Most people know about mummies from Hollywood movies, where they act as horrible monsters. At the same time, few people were interested in the real story about them. But in vain. Some real facts about mummies are even stranger than those invented by the movie screenwriters.
Mummification is not "pleasure" for everyone
Burial by the method of body mummification was far from accessible to all Egyptians. This was a rather complicated and expensive procedure, which included dissection, removal of all internal organs and filling the abdominal cavity with expensive oils. There were also cheaper ways, but the families of the deceased tried to do everything at the highest level. It was not without reason: in those days in Egypt they believed that a poorly embalmed deceased could pursue his greedy descendants.
The thankless work of mummifiers
The Egyptians became famous for their respect for the human body, even the dead. Because of this, the process of mummification caused a lot of controversy in the then society. On the one hand, according to Egyptian beliefs, a person had to go to the afterlife with an unharmed body, which automatically made the embalming process illegal.
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Since it was impossible to make a mummy without removing the internal organs, the mummifiers showed ingenuity to somehow get around the restrictions. They hired special workers who cut the deceased and then quickly fled. They were immediately followed by the guards, who were supposed to punish the violators for harming the deceased. Therefore, the "cutters" had to not only be good at using a knife, but also run fast.
Breathing mummies
Ancient Egypt was famous for a lot of strange traditions and rituals. One of these was the mummification of the dead with an open mouth. Thus, the Egyptians, who believed in the afterlife, showed the breath of a person. Also, according to beliefs, a mummy with an open mouth could enjoy the drinks and food buried with her.
Public autopsies of mummies
The cult of death and the afterlife played a large role in the life of the ancient Egyptians. But he had absolutely no interest in the British who colonized this country. They completely ignored the beliefs of the local population and happily displayed the mummies for a public display. Moreover, they publicly dissected the mummified bodies.
The famous British doctor Thomas Pettigrew became famous for his active role in such events. He calmly unfolded and opened the mummies in front of a huge audience. This barbarism continued until the beginning of the 20th century.
Making paint from mummies
Once the mummified bodies were unfolded, they often became useless. Therefore, they, in fact, were sold for a song to manufacturers of … paint. The color obtained from the crushed remains of the ancient Egyptians even received a special name - "brown mummy".
According to sources, this paint was popular with artists of the time, but production stopped in the 1960s. As it turned out, the companies ran out of ancient mummified corpses, and paint was not obtained from the fresher bodies.
Mummies and medicine
In fact, using mummies to make paint was far from the only way these corpses were used. Back in the 17th century, they created a medical preparation equivalent to the modern "Tylenol". At that time, they were treated for almost all illnesses - from daily migraines to internal bleeding.
The skull of the mummy was especially appreciated in medicine. Sometimes after burial, moss sprouted on it, which was believed to have tremendous healing powers. Crushed into powder, it has been used for epilepsy and nosebleeds.
But even on this, the then healers could not stop. The supposed healing powers of these corpses went beyond the physical state and entered the realm of the spiritual. In his book A Story of Assassins, Clive Gifford pointed out that back in the 12th century, there was a special demand among the rich for a substance called "mummy powder." Even the British king Charles II used it with particular zeal. He believed that with the help of this powder he could become as majestic as the Egyptian pharaohs.
Another European monarch, the French king Francis I, drank a mixture of mummy particles and dry rhubarb every day. He believed that this potion would make him strong and protect him from enemies.
Mummies reluctantly
Not all of the mummified bodies found were thoroughly cleansed of internal organs and embalmed. Some have become so completely by accident as a result of accidents. Such corpses are sometimes also called "swamp bodies".
The fact is that in Europe there are a large number of bogs rich in oxygen and antimicrobial peat moss. When exposed to such an environment, the bodies are very well preserved for a long time. Even after several hundred years on such a corpse, you can see facial features, fingerprints, hair and nails.
Mummies Frankenstein
Mummification of bodies was most commonly used in ancient Egypt, but it was practiced in other countries as well. In 2001, scientists discovered several thousand-year-old embalmed corpses in Scotland. But the researchers were even more surprised by the fact that they were built from parts of different bodies, like elements of a constructor.
There are several versions of the explanation for this phenomenon. According to one of them, after the discovery of the mummified remains, people simply put them in parts in such a way as to get whole bodies.
According to the second theory, these "Frankenstein mummies" were created on purpose. Each part of the body was supposed to symbolize a specific trait of the family line. Thus, the mummy was an unusual version of the family tree.
Mummification in life
Many believe that the process of body mummification begins only when a person dies. But there are other ways too. According to historical records, some Japanese monarchs began to mummify their bodies during their lifetime. This was done in order to enter the state of eternal meditation.
In vivo mummification began with a rather strange diet. The man secluded himself in the wooded mountains, where he ate only nuts, bark, roots and pine needles. In addition to the spiritual component, such a diet helped to reduce the amount of body fat, muscle tissue and moisture in the body. Thus, the body already during life began to turn into a mummy.
The full cycle of the diet lasted 1000 days. Some monarchs resembled him several times to feel ready to take the final step - to die. They completely stopped eating, and when they felt the approach of death, they asked their friends to bury them alive in a shallow grave. A tube was inserted into the hole, thanks to which a person could breathe until he died of hunger.
However, the process did not end there. After about a thousand years, the tomb was opened to ensure that the mummification was successful. Only those bodies that showed no signs of decay were considered good and were buried anew.
Oksana Grabenko