"indicated in the ""Book of the Dead"", where a cat represents Ra and the benefits of the sun for life on Earth. Cat-shaped decorations used during the New Kingdom of Egypt indicate that the cat cult became more popular in daily life. Cats were depicted in association with the name of Bastet. In the late 1880s, more than 200,000 mummified animals, most of them cats, were found in the cemetery of Beni Hasan in central Egypt. Among the mummified animals excavated in Gizeh, the African wildcat (""Felis lybica"") is the most common cat followed by the jungle cat (""Felis chaus"")."
"is far more likely that some burials of sacred bulls are waiting to be discovered and excavated. Serapeum of Saqqara The Serapeum of Saqqara is a serapeum located north west of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, a necropolis near Memphis in Lower Egypt. It was a burial place of Apis bulls, sacred bulls that were incarnations of the ancient Egyptian deity Ptah. It was believed that the bulls became immortal after death as ""Osiris Apis"", a name that appears in Coptic as , ""Userhapi"", which was borrowed in Greek as , ""Serapis"", in the Hellenistic period. The most ancient"
"but did not include any specifics on the item and promised an official statement would be made within days. Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced May 23, 2010 that 57 ancient Egyptian tombs were discovered in an area close to Lahun. Most of the graves contained an ornamental painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside. Some of the tombs date from the Egyptian First and Second Dynasties, as far back as 2750 BC Several of the sites were decorated with hieroglyphics that the ancients believed would help the deceased travel through the afterlife. Twelve of the tombs were found to"
"proper Egyptian funeral. There were many different gods to prepare for. The ancient Egyptians believed that each god would separately judge the deceased before he could enter the afterlife. Although no writing survives from Predynastic Egypt, scholars believe the importance of the physical body and its preservation originated there. This would explain why people of that time did not follow the common practice of cremation, but rather buried the dead. Some also believe they may have feared the bodies would rise again if mistreated after death. Early bodies were buried in simple, shallow oval pits, with a few burial goods."
"was universally revered in every part of the land. In popular and media culture, Anubis is often falsely portrayed as the sinister god of the dead. He gained popularity during the 20th and 21st centuries through books, video games, and movies where artists would give him evil powers and a dangerous army. Despite his nefarious reputation, his image is still the most recognizable of the Egyptian gods and replicas of his statues and paintings remain popular. Anubis Anubis (; , Egyptian: ""jnpw"", Coptic: ""Anoup"") is the Greek name of a god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian"
"both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats. Many of the Egyptian animal mummies are sacred ibis, and radiocarbon dating suggests the Egyptian Ibis mummies that have been analyzed were from time frame that falls between approximately 450 and 250 BC. In addition to the well-known mummies of ancient Egypt, deliberate mummification was a feature of several ancient cultures in areas of America and Asia with very dry climates. The Spirit Cave mummies of Fallon, Nevada in North America"
"meticulous extent that a pet or human mummy would be, but the animals were nonetheless carefully preserved using natron and other special salts. This food was included in tombs in order to sustain the deceased person’s soul, called the ka, during the journey to the next world. A variety of food has been found in many tombs, mostly breads, meats, and fowl. King Tutankhamen’s tomb held several coffin shaped wooden boxes containing this type of mummified animal, in his case duck and other types of meat. Ancient Egyptian religion was characterized by polytheism, the belief in multiple gods. Prior to"
"Anubis Anubis (; , Egyptian: ""jnpw"", Coptic: ""Anoup"") is the Greek name of a god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Archeologists have identified Anubis's sacred animal as an Egyptian canid, the African golden wolf. Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 – 1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris"
"Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated ""rw nw prt m hrw"" is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day. Another translation would be Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. ""Book"" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the ""Duat"", or underworld, and into the afterlife and written"
"with vignettes depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife. The finest of examples we have of the Egyptian Book of the Dead in antiquity is the Papyrus Scroll of Ani, an Egyptian Scribe. It is at the British Museum of Art in London, and was discovered by and was taken out of Egypt in 1888 by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, and was brought to the London Museum to preserve it, and it is where the Papyrus Scroll of Ani remains unto this day. The ""Book of the Dead"" developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back"
"belong to the 18th dynasty which ruled Egypt during the second millennium BC. Egypt's archaeology chief, Zahi Hawass, said the mummies that date to the 18th dynasty are covered in linen decorated with religious texts from the Book of the Dead and scenes of ancient Egyptian deities. The discovery might help experts have a better understanding of the ancient Egyptian religions. Some of the tombs are decorated with religious texts that ancient Egyptians believed would help the deceased cross over to the underworld, said Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, chief archeologist of project. El-Aydi said one of the oldest tombs is almost"
"means that the costs of publishing a ""Book of the Dead"" may be considerably reduced. However, a very large amount of the source material in museums around the world remains unpublished. Book of the Dead The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated ""rw nw prt m hrw"" is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day. Another translation would be Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. ""Book"" is the closest term to"
"Serapeum of Saqqara The Serapeum of Saqqara is a serapeum located north west of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, a necropolis near Memphis in Lower Egypt. It was a burial place of Apis bulls, sacred bulls that were incarnations of the ancient Egyptian deity Ptah. It was believed that the bulls became immortal after death as ""Osiris Apis"", a name that appears in Coptic as , ""Userhapi"", which was borrowed in Greek as , ""Serapis"", in the Hellenistic period. The most ancient burials found at this site date back to the reign of Amenhotep III, the ninth pharaoh of"
"Tomb of Hetpet The tomb of Hetpet (Hetepet) is a 4,400 year old Egyptian tomb of a priestess. The tomb was discovered in 1909 by Carl Maria Kaufmann at Gizeh, a location close to the pyramids of Cairo. Many decorated stone blocks were taken out and brought to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and to the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt. The tomb was rediscovered during 2017 by an Egyptian expedition. The remaining parts of the tomb chapel have well preserved paintings. The existence of Hetpet was already established from the existence of indications of her name upon objects discovered sometime during"
"remnants of which survive today. Ancient Egyptian paintings survived due to the extremely dry climate. The ancient Egyptians created paintings to make the afterlife of the deceased a pleasant place. The themes included journey through the afterworld or their protective deities introducing the dead to the gods of the underworld. Some examples of such paintings are paintings of the gods and goddesses Ra, Horus, Anubis, Nut, Osiris and Isis. Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. In the New Kingdom and later, the Book"
"Saqqara, with a collection of scarab and cat mummies, dating back to the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. In mid-December 2018 the Egyptian government announced the discovery at Saqqara of a previously unknown 4,400-year-old tomb, containing paintings and more than fifty sculptures. It belongs to Wahtye, a high-ranking priest who served under King Neferirkare Kakai during the Fifth Dynasty. The tomb also contains five shafts that may lead to a sarcophagus below. Saqqara Saqqara (, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital,"
"the antiquities market and can be found in the museums of Turin, Cairo, Berlin, Lyons, and the British Museum. The Gebelein predynastic mummies are six naturally mummified bodies, dating to approximately 3400 BC from the Late Predynastic period of Egypt, and were the first complete pre-dynastic bodies to be discovered. The well-preserved bodies were excavated at the end of the nineteenth century by Wallis Budge, the British Museum Keeper for Egyptology, from shallow sand graves near Gebelein (modern name Naga el-Gherira) in the Egyptian desert. A Pre-dynastic mummified body dated to 3400 BC, excavated from this site, has been on"
"Gabbari necropolis The Gabbari Necropolis is a Alexandria's City of the Dead in Lower Egypt. It is described as a site ""of the utmost importance for the preservation of the cultural heritage"" and one of the world's largest necropoli. The necropolis is for the dead of middle classes of the first generations of Alexandria (3 B.C); however the discoveries are unpredictable. Archeologists have so far found funerary dining rooms only 20 inches beneath the soil's surface, and 33 feet deeper a huge, seven-level tomb was discovered. The area of Gabbari Necropolis is now known locally with the name of ""Kom"
"of the Arabs, the West has always known that ancient Egypt was a country of mummies. Today, we know most of the process of mummification, desiccation of bodies obtained through the dry climate of Egypt, the removal of viscera, the use of natron and bandages. Similarly, we know what kind of rituals accompanied the preparation of the corpse, who were responsible for the mummification process. As for why the mummification, it is related to the Egyptian religion, for which it is the guarantee of immortality, the possibility of a new life (life after death). Based on recent radiographic and genetic"
"as the consumption of meat only took place during celebrations including funerary and mortuary rituals, and the practice of providing the deceased with offerings of cattle going back to the Predynastic Period. Ancient Egyptian funerary practices The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death (the afterlife). These rituals and protocols included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burial with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the Egyptian afterlife. The ancient Egyptian burial process evolved over time as old customs were discarded and new ones"
"Dead"" depict Egyptian beliefs about the nature of death and the afterlife. The ""Book of the Dead"" is a vital source of information about Egyptian beliefs in this area. One aspect of death was the disintegration of the various ""kheperu"", or modes of existence. Funerary rituals served to re-integrate these different aspects of being. Mummification served to preserve and transform the physical body into ""sah"", an idealised form with divine aspects; the ""Book of the Dead"" contained spells aimed at preserving the body of the deceased, which may have been recited during the process of mummification. The heart, which was"
"was less likely to be expressed in writing. They are known mainly from inscriptions on statues and stelae left in sacred sites as votive offerings. Among the most significant and extensively preserved Egyptian writings are funerary texts designed to ensure that deceased souls reached a pleasant afterlife. The earliest of these are the Pyramid Texts. They are a loose collection of hundreds of spells inscribed on the walls of royal pyramids during the Old Kingdom, intended to magically provide pharaohs with the means to join the company of the gods in the afterlife. The spells appear in differing arrangements and"
"the site were traded on the antiquities market and can be found in the museums of Turin, Cairo, Berlin, Lyons and the British Museum. The bodies were buried in separate shallow graves, placed in the fetal position (knees raised towards their heads), which was the most common form for Egyptian burials of the time. In 1967 a series of X-rays and photographs of all mummified bodies in the British Museum's Egyptian Antiquities collection provided a detailed analysis for the mummies from the Gebelein excavations. The findings are summarized below: The first body excavated had red hair; this led to the"
"Ancient Egyptian funerary practices The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death (the afterlife). These rituals and protocols included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burial with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the Egyptian afterlife. The ancient Egyptian burial process evolved over time as old customs were discarded and new ones adopted, but several important elements of the process persisted. Although specific details changed over time, the preparation of the body, the magic rituals, and grave goods were all essential parts of a"
"now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue. Today at the site in Saqqara where it was found, a plaster copy of the statue stands in place of the original. The statue was found during the Antiquities Service Excavations of 1924–1925. In contemporary inscriptions, he is called ""Netjerikhet"", meaning ""divine of body."" Later sources, which include a New Kingdom reference to his construction, help confirm that Netjerikhet and Djoser are the same person. While Manetho names ""Necherophes"" and the Turin King List names Nebka as the first ruler of the Third dynasty, many Egyptologists"
"the dead's head to lie. Mummification was a practice that the Ancient Egyptians adopted because they believed that the body needed to be preserved in order for the dead to be reborn in the afterlife. Initially, Egyptians thought that like Ra, their physical bodies or Khat, would reawaken after they completed their journey through the underworld. Once the Egyptians realized that the bodies of their dead would eventually decay, they started to see the remains of the dead as a vassal for the deceased's spirit. The body was dismembered and wrapped in bandages to safeguard it, if the soul decided"
"Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat is a seven-metre-long scroll on display at the Royal Ontario Museum. A ""Book of the Dead"" is a key funerary (and religious) artifact in any tomb from Ancient Egypt. Archaeologists have discovered a wide range of styles and details on scrolls which have led scholars to conclude that the ""Book of the Dead"" was an object any Ancient Egyptian ensured they had for their journey to the afterlife. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the recently deceased had to navigate a dangerous underworld to reach the afterlife. ""The Book"
"grave goods the deceased could magically use in the otherworld. Private tombs (especially mastabas) contained also so-called false doors, of which the Egyptians believed that the ""Ba"", ""Ka"" and shadow of the deceased could use false doors as a portal between the world of living and the world of the dead. Additionally, in later times the Egyptians erected so-called ""Ka""-statues with the name of the deceased on the base. Royal statues were richly decorated and oversized and every day mortuary priests performed ritual purifications on these ""Ka""-statues. The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and that the body was"
"place for the ""ka"" portion of the soul, and so we have a good number of less conventionalized statues of well-off administrators and their wives, many in wood as Egypt is one of the few places in the world where the climate allows wood to survive over millennia. The so-called reserve heads, plain hairless heads, are especially naturalistic. Early tombs also contained small models of the slaves, animals, buildings and objects such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterworld, and later ""Ushabti"" figures. The first distinctive style of ancient Greek sculpture developed in the"
"Ancient Egyptian retainer sacrifices Ancient Egyptian retainer sacrifice is a type of human sacrifice in which pharaohs and occasionally other high court nobility would have servants killed after the pharaohs' deaths to continue to serve them in the afterlife. In Egypt, retainer sacrifice only existed during the First Dynasty, from about 3100 BC to 2900 BC, slowly dwindling, and eventually dying out. Ancient Egyptians, like many cultures, believed in an afterlife and much of what remains of their civilization reflects this because only the temples, tombs and other religious structures survive well. One belief that was at the center of"
"Memphite Necropolis The Memphite Necropolis is an ancient Egyptian necropolis located in the city of Memphis, Lower Egypt. It includes the sites of Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur. Most of the pyramids of the Old Kingdom were built here, along with many mastabas and other tombs. Saqqara is the site of the first Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser. The size of the necropolis is 2.5 by 6 kilometres, located about 30 kilometres south of Cairo. Burials in the necropolis include the Apis bulls, falcons, ibises, baboons, and boats. The tomb of Nakht-Min at the Abusir-Memphite Necropolis (""Kahled Daoud"") [ Egypt"
"possibly endangering the pelican on this island. In May 2012, hundreds of Peruvian pelicans were reported to have perished in Peru from a combination of starvation and roundworm infestation. The pelican (""henet"" in Egyptian) was associated in Ancient Egypt with death and the afterlife. It was depicted in art on the walls of tombs, and figured in funerary texts, as a protective symbol against snakes. ""Henet"" was also referred to in the Pyramid Texts as the ""mother of the king"" and thus seen as a goddess. References in nonroyal funerary papyri show that the pelican was believed to possess the"
"the earliest mummified body seen by the public. Apart from maintenance, it has been on continuous display in the same gallery since 1901. In 1987 the body was temporarily taken off display for restoration and a female mummified body replaced it. She was nicknamed ""Gingerella"" even though the body has long brown hair. The male body, EA 32751, is displayed in a reconstructed sand grave in the British Museum in room 64 and case 15. Though Budge wrote of ""pots and flints"" with the body, these artefacts were not acquired by the museum. A number of Egyptian grave goods taken"