By Demercino Junior
Polytheism is understood to be the belief in multiple gods. The Egyptians, polytheistic peoples, believed in eternal life after death, in which the spirit of the deceased returned to take over his body. To house the corpse, they built the pyramids. And to preserve the body (while the spirit did not return) they invented mummification. As a result of this process, the Egyptians began to study anatomy and discovered various chemical substances, in the search for substances for the preservation of the body.
First, all the viscera of the corpse were removed. A cut was made at the level of the abdomen, from which the heart, liver, intestines, kidneys, stomach, bladder, spleen, etc., were removed. The heart was placed in a separate container. The brain was also removed. They applied a kind of acid (nasal route) that melted it, facilitating its extraction.
Then they left the body to rest in a bowl of water and salt (to dehydrate and kill bacteria) for seventy days. Dehydrated, the body was filled with sawdust, aromatic herbs (to prevent decay) and some sacred texts.
After all these steps, the body was ready to be bandaged. White linen bandages were wrapped around the body, followed by a special glue. After this process, the body was placed in a sarcophagus (a kind of coffin) and housed inside pyramids (pharaoh) or buried in mastabas, a kind of tomb (nobles and priests).
According to Egyptian religion, after death, the spirit was guided by the god Anubis to the Court of Osiris, who would judge him in the presence of 42 other gods. His heart was weighed in a balance, which was counterbalanced by a feather. If the heart were lighter than the feather, the spirit would be allowed to return and retake its body. Otherwise, it would be devoured by an alligator-headed goddess. The Egyptians believed in hybrid gods:half man, half animal (anthropozoomorphy).
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