Through the Eras

ReligionScenes of agricultural life and food preparation, such as this fresco showing the treading on the grapes in a wine vat and the countingof wine jars, often decorated tomb walls as a way of magically providing for the deceased in the afterlife. © GIANNI DAGLI ORTI.CORBIS. REPRODUCED BY CORBIS CORPORATION.were made to preserve the body. The mythological justificationfor the process of mummification derives fromthe myth of the god Osiris. After Osiris had been dismemberedby his brother Seth, Isis traveled throughoutEgypt gathering up the pieces of his body. The god ofembalming, Anubis, then reassembled the pieces and rejuvenatedthe body of Osiris to allow him to sire a sonwith Isis. Each deceased Egyptian was thought to becomean Osiris, and by reenacting the same mummificationprocess, to gain renewed life, as Osiris did.METHODS OF MUMMIFICATION. The earliest exampleof mummification dates to the Fourth-dynasty(2675–2500 B.C.E.) burial of Queen Hetepheres, thewife of Sneferu (2625–2585 B.C.E.) and mother ofKhufu. Throughout Egyptian history, several differentmethods of mummification were used, depending onwhat the deceased or his family could afford. An elaboratemummification could have proceeded along the followinglines. First, the corpse was taken to the Per-Nefer,the House of Mummification, where it was placed onthe embalming table. This table was supposed to resemblethe one on which Osiris had been placed afterhis death. The table is frequently shown with lion’s feet.Next, the brain was removed through the nose andthrown away. The Egyptians did not recognize the significanceof the brain, and thought it of no use. The embalmer,known as the ut-priest, made a cut in the leftside of the abdomen of the mummy and removed theliver, lungs, stomach, and intestines. The organs wereArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 241