Mummification: A Very Brief History Of Ancient Egypt

The Nile River is the longest river in the world. It is approximately 4,000 miles long. It runs form East Africa to the Mediterranean. Over the period of millions of years the river has changes its size and its location. The Nile represents life to the Egyptian people, those ancient and modern. One of the most fascinating pieces of ancient Egypt is the religion. Religion is the glue that binds societies into nationhood and makes mutual understandings and communal values that are vital to the development of a civilization. In Egypt, before the notion of God happened, magical power was captured in the hieroglyph of a scepter. It one of the most enduring signs of great power, existing in images of the pharaohs and the gods. Similar to all religions, ancient Egypt’s was complex. It changed over the eras from one that accentuated local deities into a general religion with a smaller number of primary deities. There wasn’t a sole belief system, but the Egyptians shared a public understanding about the conception of the world and the chance of deteriorating to chaos if the destructive forces of the

and was persistent into the Graeco-Roman Period. While mummification was not a firm condition for rebirth in the next world, it was positively observed as an extremely desirable means of achieving it. The art of mummification was completed in the Third Intermediate Period (1070-712 B.C.). The body was washed, bound in linen (as many as 35 layers) and soaked in resins and oils. The Egyptians mummified animals as well as humans. All beings from bulls and hawks to ichneumons and snakes. Also, cats were highly respected members of the ancient Egyptian home. This practice reached its height in the eleventh and twelfth centuries B.C. in Thebes, where the present-day cities of Luxor and Karnak are found. The purpose of mummification was to preserve the body undamaged so it could be transported to a spiritual