Ancient Egyptian Mummification

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It’s the second day of class, you don’t think your teacher will discuss any interesting topics. So you decide to just tone out the teacher and rest until class is over. But, the teacher notices that the class seems to be falling asleep and decides to discuss an interesting topic that catches your attention; Ancient Egypt. More specifically, the detailed description of the Egyptian mummification process. Now you are wondering what relationship it has with religion and medicine. Although Egyptian mummification has a weak relationship with medicine, it has a strong relationship with religion as demonstrated by the purpose of the organs of the mummy, the ceremony of “Opening of the Mouth,” the importance of achieving an afterlife, and the soul …show more content…

A soul was thought to be made up of several parts, the most important of which were the ba and the ka (Brier and Hobbs, 58). The ba came into independent existence only when someone died and so represents the person’s soul (Brier and Hobbs, 58). The ba was represented as a bird with the head of the deceased (Brier and Hobbs, 58). This force had the ability to leave the body after death and travel outside the tomb to favorite places of the deceased (David, 140). The ka is a spiritual duplicate of the deceased that required a place to dwell, preferably the mummified body (Brier and Hobbs, 60). On death the ka separated from the body and became the immortal sprit of the owner (David, 140). This force still retained a vital link with the preserved body and depended on the food offerings brought to the tomb (David, 140). The body was the essential link between the deceased and his former earthly existence, since it was regarded as a means of supplying him with food and drink for spiritual sustenance in the afterlife (David, 140). Mummification was developed so that the body could be preserved and remain recognizable to the deceased’s spirit (David, 140). Medicine had a limited influence on Egyptian mummification. Since the brain was intentionally pulverized inside the cranium before extraction, any possibility of discovering its structure was eliminated (Brier and Hobbs, 271). Although various internal organs were removed whole from the body and could be thoroughly inspected, embalmers, who occupied the lower end of the social scale, were not physicians and lacked both the interest and training to contribute to medical knowledge (Brier and Hobbs,

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