In most mummifications a long hook is used and pulls the brain out through the nose. However in some cases a stiff wire with a hooked end would be inserted through the eye socket and swirled around to chop up the brain into pieces then it was scooped out with a long handled spoon. The brain would then usually be fed to the jackals that resided around the place of embalmment, which was called the “beautiful house”.
The body is now covered and stuffed with natron
After forty days the body is washed again with water from the Nile. Then it is covered with oils to help the skin stay elastic.
The dehydrated internal organs are wrapped in linen and returned to the body. The body is stuffed with dry materials such as sawdust, leaves and linen so that it looks lifelike. Often the mummy would be over filled with sawdust and it would explode.
Some times the embalmers made mistakes and a body was badly mummified. It would turn dark and brittle and limbs would drop off. If the person had a missing limb due to bad mummification or because they had previously had a limb missing wooden ones would be used as substitutes.
Finally the body is covered again with good-smelling oils. It is now ready to be wrapped in linen
In the past, when the internal organs were removed from a body they were placed in hollow canopic jars.
Over many years the embalming practices changed and embalmers began returning internal organs to bodies after the organs had been dried in natron. However, solid wood or stone canopic jars were still buried with the mummy to symbolically protect the internal organs.
Imsety the human-headed god looks after the liver
Hapi the baboon-headed god looks after the lungs
Duamutef the jackal-headed god looks after the stomach
Qebehsenuef the falcon-headed god looks after the intestines.
First the head and neck are wrapped with strips of fine linen. Then the fingers and the toes are individually wrapped.
The arms and legs are wrapped separately. Between the layers of wrapping, the embalmers place amulets to protect the body in its journey through the underworld.
This is the 'Isis knot' amulet which will protect the body.
This is the 'Plummet' amulet which will keep the person balanced in the next life.
A priest reads spells out loud while the mummy is being wrapped. These spells will help ward off evil spirits and help the deceased make the journey to the afterlife
The arms and legs are tied together. A papyrus scroll with spells from the Book of the Dead is placed between the wrapped hands.
A cloth is wrapped around the body and a picture of the god Osiris is painted on its surface
A board of painted wood is placed on top of the mummy before the mummy is lowered into its coffin. The first coffin is then put inside a second coffin.
The funeral is held for the deceased and his family mourns his death. It was common place for Egyptians to hire professional mourners to cry at the funeral. Where the Egyptians buried their dead they chanted this song.
O gods take this man into your house,
Let him hear just as you hear,
Let him see just as you see,
Let him stand just as you stand,
Let him take his seat just as you take your seats.
A ritual called the 'Opening of the Mouth' is performed, allowing the deceased to eat and drink again.
Finally, the body and its coffins are placed inside a large stone sarcophagus in the tomb. Furniture, clothing, valuable objects, food and drink are arranged in the tomb for the deceased.
Now his body is ready for its journey through the underworld. There his heart will be judged by his good deeds on earth.
Modern day uses of Mummies:
As a magic powder
King Charles the second used to rub him self all over with powdered mummy in order to inherit the mummies “ancient greatness”
Fuel
So many mummies were dug up in the 1800s that they became common and were used for train fueled and in the fire of the poorer citizens of Thebes.
As ornaments
For the Victorians a mummy’s hand on your mantle pieces was a symbol of Social wellbeing.
In witchcraft
William Shakespeare knew about it; “mummy is an ingredient in the Witches Brew in the play “Macbeth”.
Other forms of mummification include the Amazonian ritual in which they kept mummified shrunken heads of their slaughtered enemies, Alexander the Great the emperor of Macedonia was mummified in honey in a glass coffin. There have recently been lots of discoveries in which there are mummified bodies in ice or peat.
