Encyclopedia of African History

(Note: Sample material is taken from uncorrected proofs. Changes may be made prior to publication.)

Egypt, Ancient: Funeral Practices and Mummification

The continued existence of the body on earth formed an important part of the ancient Egyptian view of the necessities for the afterlife, and seems to have been the dead person's link with earth. From this conception stemmed the requirement that the body be preserved from corruption and disintegration, which led to the development of the elaborate practices of mummification.

Early bodies, buried in the sand, often experienced natural mummification. After the introduction of burial chambers around 3200 BCE, artificial preservation was attempted by wrapping bodies in linen bandages, and sometimes additionally with plaster. This was supplemented during the Old Kingdom by the use of a mixture of salts known as natron, as well as the removal of the internal organs. The use of plaster was abandoned before the Middle Kingdom, a standard technique being developed for the highest status individuals by the New Kingdom. This began with the removal of the brain, lungs and abdominal viscera (the latter two elements for separate preservation in "canopic" jars and chests); the body was then completely covered in natron for up to seventy days. Once fully desiccated, it was entirely wrapped in linen, and equipped with a mask that fitted over the head; this would be placed inside the coffin. In some cases, the remains were enclosed in a rectangular sarcophagus of wood or stone, and placed in the burial chamber, along with the possessions of the deceased.

The designs of these mortuary containers changed considerably over time. The earliest coffins were rectangular, and very short, to reflect the early placement of the body in a fetal position. The coffins lengthened during the Old Kingdom, and gained a pair of eyes on one side; these were to allow the body, which lay on its left side, to "see" out. During the Middle Kingdom, mummy-shaped ("anthropoid") coffins began to develop out of the masks which some mummies then wore. By the early New Kingdom, these had all but replaced the old rectangular type; they were usually of wood, or occasionally, stone.

The detail and decoration of these items display a constant evolution. The color schemes of the coffins, in particular, show changes over time. Likewise, the four canopic jars initially had human-headed stoppers, but by the middle of the New Kingdom switched to depictions of different creatures' heads for each of the deities regarded as protecting the contained organs: Imseti--human (liver); Hapy--ape (lungs); Duamutef--dog (stomach); Qebehsenuef--falcon (intestines). These deities, along with the embalmer-god, Anubis, and the goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selqet, are also frequently found depicted upon coffins and sarcophagi.

The tomb ideally comprised two elements, the below-ground closed burial chamber (the substructure), and an above-ground offering place (the superstructure). The offering place might simply be the ground above the grave, an area in front of a simple stela, or a large freestanding or rock-cut complex; this could be either above the burial place, or some distance away. At the superstructure, the family, friends or priests left foodstuffs, or communed with the departed on feast days (similar tomb visits, with family picnics, continue in Egypt today).

The forms of the elements of the tomb-complex varied considerably with time and place, but at all times the fundamental concepts remained constant: the burial apartment(s) centered on the corpse itself, and the chapel centered on a "false door," the interface between the two worlds, through which the spirit could emerge.

Superstructure decoration usually focused on the earthly life of the deceased, including the individual's preferred recreation activities. In contrast, in the fairly rare cases where it was actually adorned, the substructure concentrated on such compositions as the Book of the Dead, or on providing lists of offerings to the dead.

Egyptian funerary ceremonies began when the prepared mummy was retrieved from the embalmers and was taken, in procession with the tomb goods, to the tomb. The procession included the family and friends of the deceased, priests, and, if the deceased had been wealthy, professional mourners.

The spirit of the deceased individual faced an arduous journey into the afterlife. The spirit first had to overcome the obstacles placed in its way by the guardians of the various gates that lay between it and its goal, the Hall of Judgment. Aid in doing so was provided by a series of guidebooks to the hereafter, such as the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead. These supplied spells intended to combat the threats that lay between the dead person and resurrection. The final part of the ordeal involved the weighing of the deceased's heart (regarded as the seat of intelligence and knowledge) against the feather of truth, order, and justice. If the scale balanced, the deceased went before Osiris and passed into eternal life in realm essentially visualized as an idealized Egypt. If the heart proved heavier than the feather, it was fed to a monster called the Devourer, and the spirit of the deceased was cast into darkness. The guidebooks provided by the mourners contained spells designed to prevent such an outcome. These texts were generally written on papyrus and placed within the coffin, but they were occasionally written on the coffin itself or the walls of the tomb.

The spirit or soul was believed to have a number of aspects, including the ka, and the ba. The latter was depicted as a bird with a human head, which seems to have been the form in which the spirit traveled into the spiritual realm. The ka was conceived as having been created at the same time as the body, but surviving beyond the bodily death; it was to the ka that offerings were made during the burial rites.

Aidan Dodson

See also: Egypt, Ancient: Religion; Egypt, Ancient: Social Organization.

Further Reading

Adams, Barbara, Egyptian Mummies, Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, 1984

D'Auria, Sue, Peter Lacovara and Catherine H. Roehrig, Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988

Dodson, Aidan, Egyptian Rock-cut Tombs, Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, 1991

Ikram, Salima and Aidan Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity, London and New York, Thames and Hudson, 1998

Kanawati, Naguib, The Tomb and its Significance in Ancient Egypt, Cairo: Ministry of Culture, 1987

Spencer, A.J., Death in Ancient Egypt, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982

Taylor, John H., Egyptian Coffins, Princes Risborough: Shire Publications, 1989