They have become a great hit with young and old alike. These movies have renewed our curiosity about the mummies of Ancient Egypt. How were the bodies mummified? Why were only the elite mummified? Why were they put into huge pyramids with their belongings and food? How come servants, and sometimes whole families, were buried with them? These movies are only fiction, but they are based on some facts. My curiosity has caused me to find out more about the ancient mummies of Egypt.

The people of Ancient Egypt worshipped many gods. The worship of Ra, the sun-god, was closely connected to the royal house of Egypt. His symbol, the pyramid, became the design of the monumental tombs of the Egyptian kings. Ra was said to be a direct ancestor of the kings of Egypt. He was thought of as a living power, whose daily cycle of birth, journey, and death was a common theme in Egyptian life. Another prominent god was Amon. By the nineteenth dynasty he was Egypt’s greatest god, united with Ra to become Amon Ra.

The belief in the afterlife was very important to Egyptian life. The people pro

With the incision sewn up, the cadaver is placed in natron, a carbonate salt found in Wadi Natrun. The embalmers would cover the body with the natron and leave it for seventy days. After seventy days, and no longer, the body is removed from the natron and washed. The embalmers would then cut linen into long strips and cover the underside of each strip with a gum solution, regularly used by the embalmers as glue. Finally the body is wrapped from head to toe in the linen strips and returned to the family for burial.

The majority of us today that like to watch movies about mummies only care about the adventure of the movie or the idea of being frightened by it. However, there are many that enjoy learning about mummies and are fascinated with the process of mummification. Many scientists around the world are studying mummies to learn about life in Ancient times. Maybe what they learn will lead to more realistic movies for the rest of us to enjoy.

Scientists today use endoscopy to study mummies. They do not want to destroy the mummy by unwrapping it. Radiology is also used. This helps them to evaluate skeletal maturity and the age of the person at death. Scientists can also tell the person’s sex. Radiology can also show if there was any disease or trauma to the skeleton, and if there are any parasites that could have caused disease and death. Parasite infestations have been found and identified in many mummies.

vided food, drink, weapons, and toiletry articles for their dead to use in the afterlife. Tom

Some topics in this essay:
Amon Ra, Medicine Herodotus’, Ancient Egypt, Egypt Herodotus, Wadi Natrun, Sons Horus, BC Egyptians, Greek Historian, MUMMIES MUMMIES, Mummy Returns”, seventy days, linen strips, ancient egypt, egyptian life, mummies mummies,