, holding his hand and accompanying him to this divine other world. Many royal funeral literature were also engraved on the walls and ceilings of these eternal homes.The site of the workers’ village in Deir el-Medina, on the western bank of the city of Thebes (Luxor), which was founded by King Thutmose I, and expansions were made during the era of King Thutmose III and the Ramesside kings, presents a group of very important documents on the lives of workers in the construction and decoration of the tombs of kings excavated in the rocks of the Valley Kings, as it provided infinite information about the organization of work and daily life, to these literate craftsmen.Mummification Secrets
The presence of “natural” mummies, due to the environmental conditions, the dry soil of Egypt, the development of religious thought, perceptions of the other world, the doctrine of resurrection and immortality, created an opportunity for the Egyptians that prompted them to think about the possibility of preserving the body from decomposition, to preserve the material and moral components of the human being, so that the soul inhabits it once again as one of the components of the resurrection and immortality.
Attempts by the ancient Egyptians to learn about mummification began at the end of the Second Dynasty, the First and Second Dynasties, or at the beginning of the Third Dynasty, according to the division of ancient Egypt’s eras. Mummification methods during historical periods passed through different stages of development and complexity, until they reached the peak of their progress by the era of the modern state.The ancient Egyptians did not leave a text that talks about the steps of the method followed by the embalmers in performing the task, and despite all the studies that were conducted on human or animal mummies, mummification remains a secret of ancient Egypt.
The practice of mummification secures for the deceased the preservation of the body, and guarantees him the possibility of reaching a new life. The Greek historian Herodotus provides a description of the process that is summarized in the extraction of the brain and then the viscera, to remove the degradable organs, except for the heart, and finally the process of drying, then washing and wrapping tapes impregnated with essential oils.
The heart “Eb” was left in the body in its place connected to its arteries because it is the source of human thoughts, feelings and emotions and will play a role, according to the ancient Egyptian belief, during the trial of the deceased, for the continuation of life, either the deceased will take him to the paradise of bliss, the fields of “Yarrow”, if They vomited, or were preyed upon by a mythical creature with the head of a crocodile "Amemet" if it was evil.
Studies confirm that drying the body was one of the main steps of the mummification process, either through sunlight, or through heating at a certain temperature, or the use of materials such as salt, lime, natron, resin, beeswax, henna, onions, palm veins, and others.
Mummification was limited to kings and dignitaries, and the process was carried out on the western bank of the Nile near the tombs in a temporary tent called the "Idol tent."
And the Egyptian scientist Ramadan Abdo says, in his study “The Civilization of Ancient Egypt from the Earliest Times to the End of the Era of the National Dynasties,” that mummification can be divided into three ways: The body and the opening of the body is sewn, which is treated with natron, then washed and wrapped in linen with the use of glue for fixation.
The second method was limited to injecting the body with cedar oil through the anus, then it was treated with natron. As for the third, an enema was used to clean the bowels, then the body was treated with natron.
The custom of mummification, which continued after the entry of Christianity into Egypt until the Roman era, included placing masks on the faces to preserve the features of the deceased, while wrapping all or some of the body’s parts.
It seems that the extraction of viscera was not a condition of mummification. In the tomb of King Mentuhotep Nebhepetre, the Eleventh Dynasty, and the tombs of women from the royal family near the Deir el-Bahari temple in Luxor, bodies without entrails were found.
The French scientist, Francois Dumas, says in his study "The Pharaonic Egyptian Civilization", that this relentless endeavor to preserve the physical stature of man, whatever the cost, also explains the countless number of statues made by ancient Egypt.
He adds: "(Ancient Egypt) did not leave a single hard stone but tried to sculpt it, so that the alternative of the body could resist time, and it did not leave a form that it did not create to protect it as much as possible from annihilation."
Throughout the eras of the kings of the modern state, with the exception of King Amenhotep IV "Akhenaten", who prepared for himself a royal cemetery in the Amarna area, all kings were buried in the western mainland of the city of Thebes, the city of "Amon-Ra", the god of the ruling family. The cemetery and the place of funeral rites, after King Thutmose I of the 18th dynasty inaugurated the excavation of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, to the west of Deir el-Bahari.
The decorations were engraved on the walls of the tombs of kings of different ages. On the pillars of the chambers, the ancient Egyptian depicted the deities receiving the king, holding his hand and accompanying him to this divine other world. Many royal funeral literature were also engraved on the walls and ceilings of these eternal homes.
The site of the workers’ village in Deir el-Medina, on the western bank of the city of Thebes (Luxor), which was founded by King Thutmose I, and expansions were made during the era of King Thutmose III and the Ramesside kings, presents a group of very important documents on the lives of workers in the construction and decoration of the tombs of kings excavated in the rocks of the Valley Kings, as it provided infinite information about the organization of work and daily life, to these literate craftsmen.
Mummification Secrets
The presence of “natural” mummies, due to the environmental conditions, the dry soil of Egypt, the development of religious thought, perceptions of the other world, the doctrine of resurrection and immortality, created an opportunity for the Egyptians that prompted them to think about the possibility of preserving the body from decomposition, to preserve the material and moral components of the human being, so that the soul inhabits it once again as one of the components of the resurrection and immortality.
Attempts by the ancient Egyptians to learn about mummification began at the end of the Second Dynasty, the First and Second Dynasties, or at the beginning of the Third Dynasty, according to the division of ancient Egypt’s eras. Mummification methods during historical periods passed through different stages of development and complexity, until they reached the peak of their progress by the era of the modern state.
The ancient Egyptians did not leave a text that talks about the steps of the method followed by the embalmers in performing the task, and despite all the studies that were conducted on human or animal mummies, mummification remains a secret of ancient Egypt.
The practice of mummification secures for the deceased the preservation of the body, and guarantees him the possibility of reaching a new life. The Greek historian Herodotus provides a description of the process that is summarized in the extraction of the brain and then the viscera, to remove the degradable organs, except for the heart, and finally the process of drying, then washing and wrapping tapes impregnated with essential oils.
The heart “Eb” was left in the body in its place connected to its arteries because it is the source of human thoughts, feelings and emotions and will play a role, according to the ancient Egyptian belief, during the trial of the deceased, for the continuation of life, either the deceased will take him to the paradise of bliss, the fields of “Yarrow”, if They vomited, or were preyed upon by a mythical creature with the head of a crocodile "Amemet" if it was evil.
Studies confirm that drying the body was one of the main steps of the mummification process, either through sunlight, or through heating at a certain temperature, or the use of materials such as salt, lime, natron, resin, beeswax, henna, onions, palm veins, and others.
Mummification was limited to kings and dignitaries, and the process was carried out on the western bank of the Nile near the tombs in a temporary tent called the "Idol tent."
And the Egyptian scientist Ramadan Abdo says, in his study “The Civilization of Ancient Egypt from the Earliest Times to the End of the Era of the National Dynasties,” that mummification can be divided into three ways: The body and the opening of the body is sewn, which is treated with natron, then washed and wrapped in linen with the use of glue for fixation.
The second method was limited to injecting the body with cedar oil through the anus, then it was treated with natron. As for the third, an enema was used to clean the bowels, then the body was treated with natron.
The custom of mummification, which continued after the entry of Christianity into Egypt until the Roman era, included placing masks on the faces to preserve the features of the deceased, while wrapping all or some of the body’s parts.
It seems that the extraction of viscera was not a condition of mummification. In the tomb of King Mentuhotep Nebhepetre, the Eleventh Dynasty, and the tombs of women from the royal family near the Deir el-Bahari temple in Luxor, bodies without entrails were found.
The French scientist, Francois Dumas, says in his study "The Pharaonic Egyptian Civilization", that this relentless endeavor to preserve the physical stature of man, whatever the cost, also explains the countless number of statues made by ancient Egypt.
He adds: "(Ancient Egypt) did not leave a single hard stone but tried to sculpt it, so that the alternative of the body could resist time, and it did not leave a form that it did not create to protect it as much as possible from annihilation."
