Burial Practices

Harry
Period 7
Sept.9 2009

Egyptian beliefs in an afterlife

• A dead person's Ka would not be able to
benefit from the pleasures of the afterlife
• The Egyptians thought it was important that
the person's body was not to decay or fall
apart after death
• The Egyptian's did a method called
embalming which stopped the body from
falling apart or rotting
• In other words, the afterlife was full of
clothes, jewels, etc. everything for the afterlife
that we need or use in our every day life
activities or needs today
• Also, this procedure is done carefully and
very precise for the afterlife manner

Preserving the body

• Limestone containers were used to hold the
persons insides
• The Egyptian's did a process called
embalming which stopped the body from
falling apart or rotting
• Then they would put the body in a wooden
box and covered the box with natron, or a kind
of salt
• After forty days, the priests would come and
wash and oil the body and then wrap the body
in several yards of fabric, which in other words
can be called mummification
• Then they would spread a black gooey kind of
matter which is called “momia” that was used
to spread the body with
Steps involving the Burial Ceremony
• Egyptians believed that once the body had
been buried, it must be surrounded with things
for the afterlife
• The Burial Ceremonies could have been
different compared to the families’ wealth
• If the family was poor, they would Just be
wrapped in discarded cloth and buried in the
ground
• If the family could afford the ceremony they
would just have a simple ceremony which they
were laid to rest in a wooden box or in sand or
in a cave
• Wealthier people had more complex
ceremonies and were buried in a tomb
• The Pharaoh ad the grandest ceremonies of
them all, with the full ceremony

The Burying Process

• the Egyptian workers built special boat transport
for the body of the Pharaoh to be taken down to
the burial site
• in earlier times, some Pharaoh’s were buried in
Pyramids
• After that, workers would start to bury the
Pharaoh ‘s in temples and eventually they would
have to bury the Pharaoh in top secret locations
• This had to be done because of the tome
robbers or other thief’s that might want to steal
the treasures or hurt to body inside the tome.
• This process of the burial practices has to be the
most important because it explains the whole
course of how they would bury the body
The Sarcophagus
• The Pharaoh was laid in a huge large stone tomb
called a sarcophagus
• Then, the large tomb was bordered with many riches
and artifacts to have and use in The Afterlife
• The word also comes from the Greek
word flesh
• Was also deeply cut or carved to form the
shape of the sarcophagus
• The sarcophagus is very important for the ceremony
of the Pharaoh and holding the king or Pharaoh for
all eternity

http://www.historylink101.com/ancient_egypt.htm

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html

http://www.carnegiemnh.org/exhibitions/egypt/guide.htm

Citation

Brier, Bob and Hoyt Hobbs. Daily Life of Ancient Egyptians. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press,1999. Print