What the Ancient Egyptians Used to Do With the Brains

Summary

Ancient Egyptians removed and discarded the brain during mummification, a practice that contrasts with modern understanding of the brain's value.

Abstract

The author expresses a deep fascination with Ancient Egypt, detailing the civilization's achievements such as the invention of papyrus and hieroglyphs, the construction of the pyramids, and the practice of mummification. Despite these accomplishments, the Egyptians considered the brain to be an organ of little importance, as evidenced by their method of removing it with a hook through the nostrils and liquefying it during the mummification process, a procedure that stands in stark contrast to the high regard for the brain in modern times.

Opinions

The author has a strong interest, bordering on obsession, with Ancient Egypt.
Initially, the author admired the intelligence of the Egyptians due to their remarkable achievements.
The discovery of the Egyptians' treatment of the brain during mummification evoked mixed feelings of amazement and disgust in the author.
The author expresses gratitude for contemporary knowledge of the brain's importance, which is vastly different from the Ancient Egyptians' perspective.

Gratefully, now we know the worth of our brains

Ancient Egypt is my obsession; its civilization, its architecture, its culture, its mysteries — they are so fascinating for me that I am always looking to discover them.

The problem is I can't go back there and live with them to know more about them, all I have are books — the only way I can go there to see how they used to live, what they ate, what they wore or how they did mummification.

This burning desire led me to read a number of books about Ancient Egypt. I learned many things, and this brain thing, that brought you here, is something I read a few days ago. I was amazed and was about to vomit at the same time.

I thought they were so intelligent after all they had so many remarkable achievements. To name a few, they invented papyrus and a written language called hieroglyphs, build pyramids of Giza, made those vivid paintings on walls, and of course, first to mummify bodies (they were doctors without degrees).

But even after these achievements with their brains, they thought their brain was useless. Let me tell you what they did with their brains.

Whenever an Egyptian died whether it's a commoner or a Pharaoh, he used to undergo a mummification process, which they thought necessary to go in the afterlife. Actually, they prepared themselves more for the afterlife than the current one. What they did is to dry out the body applying salt and other spices then took out the organs and put them in separate jars except for one organ — the brain.

For the brain, they inserted a hook through the dead body’s nostrils, ground the brain to liquefy it, and took it out from the nostrils, and that's it. The brain was nothing but a wasteful thing.

I read it with a disgusting face too. But that's how it was.

I feel so bad that they don't know the worth of this valuable organ. Gratefully we now acknowledge the brain’s importance and won't do this type of thing with our brains.