ABSTRACT
Death features prominently in most Egyptian myths. Egyptians believed in life after death. They thought that after death a person's spirit would be reborn and live on forever in a wonderful afterlife, which they imagined would be like a perfect version of the Nile Valley. Egyptians believed body had to be preserved for the afterlife. This involved a process called mummification Embalmers removed a body's vital organs, apart from the heart, and placed them in jars, called canopic jars. A priest wearing the hawk mask of Horus performs the ritual of 'opening the mouth' on a pharaoh, whose mummified body stands upright. Egyptians believed this custom, which involved touching a mummy's mouth with ritual instruments, restored living senses to the dead person. The dead person's spirit, or ka, had to pass through many dangers and trials in a fearful underworld, which the Egyptians called Duat.
