Ancient Egyptian Mummification: The Sacred Science of the Afterworld and Animal Cults

Ancient Egyptian Mummification: The Sacred Science of the Afterworld and Animal Cults

• Jun 03, 2026

The Osirian Resurrection and Early Royal Embalming

funerary beliefs and practices observed the state of preservation of some of  these early burials, conditions they tried to duplicate when carrying out their own. No definite  treatise on mummification exists,  but as belief in Osiris grew,  and as his powers became diversified (originally only the rulers and ruling classes benefitted from his ministrations), so did the belief in resurrection spread. The Greek authors who were inter-ested in embalming inform us that mummification took about 70 days, but  there is one case of an Old Kingdom queen which took about 285 days, perhaps because her tomb-chapel was not ready. Evidence for the commencement of embalming  is  uncertain. Already by the 3 Dyn. the body was being dismembered and the limbs wrapped to represent the living body, but by the 4 Dyn. it was certainly taking place, and one of the earliest examples known is that of Hetepheres, mother of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. Although her body was missing from her tomb, the box containing the canopic jars (see below) was present, evidence that she must have been embalmed.

The Science of Preservation: Natron, Wine, and Sacred Strapping

Very few mummies have remained from the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but by the New Kingdom the main methods used to preserve the body were understood. The word mummy comes from the Arabic mii.mmiya (bitumen), the  material  in  which bodies  were later soaked in an effort  to preserve them,  and has really nothing to do with the Egyptians' earlier efforts.  The method seems to have been a  dry process in which the soft parts of  the body like the stomach, intestines and liver, were taken out and placed either in jars or wrapped in bundles; the brain was also usually removed but not the heart. Natron was used to purify and preserve the body, the body cavity was washed out with palm wine, and the body stuffed to preserve its contours. Various methods were used at different times, those of the 18 and 19 Dyns being most effective, while those of the 21  Dyn. were the most elaborate. After the body had been dried, washed and wrap-ped, it was covered with an intricate pattern of cross strapping and for protection had various amulets placed upon it. The most import-ant was probably the heart scarab, which contained a short inscrip-tion from the Book of the Dead, while among the dozens of others, many intended solely for funerary purposes, the two principal ones were the djed pillar of Osiris and the thet girdle of Isis.

The Canopic Secrets: The Four Sons of Horus and Their Guardians

The canopic jars in which the viscera were placed have already been mentioned. The term canopic is  a  misnomer derived from Canopus, the city where the sailors of Menelaus were said to have died and been buried, and later worshipped as a jar with a human head. The early canopic jars merely had a  cap on them and were made of pottery or stone, but in the Middle and New Kingdom they had human  heads  representing  the  deceased,  which were  later replaced by the four sons of Horus-Duamutef (jackal) protecting the stomach,  Gebehsenuf  (falcon)  the  intestines, Hapi (baboon)  the lungs, and Imsety (human) the liver. Each of these minor deities was under the guardianship of one of the four goddesses of the dead-Neith, Selket, Nephthys and Isis.

Sacred Beasts of the Nile: Animal Cults and the Serapeum

The Egyptians also mummified certain animals, for example the Apis and Mnevis bulls, and the ibis and baboon sacred to Thoth. The burials of the Apis bulls are the best known as they are to be seen at saqqarah 
in the Serapeum, and their embalming place, complete with huge alabaster tables, was found at Memphis near the Temple of Ptah in 1951. Most of the surviving animal mummies belong to the THE AFTERWORLD  41 later periods, but it is obvious that animal worship, particularly the bull cult, is of ancient origin