Ancient Egypt: Death, Funerary Customs, and the Afterlife

Fill-in-the-blank practice flashcards covering ancient Egyptian funerary practices, mummification procedures, beliefs regarding the soul (Ba and Ka), and judgement in the afterlife.

The mineral used to preserve and protect the body during the mummification process by drying it out was __________.

natron

In ancient Egyptian belief, __________ is the bird representing a person's spirit that needed to recognize and reunite with the body before journeying to the afterlife.

Ba

In ancient Egyptian belief, __________ represents a person's life energy, which required food and drink for the next life.

Ka

Dolls placed into Egyptian tombs to serve as servants and perform tasks the god Osiris might assign in the afterlife are called __________.

ushabti

Egyptian embalmers usually established their workshops on the __________ bank of the Nile River, which was the direction of the setting sun and the land of the dead.

west

The entire embalming process in ancient Egypt took a total of __________ days.

$$70$$

During the mummification process, the embalmer dressed up with a jackal mask to represent the god __________.

Anubis

When removing the internal organs, embalmers left the __________ inside the body because it was believed to contain the personality.

heart

Pottery containers used to store the removed liver, lungs, intestines, and stomach of the preserved body were called __________.

canopic jars

To wrap an entire body during mummification, an embalmer required approximately __________ of linen bandages.

$$370\,\text{square metres}$$

A beetle-shaped charm called a __________ was placed over the heart during the wrapping stage.

scarab

The Egyptian charm placed among mummy bandages that symbolized eternal life was the __________.

ankh

The funeral ceremony conducted by a priest to symbolically restore the mummy's sensory faculties, allowing the deceased to breathe, eat, and speak, was called the __________ ritual.

Opening the mouth

For the ancient Egyptians, failing the final Judgement before Osiris and suffering __________ meant an irreversible second death and total extinction.

decapitation

The Egyptian Book of the Dead consists of papyrus scrolls containing more than __________ spells.

$$200$$

The critical test known as the weighing of the heart took place in the Hall of __________.

Two Truths

During the weighing of the heart, the deceased person's heart was balanced against a feather representing __________, the goddess of justice.

Ma'at

If the heart weighed more than the feather of Ma'at, it was eaten by __________, a monster with the head of a crocodile, the front of a lion, and the rear of a hippopotamus.

Ammit

In depictions of the weighing of the heart from the Papyrus of Hunefer, the god ready to record the final decision is __________.

Thoth

According to Herodotus in The Histories, a less expensive alternative to full evisceration involved injecting oil made from the __________ into the abdomen.

cedar-tree