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The timespan involved is nearly three thousand years, and beliefs varied considerably over time, so an article or, indeed, even one whole book, cannot do more than outline the many entities and subjects in this complex system of beliefs. Egyptian Mythology is different from Greek or Roman Mythology, in that in Egyptian Mythology most deities are of human body and animal head or vice versa.
Pharaoh Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten.
There were several elements to account for.
Egyptians believed they may in part survive to an afterlife. Egyptians believed that the soul (or the Ka (human personality)) could survive death if the body was preserved. Therefore, embalming and mummification was practiced. The weighing the heart occurred before proceeding to either the afterlife or the devourer.
Main article: Mummification
Since preservation of the body was instrumental in keeping the Ka and Ba souls, embalming was developed by the Egyptians around the 4th Dynasty. The Priests of Anubis would conduct the mummification process under the watchful eyes of Anubis. Since it was a stoneable offence to harm the body of the Pharaoh, even after death, the person who made the cut in the abdomen with a rock knife was ceremonially chased away and had rocks thrown at him. All soft tissues like the brain and most of the internal organs were removed. The cavities were washed and then packed with natron, and the body buried in a pile of natron. The intestineTh intestine is the portion of the alimentary canal extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine. In humans, the small intestine is further subivided into ths, lungThe lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. Its function is to exchange oxygen from air with carbon dioxide from blood. The process in which this happens is called " extes, liverThe liver is an organ in vertebrates including humans. It plays a major role in metabolism and has a number of functions in the body including detoxification, glycogen storage and plasma protein synthesis. It also produces bile which is important for dige and the stomachIn anatomy, the stomach is an organ in the alimentary canal used to digest food. Generally, the stomach's primary function is not the adsorption of nutrients from digested food; this task is usually performed by the intestine. Latin names for the stomach were preserved separately and stored in jars protected by the four sons of Horus: Duamutef (stomach), Qebhsenuef (intestines), Hapi (lungs), and Imsety (liver). After coming out of the natron the bodies were coated inside and out with resin to preserve them, then they were wrapped with linen bandages. Important religious amulets and tailsmans were embedded within the linen.
The Ka could only return in a body that was well preserved. A damaged body could not be recognised by the Ka and this destroyed the chance of an afterlife. The fear of this led the Egyptian people to place great importance on the mummification process and the burial itself. This 'second death' could be used to take revenge on someone after death by destroying the mummy.
Other creatures were also mummified, sometimes thought to be pets of Egyptian families but more frequently or more likely they were the representations of the Gods. The ibis, crocodile, cats, nile perch and baboon can be found in perfect mummified forms.
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