(ACDSEH033)
The significant beliefs, values and practices of the ancient Egyptians, with a particular emphasis on ONE of the following areas: everyday life, warfare, or death and funerary customs.
Investigating significant beliefs associated with death and funerary customs (for example belief in an afterlife) and practices (for example burial in tombs and techniques of mummification).
The significant beliefs, values and practices of the ancient Egyptians, with a particular emphasis on ONE of the following areas: everyday life, warfare, or death and funerary customs.
Investigating significant beliefs associated with death and funerary customs (for example belief in an afterlife) and practices (for example burial in tombs and techniques of mummification).
Ancient Egyptians had to be prepared for their journey to the afterlife. Their bodies went through a lot of preparation. Rituals were performed on their bodies and they were supplied with the necessary provisions and protections for the afterlife. Their bodies were preserved through mummification, a process of removing vital organs performing charms and spells.
Death and funerary customs
Religion played a major role in the life and death of ancient Egyptians. Death was seen as the start of a different sort of existence in the afterlife, but only for those who were worthy.
To be worthy you had to live a good life. You also had to observe a number of rituals like:
-preserving the body after death
-performing the proper rituals
-ensuring that the dead person had access to what he or she would need in the afterlife (and put these in the tomb with the dead person)
To be worthy you had to live a good life. You also had to observe a number of rituals like:
-preserving the body after death
-performing the proper rituals
-ensuring that the dead person had access to what he or she would need in the afterlife (and put these in the tomb with the dead person)
Preparing the Mummy
Priests would lay out the Pharaoh's body on a long, narrow table in a tent called the "beautiful house". A priest wearing a mask of Anubis (the jackal headed god of embalming) drew a line down the flank of the corpse and a man came in, cut the incision and was chased out with curses, for it was forbidden to injure an Egyptian.
The priest removes the internal organs, putting back the precious heart and filling the cavity with bags of natron (a mixture of salt, sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate) and sweet-smelling gums. The body and the organs were covered with natron and left on a sloping table for 40 days until they were completely dry.
Canopic Jars
These jars contain the lungs, liver, stomach and intestines of the Pharaohs. The heart was left inside in the body and the brain was taken out through the nose. As long as the body was preserved, the ka and ba would live. This is why it was thought to be so important to be properly mummified and laid in a tomb where offerings of food could be made which would nourish the ka. Four minor gods called the Sons of Horus decorated the canopic jars.
Imsety, the human headed god, looked after the liver.
Hapy, the ape-headed god, looked after the lungs.
Duamutef, the jackal-headed god, looked after the stomach.
Qebehsenuef, the hawk headed god, looked after the intestines.
Imsety, the human headed god, looked after the liver.
Hapy, the ape-headed god, looked after the lungs.
Duamutef, the jackal-headed god, looked after the stomach.
Qebehsenuef, the hawk headed god, looked after the intestines.
The priest would sew up the incision, rub the body with cedar oil and fill the eye sockets with onions or white painted stones. Finally, they would put in stuffing of spices and linen to replace the internal organs of the body, and begin to wrap it.
Wrapping the body
The body was wrapped with up to 150 meters of linen, sometimes old sheets, or special cloths given by the temple, once an old sail torn up. About 100 amulets (protective charms) were placed inside the bandages to strengthen different parts of the body. The most important were the hear scarab which meant rebirth, the djed pillar for strength and the eye of Horus for restoring health.
Finally, the mummy was painted with resin, a mask was put over its face and it was put into a coffin painted with the person's portrait so that its ka would recognize it in the afterlife.
Judgement Time
Once in the tomb, it was believed that the akh began its journey to the hall of judgment. There it was judged against a list of 42 crimes. The god Anubis held the scales; the person's heart in one pan, in the other the feather of Ma'at, Goddess of Justice. The more crimes the person admits to, the heavier their heart becomes. If it became heavier than the scales, then the Gobbler, a monster made of lion, crocodile and hippo, swallowed it and it became an evil spirit, forever fighting with the gods. If it passed the test it went with Osiris to live in the fields of Yalu, like Egypt oven even more beautiful.
Oxford Big Ideas: Australian Curriculum
by Maggy Saldias, Tony Taylor and Carmel Young
Published by Oxford University Press (2011)
by Maggy Saldias, Tony Taylor and Carmel Young
Published by Oxford University Press (2011)