The ancient Egyptians believed that there were many gods of the dead. Osiris was the god of the underworld and prince of the dead. Isis was his wife. Anubis was the jackal-headed god of the embalmers. Horus was the god of the sky. Udiat, or the left eye of Horus, was the protector of the dead. Thoth was the Ibis-headed god of the scribes. Another symbol of Thoth was the baboon. A baboon was found by archaeologists mummified in a sitting position so that it could write with ease.

In ancient Egypt it was believed that a person had a ba or soul of that was a bird with a human head. It was also believed that a person had an invisible twin called the ka. The ba kept in touch with the friends and family of the dead and the ka went back and forth from the other world where the gods and goddesses of the dead lived. The ka traveled to the other world on a boat. Small boats were put in the tombs to provide transportation for the ka.

ba ka

Some boats had sails for going upstream and others had rowers for going downstream. If the ba and ka could not find and recognize the body, the person could not live forever. The body was mummified so that it could be recognized by the ba and ka. The ba and ka lived in the body of the person until death, and then they lived in the tomb with the body. When a pharaoh died he turned into a god.

In order to live forever a person had to be honest. Anubis weighed The heart against the feather of truth to see if the person was honest. If the heart weighed more than the feather of truth it meant that the person was dishonest.

If the person was dishonest his or her heart would be eaten by the devourer, a monster that was part alligator, part cheetah, and part lion. The person whose heart was eaten by the devourer would cease to exist and cease ever to have existed. The results were recorded by the ibis-headed god of the scribes, Thoth.

After the body had been mummified, the opening of the mouth ceremony was performed. This ceremony was thought to let the mummy hear, see, eat, and drink in the spirit world. A few days after the opening of the mouth ceremony, the body was put in a wooden coffin and taken to a temple near the tomb on a fake boat called a bier.

Professional mourners commonly were hired to cry and yell during the procession to the tomb. Sometimes they would throw dust and ash. When a pharaoh died hordes of mourners were hired.

Magic spells were often painted on the sarcophagus to protect the mummy from grave robbers and anything else that might harm it. All the different gods and goddesses of the dead were assigned to protect the different parts of the body. The mummy was put in four coffins: the inner coffin, the middle coffin, the outer coffin, and the sarcophagus.

Shabti (see How) were put in the wrappings, but only if the person could afford mummification. Farming tools were also put in the wrappings to be used by the mummy in the next world.

The ceremony took close to five days from the last of the embalming to the sealing of the tomb. After that, the final blessings were performed on the tomb and the mummy before sealing it forever.

How Mummies Were MadeFirst the brain was taken out. There were three different ways to extract the brain, used in different time periods that mummies were made:

•In the early times, the brain was taken out by sticking a hook up the nose until it grabbed the brain so that they could pull it out through the nostrils.

•Later, they would take one of the eyes out and pull the brain out by sticking a hook into the hole where the optic nerve connected to the brain.

•The last mummies made in Egypt had their brains extracted by poking a small hole in the scull in the back of the head.

After the brain was taken out, the lungs, stomach, liver and intestines were taken out through an incision in the left side of the body, embalmed, and put in canopic jars. To fill the empty space in the body, bags of natron and sweet-smelling spices were placed inside the body. Originally, the heart was left in because it was thought to be easier for Anubis to weigh the heart against a feather to see if the person had led and honest life. In later times, the heart was taken out, embalmed and replaced by a stone scarab amulet as a symbol of renewed life.

The hole where the internal organs were taken out was covered with an embossed golden panel that had a picture of the eye of Udjat, the magic eye of Horus, who protected the dead.

Then the body was covered with natron and put on a slanted table with a jar at the bottom, near the lower end, so that the water extracted could be collected. The natron also acted as a fat dissolver and a weak antiseptic. The body was dried out for forty days.

After forty days, the mummy was cleaned off with oils and brushes so that no water would get into the body.

In later times, the mummy had a layer of tree sap, or resin, put on it to help preserve it. To keep the skin soft and smooth, it was rubbed with gum, cedar oil, wax and natron.

Then the body was covered with jewelry and sacred necklaces. Before the mummy was put in the coffins and sarcophagus, it was wrapped with many layers of linen strips.

Small dolls that looked like the mummy, called shabtis, were put in the wrappings. They were supposed to work in the fields for the mummy in the next life.

Finally, the mummy was put in three coffins and the sarcophagus, which was already in the tomb.

The whole embalming process took seventy days.

Who

Who Was MummifiedPharaohs were always mummified because they would become gods when they died. People who had enough money would be mummified so that they could live forever. Poor people were mummified by being dumped in a tub of natron, a natural salt found in the banks of the river Nile.

Who

Who Was MummifiedCats were always mummified because they were considered sacred animals. Even if the cat's master was not mummified, the cat was. Crocodiles were often mummified as a sacrifice to all the gods. Falcons were mummified as a direct sacrifice to the god Horus.

Who Did It The head embalmer wore a jackal mask to symbolize that he was an embalmer like the jackal-headed god Anubis. The helpers were commonly the head embalmer's sons, who would take over when the head embalmer died.

Tombs

Pyramids

Pyramids were used for pharaohs, who were always mummified due to their great importance to society. The faces of pyramids were always pointed at a direct north, south, east or west.

Tombs

Pyramids

The largest pyramid was the great pyramid at Giza built for the pharaoh Khufu. It stood 480 feet high and covered as much space as 10 city blocks. In the first pyramids, the mummy was put in a burial chamber slightly underground.

Tombs

The great pyramid was originally going to have the burial chamber underground but then it was moved up, and then it was moved up again to its final position at mid-height in the pyramid.

Tombs

Other Tombs

Clothing, furniture, weapons and games were often put in the tomb with the mummy for its use in the afterlife. Tombs for people in the same family were often placed near each other so that family members could meet more easily in the afterlife.

Smaller tombs called mistabas were constructed for the important people in the pharaoh's court. These tombs often had a flat roof and slanted walls, and were made out of mud bricks. The mummy was lowered down an L-shaped burial shaft which was accessed by a hole in the roof of the tomb. A false door was put in the side of the tomb. This let the ka and ba get to the mummy.

Where

The first mummies were made accidentally by the dryness and heat of the sand that they were buried in. Bodies that were not put in contact with the sand were exposed to dampness and bacteria, so they decayed.

Where

The mummies that were made intentionally were placed in elaborate tombs. In later times, the tombs were always built on the west side of the river Nile and the cites were built on the east side. This was done because the land of the dead was believed to be to the west of Egypt where Ra, the sun god traveled at the end of the day.

Where

Mummies are mostly found in parts of the world that are very hot and dry or very cold. However mummies are also found in parts of America and the muddy bogs of England and Ireland.

Mummies have been found all over the world from 4000 B.C. to 1920 A.D.

King TutThe most famous of all the kings found in the Valley of the Kings was Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut. He died in mid-January, 1343 B.C. It is thought that he was murdered by an official because his skull was bashed in and only a person of great importance could get near enough to harm him.

He is so famous because his tomb was in almost perfect condition. His tomb had been robbed once very soon after he was put in, but everything lost was replaced as soon as possible.

King Tut

The mummy of King Tut was found in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. Lord Carnarvon was a rich man who owned the right to dig in the Valley of the Kings where Tutankhamun was found. Lord Carnarvon was letting Carter dig for a king named Tutankhamun who's name Carter had read on some stone walls. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon searched for five years for Tutankhamun in the valley of the kings yet they found nothing.

King Tut

Lord Carnarvon was giving up hope after five years, so Carter offered to pay for the workers, and Lord Carnarvon agreed to this. After four days of work under Carter's pay they found the steps leading to the entrance to the tomb. It took Lord Carnarvon two weeks to get from England to the valley of the kings. When Lord Carnarvon got to the scene they began futher excavation.

King Tut

The first room they came to was a fake and it had a hidden door that led to the main chamber. From the main chamber two rooms split off. There was a storage room and the burial chamber where the mummy was laid. Many people died of the so-called curse on King Tut's tomb but we now know that bacteria sealed in the tomb fed on the food in the tomb and killed the workers when it got in their lungs. Carter said later "As my eyes grew accustomed to the light I was struck dumb with amazement". A winged scarab beetle spells out the hieroglyphs " Neb, Kheperu and Re" which mean Tutankhamun.