Egyptian Civilization: Take your attention

Write on the immortality of the soul and the believes of ancient Egyptians?

Discuss the society of ancient Egypt and its various classes?

?Wright on funeral practices and mummification in ancient Egyp?

Opening the funeral procession would be a group of slaves carrying offering and objects belonging to the dead man. If he had been a farmer there would be his arms and his horse,if he had been a farmer there would be his farming implements. Next would come a group of professional mourners uttering piercing cries,tearing their hair and singing dirges. Finally behind the master of ceremonies and the priest would be the catafalque in the shape of a solar barge mounted on a sledge drawn by a team of oxen. Family,friends and relatives followed,dressed in mourning uttering cries and lamentation. Right at the back the procession would be a group of women singing the praises of the dead man. Along the way would be gathered the idle and the curious. If the cemetery was on the other bank of the Nile the funeral procession would cross on barges. On the other side the mummy would be placed once again on its sledge and the different groups would form up again in the same order. When finally they arrived at the tomb the mummy would receive the offerings and the final good-byes of family and friends.bank.About the mummification ,first operation to consisted in extracting the brain via the nostrils by means of a hooked.The brain cavity was then filled with a material consisting mainly of liquid bitumen which hardened on cooling. The eyes were then removed and replaced by porcelain substitutes.By means of a sharp stone an incision was then made in the left side side of the body and the intestines and internal organs removed. these were treated with boiling bitumen and wrapped up. The brain and the liver were preserved in four canopic jars made of clay, limestone or alabaster, in some cases even of stone or metal depending on the station of the dead man. These jars which were placed in coffer near the mummy had lids each of which had a different head on it, man jackal,sparrow-hawk and dog faced baboon.The cavities in the gut and stomach were carefully washed with palm wine ,dried with a powdered mixture of aromatic plants and finally filled with myrrh or perfumed sawdust.The body thus prepared was placed in a solution of natron(sodium carbonate) and left for seventy days.After this treatment the flesh and muscles had completely dissolved away and nothing remained except the skin attached to the bones. The hair of men was cut short while that women was left in all its splendour. Bandages impregnated with resin were wound round each finger then round the hand and finally round the arm. The same operation was carried out on the other limbs.For the head even greater care was taken.The cloth in direct contact with the skin was rather like muslin. The face was covered with several layers of this material and the degree of adhesion was so perfect that when removed as a whole it could be used as a mold to make a plaster cast of the dead man's features. The whole body was then wrapped up in the same way. The body was arranged in an extended position either with the hands crossed on the breast or with the arms extended along the flanks.

Write about two sacred animals in ancient Egypt?

Apis is the sacred bull at Memphis, In order to be recognized as sacred this animal had to possess certain characteristics known only to the priests.following the death of an Apis the priests, after a long fast, set about finding a new Apis who had to have a white triangular mark in shape of an eagle on the neck and another mark like a crescent moon on its flank. The Cat also played big role in Egyptian religion. It was called by the onomatopoeic word (miaow) which has passed into other languages and which we know in the form of the verb to miaow, The female cat was dedicated to the goddess bast and personified the beneficial heat of the Sun.

Egyptian Civilization

Friday, August 12, 2011

Take your attention

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