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The Egyptian Times

The Tombs and the Mummies

In the great museum of Egyptian antiquities in Cairo, throngs of curious sightseers daily look into the very faces of the pharaohs and nobles who ruled Egypt many centuries ago. The ancient Egyptians were preserved as mummies, or embalmed bodies, thousands of which have been taken from the sands and tombs of Egypt. The Egyptians practiced the art of mummifying their dead for 3,000 years or more in the belief that the soul would someday return to the body and occupy it again.

The bodies were preserved by the use of resin and spices or sometimes by immersion in a solution of salt or natron. After a period of preparation that took about 70 days, they were wrapped in linen. Then the shrouded mummy was usually placed in two cases of cedar or of cloth stiffened with glue. The outer case was often covered with paintings and hieroglyphics telling of the life and various deeds of the deceased. A molded mask of the dead or a portrait on linen or wood sometimes decorated the head end of the case. This double case was placed in an oblong coffin and deposited in a sarcophagus.

The bodies of poorer people were merely dried with salt and wrapped with coarse cloths. Sacred animals, particularly cats, were also mummified. During the Middle Ages apothecary shops sold a powder that was made from ancient mummies. At that time the substance was considered to have medicinal value.

The Egyptians excelled in this art of preserving the body in a lifelike condition, but mummy making was practiced also in Peru and Mexico. The most carefully prepared Egyptian mummies date from about 1000 BC, but the earliest ones discovered are much older.