When you think of ancient Egypt, your mind brings up images of hieroglyphics, mummified remains, and pharaohs.
Mummies have been featured in numerous spooky legends and myths through the years; however, how much do you know about their past? I’m sure I was astonished to find out that they weren’t the first to embalm and cover the bodies of their loved ones in this way that they would have been or the horrific reason for which shipping their remains to Europe began to be popular in this time in the Middle Ages.
I’m also extremely happy that this creepy Victorian fashion is long gone from fashion.
Look over the following information, and you’ll be amazed at the extent to which you’ve been told about mummies.
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1. The practice didn’t begin until Egypt.
According to the reports of Public Radio International, an ancient South American culture known as Chinchorro is believed to be the Chinchorro were the first to immolate their loved ones who passed away 2500 years prior to the time that Egyptians created their own method.
2. The Egyptian Process took 70 days to complete.
The Smithsonian Institute explains how a priest could carry out the ritual by reciting prayers, beginning with taking out all internal organs. They then saved them from being placed in jars surrounding the body or later embalmed and placed inside.
Then, they would apply a kind of salt known as “natron” to get rid of all water from the corpse. After making the deceased look as real as they could by filling sunken areas with linen and putting on false eyes began wrapping them in thousands of feet of linen. The resin was placed between the layers to secure it.
3. They Have Left The Heart In Place
While removing every other organ and every other organ, the Smithsonian Institute also revealed that the ancient Egyptians did not ever take away the heart of a deceased person because they believed it to be the “center of the person’s soul as well as intelligence.”
4. Egyptians Mummified Animals too
Archaeologists have discovered more than a handful of animals that were buried alongside human remains -millions in actuality. The History Channel reports it claims that “researchers believe that they produced around 70 million animal bones from 800 BC between 800 BC and around 400 AD.”
These included birds, cats, as well as cows, frogs, and cows. Baboons and numerous other animals were pet animals of the deceased or meant to serve as an offering or as protection during their final days.
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5. They only weighed a few Pounds.
If unwrapped, the normal mummy weighs 5 pounds, as per EgyptAbout.com.
6. Mouths Were Often Left Open
In reality, the British Museum describes the entire ritual as an “opening to the mouth ceremonial.” This required a particular instrument and was carried out so that the dead could eat, drink the air, and breathe during the next life, according to their religious beliefs.
7. Mummification Has Been A Profitable Business
The skilled and skilled Egyptian embalmers were compensated the right amount for their job. According to NPR reports, they created trade unions to protect their private techniques.
8. Remains were used in medicine Through The Middle Ages.
The Smithsonian Magazine has revealed the baffling ingredient that many medieval Europeans believed to treat whatever ails them: Mummy flesh.
Grave robbers would return from Egypt with their remains and then offer them to everyone, from the royals to common people, for a small amount. They were basically treating any pain or ache through cannibalization to treat ancient humans.
9. Victorians held “Unwrapping” Celebrations.
Also known as “mummy rollings,” Atlas Obscura explains how people would gather in the 1800s during the peak of “Egyptomania” to witness their host slowly expose a mummy beneath the layers of linen from centuries ago.
