Transcript egyptian factoids - Room 50 HIGH SCHOOL 5

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.
ba
ka
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.
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 Made
First 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 Mummified
Pharaohs 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 Mummified
Cats 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 Tut
The 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.