Comparing The Pyramid Construction And The Afterlife In Ancient Egypt

Pyramid Construction and the Afterlife of the Pharaoh

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is the only one left standing out of the seven. The Great Pyramid was built in honor of the Pharaoh, Khufu. It was once believed that the pyramids were constructed by slaves. It was later discovered that out of work farmers would work on the pyramids when the tide rose for the Nile. It was then believed that the deceased would be buried with the things that they would need for the afterlife. The pyramids where built as the final resting ground for the Pharaohs and his belongings. He would be placed in his tomb after mummification. All events from pyramid construction to the death of the pharaoh, led to the
According to Ancient Egypt “The mummification process has been changing over the millennia from the natural decay of the corpse buried in shallow graves hollowed from the desert sands to the complicated work of wrapping a prepared corpse in huge amounts of linen and including a portrait of the deceased” (Silverman). After the pharaohs death he goes through a process called embalmment. A standard embalming process can last almost three months. The first step was the removal of the vital entrails from the body. The embalmers would surgically extract the lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines. This also included the process of taking the brain out of the head with a hook from the nasal cavity. The organs that were removed are then dried thoroughly in a process called desiccation. This process is only involved in the removal of those organs particularly subject to decay according to Egyptian conceptions of natural disease. After the organs are desiccated where they are wrapped separately and then placed in a container. Shortly after this they are transferred to individual vessels called canopic jars. The heart still remains in the corpse of the pharaoh. The Ancient Egyptians believe that the detritus of unabsorbed food would clog the internal vessels to produce disease and ageing. This was also believed to cause the corpse to decompose. After the vital organs were removed, the pharaohs corpse would then be entirely packed with dry natron inside and out for a period of forty days to complete the desiccation period. Then the body would be washed thoroughly with the internal cavity packed with resin and linen. After this process the whole corpse is then wrapped in a large amount of fine linen bandages. The Facial features of the pharaoh are then restored by paint, by the application of a coat of molded plaster, or, they would place a funeral mask