Embalming Instruments of Ancient Egypt. BiEtud 125.
IFAO| N° d'inventaire | 19485 |
| Format | 20 x 27.5 |
| Détails | 310 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Cairo, reprinted 2010 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
The mummy is the pharaonic civilization's answer to the problem of death. Prepared and adorned with protective amulets to allow the deceased to continue the earthly life they knew in the afterlife, this fleshly envelope, forever protected from the ravages of time, bears the marks of the funerary rituals performed by embalmer-priests. In this sense, it constitutes for modern man a prodigious source of information on the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Texts and archaeological reality do not allow us to know precisely the daily activity of embalmers. Yet, the acts that these professionals of death performed on each body were essential: without them, the degradation of the body became inevitable and immortality was threatened. Based on the study of replicas of the instruments used by embalmer-priests, the book offers a new reflection on embalming and the technical gestures that accompany it. Holding and using these instruments on a human body allowed us to get as close as possible to the gesture carried out by the Egyptian embalmer and thus better understand his working method.
The mummy is the pharaonic civilization's answer to the problem of death. Prepared and adorned with protective amulets to allow the deceased to continue the earthly life they knew in the afterlife, this fleshly envelope, forever protected from the ravages of time, bears the marks of the funerary rituals performed by embalmer-priests. In this sense, it constitutes for modern man a prodigious source of information on the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Texts and archaeological reality do not allow us to know precisely the daily activity of embalmers. Yet, the acts that these professionals of death performed on each body were essential: without them, the degradation of the body became inevitable and immortality was threatened. Based on the study of replicas of the instruments used by embalmer-priests, the book offers a new reflection on embalming and the technical gestures that accompany it. Holding and using these instruments on a human body allowed us to get as close as possible to the gesture carried out by the Egyptian embalmer and thus better understand his working method.