Having been used by numerous civilizations to preserve the body after death, the technique of mummification was also practiced in Anatolia. Although different from the one in ancient Egypt, embalming was also performed on rulers in certain Anatolian civilizations.

In Farsi, the word for mummy is pitch. The word was then transferred to Arabic as “moumiyya,” meaning a corpse stuffed with pitch. After that it was transferred to Greek, French (as “momie”) and English (as “mummy”). The procedure that was carried out for the conservation of a corpse is called “tahnit” (embalming) in Turkish. This word derives from an Arabic word “hanut,” a scented material put in the deceased person’s hair and beard to retard decaying. It is made of sandalwood, caniphora and other plants.

The Amasya Museum is specially equipped for the exhibition of mummies discovered in ancient Anatolian lands and is visited by more than 3,000 people every week.

Afterlife

In Islam, prolonging a corpse’s decay is favorited. The corpse is dried properly after it is washed. The dead person is buried in a moistureless, dry and deep grave. If the soil is moist or loose like Istanbul’s, it is better to bury the dead in a coffin. Materials such as fir and sandalwood that are used in the corpse’s washing keep insects away and prolong rotting. Nevertheless, it is possible to explain how corpses remain unspoiled in Muslim countries with the region’s soil and the climate around their burial sites.

The mummification done by the Turks is different from ancient Egyptian method

There is a tradition of embalming, especially with the corpses of prominent figures, among Turkic communities. The Huns, who believed in the afterlife, embalmed their dead according to their traditions and buried them in durable areas with their important personal belongings, weapons, and even horses. Unspoiled corpses belonging to the Seljuks who followed this tradition have been recently discovered. The Seljuks even founded a waqf (foundation) for mummification. The embalmed corpses found in Mengujek Ghazi’s tomb in Kemah, Melik Ghazi’s tomb in Kayseri, Aşıklı Baba Tomb in Kastamonu, Arab Baba Tomb in Harput, Sungur Bey Tomb in Niksar and Sahib Ata Tomb in Konya all belong to the Seljuk era.

According to the ancient mummification method, which had its heyday in ancient Egypt, the internal organs of the deceased are entirely removed. The mummification done by the Turks had nothing to do with this method. However, there is little information about the mummification of Turks since this tradition was abandoned long ago.

Mummification of Turks

For those who ever wondered whether or not the Turks removed the internal organs and buried them separately after embalming the corpse, the answer is that Islam does not allow corpses to be cut unless there is a legitimate reason. A hadith says, “Breaking the bone of a dead is as good as breaking the bone of a living.”

The tradition of mummification was abandoned in Turkey long ago

FuneralIslam commands the burial of the deceased as soon as possible after the person passes away. However, there are cases when the burials of historical figures were delayed due to certain necessities and the dead were transferred to other places. The Byzantine historian Dukas narrated that the internal organs of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I, whose death was kept a secret for 40 days after he passed away in Edirne, were buried in Edirne, and his body, which was rubbed with resin, was later transferred to Bursa.

Venetian traveler Angiolello, on the other hand, reported that the internal organs of Shahzade Mustafa, the son of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who passed away while he was away from the court, were removed and his body stuffed with honey and cooked barley and placed in a coffin covered with pitch. Based on his narrative, Mustafa’s internal organs were placed in a box filled with salt after they were washed.

Ottoman Sultan Murad II’s will said they wanted to be buried under the soil. Was this a reaction to the mummification tradition? In fact, the corpses were buried in crypts that were ventilated via small windows and grills and located below the ground floor in Seljuk and Ottoman tombs. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II passed away in Gebze during a military campaign and his body was embalmed and had to be kept waiting for 15 days until Shahzade Bayezid arrived.

What happened to the body of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent?

According to the records made by Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi the internal organs of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who passed away in Hungary during a military campaign, were buried in a high hill in Szigetvar, and his body was embalmed with musk, amber and salt (it is important to note that embalming is different from mummification as it means applying chemical materials that avoid rotting.

The greatest ruler of the Ottoman Empire died at Szigetvar in early September 1566 - almost 450 years ago.

The tomb thought to contain the heart of Ottoman Empire ruler believed to have been found by group of Hungarian and Turkish researchers in 2016.

Historian Ali of Gelibolu wrote that the body of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was covered with a clean sheet soaked in wax, musk and amber and his internal organs were secretly buried right across from the Szigetvar. However, historian Selaniki who was present during the military campaign did not mention anything about the issue. The truth of the matter is that the body of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was buried in a temporary grave under his tent, just like his father Sultan Selim I, as historians such as Selaniki, Peçevi and Müneccimbaşı narrated.

The Istanbul Archeological Museum is in possession of a mummy that belongs to King Tabnit of Phoenicia. There are also six other mummies dating back to the 14th century at the Amasya Museum.

What did the latest study reveal?

Scientific work conducted on the mummies of Muslim Turks reveals that the Turks used salt, onions and honey while mummifying their dead. The study was carried out on 800-year-old mummies at the Amasya Museum, which has the biggest mummy collection in Turkey. The research is being conducted by art historian Muzaffer Doğanbaş.

Speaking to the press, Doğanbaş said that the 14th-century physician Dr. Hacı Pasha chronicled the techniques of mummification in his 1380 work entitled, “Şifa-ül Eksan” and noted that “Hacı Pasha mentions about 40 ingredients for mummification including, salt, honey, wax, coal tar and pitch.”

A group of visitors at the Amasya Museum.

Working on the physical remains of the Governor of Anatolia Shahzade Cumudar, Governor of Amasya İşbuğa Noyin, the Beg of Amasya Pervane and his wife and children who lived under the rule of the Ilkhanids in the 14th century, Doğanbaş discovered that the mummification techniques that Egyptian used, which include cloths soaked into resin, is not even close to the mummification techniques that the Muslim Turks used. Stating that the mummies discovered in Amasya were preserved without the application of cloth, Doğanbaş said: “As long as these mummies do not encounter moisture, they will not decay in any condition. In the mummification techniques that Turks used, salt plays an important role”

The Amasya Museum is specially equipped for the exhibition of mummies discovered in ancient Anatolian lands and is visited by more than 3,000 people every week. The governor of Amasya said that they expect a total of 650,000 domestic and international tourists to visit the museum by the end of this year.

All Images via dailysabah