How To Make An Egyptian Mummy: Step One – Organizing the Mummification Ritual
As was discussed previously in How To Make An Egyptian Mummy: Introduction, the ancient Egyptian priests were faced with an interesting challenge. They wanted to bury their dead in a grand manner, in great tombs with many treasures surrounding them, but the unpreserved bodies, once in the man-made tombs, began to decay. An integral part of the ancient Egyptian death cult was that the body must be preserved to reach the afterlife. The following description of mummification is the “perfect process” Herodotus described (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-mummies.html) and Drs. Wade and Ballard confirmed in their experiments (http://www.egyptartsite.com/mummy.html).
A class of priests, who were considered highly skilled, performed the mummifications. The station of embalmer was hereditary and may have been closely linked to the medicinal practices of the ancient Egyptians. Most mummifications took place either near the tombs or near the necropolises, but never inside the tombs themselves. Only certain ceremonies associated with the burial were performed inside the tomb (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mummification.htm).
The process of mummification starts with the organizing of the per-wabet, or the ritual embalming tent (Richard Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
At least four embalming priests were present during the mummification process. The first, hery seshta (Overseer of the Mysteries) took on the part as the god of embalming, Anubis. The assistant to the hery seshta was the hetemw netjer (Seal Bearer of the God). A lector priest known as the hery heb read the magical spells during the embalming. Finally, a priest known as the wetyw (The Bandager) was responsible for most of the actual embalming process, such as removing the internal organs and bandaging the body (http://www.egyptologyonline.com/mummification.htm).
Before the actual mummification process can begin, the body must be cleaned (http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/mummies/story/main.html). They treated the body with respect throughout the entire process. As the body was considered holy to a certain extent, they could not defile the body in any way, but exceptions to that rule had to be made. A line was painted on the left side of the abdomen and a different priest came into the tent. He had only one job during the entire mummification process. Taking the “stone of Ethiopia,” otherwise known as obsidian, the priest, or “slitter,” made a careful incision along the painted line. This action, while a defilement of the body, was completely necessary. Decay spreads from the soft internal organs. The ancient Egyptians knew to stop the decay at its source. While the incision was necessary, it was considered punishable. The “cutter” ran from the tent as quickly as he could as soon as the incision was made while the remaining priests ritually threw stones at the “slitter” in punishment for defiling the body (http://tinyurl.com/cfs8mk).
The process of mummification could now proceed without consequence for defiling the body.
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