The truth on the mysterious death of one of ancient Egypt's great rulers King Tutankhamen was unraveled on National Geographic's feature presentation on "Pharaoh's Week" last Sunday. They presented overwhelming facts that led to the true cause of Tutankhamen's death. He died of infection due to an open fractured wound on his knee however, scientists also gave convincing evidence on speculations that he was either murdered or he fell off his chariot on his way to a battle that caused his untimely death.
It was also clarified the myth regarding the curse that whoever dares touch his corpse will die. Truth is that there is really a curse, a biological curse. Logical thinking no matter how Egyptians think that mummification is a sanitary way of embalming their dead, there are still risks involved. Exposure to biological hazards surrounding those tombs can cause serious health problems.
I've always been fascinated with Egyptian's art and culture particularly their practice of mummification. Back in school, I did a baby thesis about mummification for one of my English minor subjects.
The process of embalming the dead is a painstaking task. It's not just removing the vital organs, drying the body, wrapping it then putting it in a casket afterward. Egyptians mummify their dead because they believe that there were six important aspects that made up a human being: the physical body, shadow, name, ka (spirit), ba (personality), and the akh (immortality). Each one of these elements played an important role in the well being of an individual. Each was necessary to achieve rebirth into the afterlife.
Mummification involves careful preparation of the body because an intact body was an integral part of a person's afterlife. Without a physical body, there was no shadow, no name, no ka, ba, or akh. By mummification, the Egyptians believed they were assuring themselves a successful rebirth into the afterlife. That study gave me so much respect for the Egyptians philosophy towards death and their remarkable way of preserving the human body.
http://www.geocities.com/isis_artemis_0/ancientegyptmummy.htm
(Pictures of Mummies, Funerary Carvings, and Reliefs)
http://members.aol.com/egyptart/mummy.html
An Egyptian Mummification
It was also clarified the myth regarding the curse that whoever dares touch his corpse will die. Truth is that there is really a curse, a biological curse. Logical thinking no matter how Egyptians think that mummification is a sanitary way of embalming their dead, there are still risks involved. Exposure to biological hazards surrounding those tombs can cause serious health problems.I've always been fascinated with Egyptian's art and culture particularly their practice of mummification. Back in school, I did a baby thesis about mummification for one of my English minor subjects.
The process of embalming the dead is a painstaking task. It's not just removing the vital organs, drying the body, wrapping it then putting it in a casket afterward. Egyptians mummify their dead because they believe that there were six important aspects that made up a human being: the physical body, shadow, name, ka (spirit), ba (personality), and the akh (immortality). Each one of these elements played an important role in the well being of an individual. Each was necessary to achieve rebirth into the afterlife.
Mummification involves careful preparation of the body because an intact body was an integral part of a person's afterlife. Without a physical body, there was no shadow, no name, no ka, ba, or akh. By mummification, the Egyptians believed they were assuring themselves a successful rebirth into the afterlife. That study gave me so much respect for the Egyptians philosophy towards death and their remarkable way of preserving the human body.
http://www.geocities.com/isis_artemis_0/ancientegyptmummy.htm
(Pictures of Mummies, Funerary Carvings, and Reliefs)
http://members.aol.com/egyptart/mummy.html
An Egyptian Mummification
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