Pharaoh-Time Phun Phacts (how they made mummies, and why)

To the ancient Egyptians everyone was comprised of three parts: the physical body, the Ba (soul), and the Ka (what some might call the Astral Body, sort of a ghostlike phantom that grew up with one in life, and then after death, experienced the same needs one had known while living). All three parts were essential to the existence of any one of them, which is why Egyptians went to such elaborate lengths to preserve the bodies of their deceased and provide necessities for the Ka—to keep the soul from withering.

Upon the death of a relative, all the women of the house rushed into the street with disheveled hair, shouting lamentations. In this way their loss was made public. Then the body was sent to the embalmer. Three methods of embalming were commonly employed: cheap, moderate, and expensive. The most costly method involved 70 days and absorbed, perhaps, the total income of the year (unless the family was wealthy).

First, the vital organs and those body parts hardest to preserve were removed. This was strictly necessary, according to Egyptian ideas. Yet so dreadful did they regard any mutilation of the body, that the men who performed this task were hated and considered unclean. They were not allowed to mingle with other classes, nor could one rise out of his class. When they had done their work, they were stoned away from the house. Second, the body was put into a bath of chemicals to remain for many days. When it was finally removed, it was filled with linen and sweet smelling powders and made to look as lifelike as possible. Then it was wrapped in linen bands, the quality of the linen used depending upon the purse of the family.

Each separate limb of the corpse was dedicated to a particular divinity with holy oils, charms and chants. A specially prepared cloth was wrapped around each muscle (every drug and bandage owing its origin to some god or goddess). The confusion of sounds, of disguised figures, and of multiple perfumes had a stupefying effect on those who visited the chamber where this ritual work was performed. The whole embalming establishment and its neighborhood, in fact, must have been enveloped in a cloud of powerful resinous perfumes, sweet attar, lasting musk, and pungent spices.

Prayers and magical charms were said, scarabs and amulets enclosed, and finally the body (now a mummy) was placed in a coffin so constructed that it would stand upright, as though the deceased were standing erect. It was then taken home and lamentations were made for some days. These eventually rolled into festivals. Banquets were held in honor of the mummy, which was placed near the table and offered portions of food. Sometimes mummies were kept in the house for a long time and were worshipped along with the household gods. When at length the day for burial came, the family and friends accompanied the body across the Nile to the Necropolis. They took offerings with them, and all the way across the river, the women wept. That the exhibition of grief might be sufficient, wailing women were hired to increase the lamentations.

Because the sun disappears into the west every night, the Egyptians located their Land of the Blest, or Land of Osiris, in the west; and wherever possible placed their tombs facing that direction. All during the river ride the women cried: “To the West! To the West!” (giving an entirely different slant on our American pioneer slogan, “Go west, young man!”). Upon reaching the place of burial, the priest performed certain ceremonies. Then the mummy in its coffin (sarcophagus) and the jars containing the vital organs were sealed up in the chamber prepared to receive them. Compared to one’s earthly abode, which was temporary, the tomb was eternal. Hence the care that the ancient Egyptians lavished upon their final resting places.

There were three essential parts to the well-appointed Egyptian tomb: the chapel, a room used by the relatives to worship the deceased and bring him/her offerings; the sepulchral chamber, which contained the mummy; and the serdab, a secret cell where images of the deceased were sealed up for the Ka to look upon, since the features of the physical body were now changed by death. This secret chamber was connected to the chapel by a small aperture in order that the smoke from burning incense and the proffered prayers might be more easily experienced by the Ka. On the west wall of the tomb was the stela, or false door, upon which was engraved the name of the deceased, parentage, titles, and a record of the offerings made to his/her Ka.

A copy of the Book of the Dead was supplied for the deceased, because it contained a list of the dangers their soul would have to meet in journeying to the abode of Osiris. The topography of the future world was included, and all the invocations to be uttered at different stages of the progress were given. Only with a perfect knowledge of all these things could the soul hope to reach the Land of the Blest. Advice was given about meeting the forty-two judges of the western world, who would judge for forty-two sins. If one’s good deeds outweighed one’s shortcomings, the soul would remain forever with Osiris. Otherwise... “Oblivion, here I come!”