In a strange way, the Egyptians had come to believe that
no soul could enter the realm of Osiris without the possession
of the body which had been its place of residence in this world.
Therefore as soon as a man was dead his relatives took his
corpse and had it embalmed. For weeks it was soaked in a
solution of natron and then it was filled with pitch. The
Persian word for pitch was ``Mumiai'' and the embalmed body
was called a ``Mummy.'' It was wrapped in yards and yards
of specially prepared linen and it was placed in a specially
prepared coffin ready to be removed to its final home. But
an Egyptian grave was a real home where the body was surrounded
by pieces of furniture and musical instruments (to
while away the dreary hours of waiting) and by little statues
of cooks and bakers and barbers (that the occupant of this
dark home might be decently provided with food and need not
go about unshaven).
Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the
western mountains but as the Egyptians moved northward
they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert. The
desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers
and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or
stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body. To prevent
such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small
mounds of stones on top of the graves.
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