Mummies, Myth, and Ritual

Mummies are synonymous with ancient Egypt, but they meant much more than just preserving a body for eternity. This lecture will explore ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife and the role of mummification. Attaining a blessed state after death was not about how many treasures were placed in a person’s tomb, but whether they had lived a moral life. Bodies were mummified to transform them into a statue that the soul could visit—and the same rituals "activated" a mummy that enabled a statue to receive a human or divine spirit. The template for an eternal life was the journey of the sun god Re through the heavens and the Underworld and his visit to his own corpse, Osiris. Yet, the ancient Egyptians believed that decomposition of a corpse did not prevent a person from attaining a blessed afterlife. Learn not just how the ancient Egyptians practiced mummification, but why.

Free Admission. Appropriate for ages 18+

Colleen Darnell is a former Associate Professor of Egyptology at Yale University and the
author or co-author of seven books, including a study of historical fiction written in ancientEgypt. She has directed an archaeological expedition at a site in southern Egypt and curated a major museum exhibit on Egyptian revival art and design entitled “Echoes of Egypt: Conjuring the Land of the Pharaohs.” Colleen brings ancient Egypt to a world-wide audience through her live, online Egyptology program, which she founded in 2021. In thepast five years, she has taught over three hundred people how to read hieroglyphs. She appears regularly in National Geographic’s “Lost Treasures of Egypt.” More about Dr. Darnell at .

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