Egyptian Coffins

 Egyptian coffins are also known as the sarcophagi, they are the largest stone coffins known and are usually found with high polishing and they are also covered throughout with hieroglyphics (ancient dialect of Egypt as it is known today), depicting history of the deceased . Coffins shaped to the form of the body were also used. These coffins were made of hard wood or papier mache.

They were painted with bright colors and like the stone coffins, bore hieroglyphics. The Egyptians were the religious people and their coffins wore many religious symbols and markings. One of the stories goes like Osiris was once a living king of Egypt. He was married to his sister, Isis. Their evil brother, Seth, was married to their sister, Nephthys. Seth wanted to be king of Egypt, so he planned to kill Osiris. One day Seth tricked Osiris into stepping into a golden coffin. When Osiris was inside the coffin, Seth slammed the lid shut and threw the coffin into the Nile River.

While Seth took the throne of the Egypt, Isis went to get the body of her husband Osiris. When she returned to Egypt with the body of Osiris, Seth seized the body and ripped it. He threw the 14 pieces of the body into the Nile. Wherever a piece of the body was found, Isis built a temple to Osiris. Once she had collected all of the pieces of Osiris’ body, Isis turned into a kite. Isis flapped her wings until the breeze from her wings breathed life back into Osiris’ body. After Osiris was resurrected, Isis gave birth to their son, Horus. Osiris was ruler over the land of the dead, while Isis raised Horus to avenge his father’s murder. After years of fighting against Seth, Horus finally won and became king of Egypt. Many temples were built in his honor.

Based on this legend most of the Egyptian coffins depict the wings of Isis wrapped around the coffin, so that Isis’ wings may breathe life into the souls of the dead. Beside that many other form of symbols were depicted on the ancient Egyptian coffins.
In the ancient Egypt the mummy was placed in a brightly painted wooden coffin. The elaborate decoration on the coffin was created according to the status of the deceased as a member of the aristocracy. A central band contained the symbols of rebirth flanked by panels featuring images of god and goddesses. The central panel that shows the winged scarab beetle hovering protectively over the mummy. The large white pillar painted on the back of the coffin usually depicted a form of backbone.
This provided symbolic support for the mummy and displayed an inscription detailing ancestry. In the next step the mummy and coffin were placed in another wooden coffin. Like the first coffin, it is in the shape of the mummy but more simply decorated. The lid of the coffin used to show face, wig and elaborate collar. Here too the scarab beetle with outstretched wings hovers over the mummy used to be depicted. Finally the mummy and coffins were placed in a rectangular outermost coffin made primarily out of sycamore wood. The posts of the coffin were decorated with religious texts. On the top of the coffin sits an alert jackal, probably a reference to Anubis, the jackal-headed god.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Coffins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.