Facts about mummies that will surprise many. Photo

The vast majority of his contemporaries has the General idea of ancient mummies.

Basically it’s imposed stereotypes of a science fiction movie. The survey collected little-known facts about mummies, which did not think even the most talented writer.

In Ancient Egypt, mummified not all

Religion and culture of Ancient Egypt are inextricably linked to the mummification of the dead. The bodies of the people in a special way were dried, extracted the internal organs and treated with special oils. This method of burial was not accessible to everyone, because embalming was considered to be a long and costly procedure. According to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the deceased relative could harm his descendants, if he was not buried according to the rules or mummification spent poorly.

Work with the mummy was a high-paying but dangerous

The Egyptians believed that in the afterlife there is other life, so the dead have to go with the untouched body. But this belief is contrary to the process of embalming in which the body of extracted internal organs.

In order not to offend the dead and do his thing, modificatory hired special people who had to cut the body and take out the insides. And this must be done quickly, because behind them were immediately sent guards who are required to hold “dared to break the peace of the dead.” Managed to quickly cope with the task and to escape from the guards alive, received a generous reward.

Breathable mummy

Body lying in the sarcophagus, – a spectacle in itself far from pleasant, and the view mummies with an open mouth and elicits fear in people with weak mentality. The fact that the ancient Egyptians believed if to embalm the corpse with his mouth open, then in the afterlife it will be easy to breathe and absorb all sorts of Goodies.

The autopsy of the mummy in front of everyone

If the Egyptians experienced a reverent fear of the mummified bodies, the Europeans were only interested in the research component of ancient remains. Among the British it was very popular to the public opening of mummies. Anyone could take a look at this process.

The British doctor Thomas Petigru spent a lot of public autopsies. Contemporaries noted that he was projecting ancient bandages with a straight face, while others fainted from the sight.

Of the mummies did the paint

After the public autopsy and conducted research on the body of the mummies turned out to be unnecessary. At first they were thrown out, but then began to sell at a nominal price to manufacturers of paint. As strange as it sounds, but the crushed remains of ancient bodies gave the characteristic brown tint, and therefore was very popular with artists.

Curious, but the paint of the mummies were popular until the 1960-ies. The reason for the termination of manufacturing such a dye was too trivial – the manufacturer simply ran out of mummies.

Mummy as a panacea for all diseases

Several centuries ago, healers used the remains of mummies as a cure for almost all diseases. In the XVII century especially appreciated the powder made from the skull of the mummy. It was believed that they can cure everything from the common cold and ending with epilepsy.

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