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The Egypt mummification
interfered when the deceased person was a great personality,
an important leader or pharaoh. The mummification in the
ancient Egypt it was a very long and very expansive process.
From beginning to the end, there were about 70 days
necessary to embalm a dead body.
Taking into consideration
that the Egyptians considered the mummification as
representing a very special step in the after death life,
the bridge between life and the after life, they were buried
or mummified as much sumptuous as they could afford it.
The
pharaohs, which were thought to become gods after death, had
the biggest and the sumptuous mummification ceremony.
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The Egyptian art of the embalming
contains several steps: the first step was the religious
wash and purification of the dead body. In the second step
the internal organs have to be removed. In the left side of
the body it was made a short incision of about 10 cm through
which the intestines, the stomach, the liver and the pleura
were taking out. Each
of the organs was dried in natron, to discourage in this way
the bacteria.
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After this, the organs were individually wrapped in
some long strips of sheet and then put in separated
vessels (each of the four vessels representing the
four sons of Horus. The organs were arranged as it
follows: the intestines were put in the Qebehsenuef
vessel, with the eagle head; the stomach was put in
the Duamutef vessel, with golden wolf head; the
pleura were put in the Hapy vessel, with baboon
head; and the liver was put in the Imsety vessel,
with human head. The cavity was filled with natron
(a salt that found from abundance on the Nile` s
shores) and the brain was taking out from the brain
pan through the nose with two long sticks.
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The Egyptians used to break the bone
between the nose and the cranium and to introduce there the
two sticks. They were agitating the brain inside till it
became a liquid that poured outside through the nose cavity.
Being not very important, the brain was threw away. After
this step, the dead body was put on an embalming table were
it was totally covered with natron.
This step was lasting 40 days. After
that, the body was cleaned of natron, the body cavity was
filled with different herbals or with sheet, and the body
was totally oiled with special oils (pal wine, holy oil),
which had anti-bacteria properties. After this step was made
the mummy was wrapped in few meters long textile strips.
These strips were glued with pine resins, fir resins or bees
wax. Every mummy had its smell. In the same time, the
joiners were working to one or more sarcophaguses. Usually,
they were making more and then the best one was chosen, the
one who fit the best. After the sarcophaguses were finished,
the decorators were entering the scene. The fine paint that
can be seen on sarcophaguses was rarely made right on wood.
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