Mummy, Ancient Egypt - I heard about it, probablyeach. So many millennia flashed over the gray massifs of tombs and pyramids, and they still attract and fascinate people from all over the world. Mysteriousness, gloom, extraordinary flourishing of crafts, developed medicine, exquisite culture and rich mythology - all this makes the ancient country alive and interesting.
Надо сказать, что мумии Древнего Египта (фото many of them are forced to shudder) - this is a separate phenomenon, which is still causing heated debate. Can I exhibit them in museums? After all, it’s still the bodies of the dead ... Anyway, tourists in many countries of the world can go and see long-dead people whose earthly shells are partially saved from the pernicious influence of time. Why did they create them? The fact is that the ancients believed in the existence of man after death directly in the place of his burial. That is why luxurious tombs and pyramids for kings were built, which were filled with everything that could be useful to them after death. And for the same reason, the Egyptians tried to save the body of the deceased from destruction. For this, mummification was invented.
Mummification is the preservation of a corpse byspecial techniques and drugs while maintaining the integrity of its outer shell. Already at the time of the 2nd and 4th dynasties, bodies began to be wrapped with bandages, keeping them from decomposition. Over time, the mummy (Ancient Egypt succeeded in their creation) began to be made much more complicated and sophisticated: the entrails were removed from the body, and special plant and mineral preparations were used for preservation. It is believed that during the 18th and 19th dynasties, the art of mummification reached its peak. At the same time, it must be said that the mummy (Ancient Egypt created a lot of them) could be made in several ways, which differed in complexity and cost.
Историк Геродот рассказывает, что бальзамировщики they interviewed the relatives of the deceased, offered them a choice of several methods of preserving the body. If an expensive option was chosen, the mummy was made in this way: first, part of the brain was removed (through the nostrils with an iron hook), a special solution was injected, abdominal organs were cut out, the body was washed with palm oil and rubbed with incense. The stomach was filled with myrrh and other fragrant substances (incense was not used) and was sutured. The body was placed for seventy days in sodium liquor, then it was taken out and wrapped with bandages, lubricating gum instead of glue. Everything, the finished mummy (Ancient Egypt demonstrates a lot of them) was given to relatives, placed in a sarcophagus and kept in a tomb.
If relatives could not pay dearthe method of preservation and choosing the one that was cheaper, the masters did the following: the organs were not cut, just cedar oil was injected into the body, decomposing everything inside, and the corpse itself was also placed in lye. After a certain period of time, the body drained and devoid of viscera was returned to relatives. Well, quite a cheap method, for the poor - is injecting radish juice into the stomach and after lying in the liquor (the same 70 days) - returning to relatives. True, Herodotus did not know or did not describe a couple of important points. First, scientists are still not very clear how the Egyptians managed to dry the body, making it extremely clever. Secondly, the heart was never removed from the body, and the remaining entrails were placed in special vessels that were kept in the tomb next to the mummy.
The end of mummification
I must say that mummification is very longpersisted in Egypt and practiced even after the introduction of Christianity. According to the doctrines of Christianity, the body does not need to be preserved after death, but the priests could not instill this into their flock. Only came later Islam put an end to the creation of mummies. Now the photo of the mummy of Egypt certainly adorns the catalog of any large museum that has a department of this ancient state.
