Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait of a Youth

Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait of a Youth

Period: Roman Period

Date: A.D. 80–100

Geography: From Egypt, Fayum, Hawara (Hawwara, Hawwaret el-Maqta; Adlan), Petrie excavations

Medium: Encaustic on limewood, linen, human remains

Dimensions: mummy: l. 169 cm (66 9/16 in); w. 45 cm (17 11/16 in) panel as exposed: l. 38.1 cm (15 in); w. 18 cm (7 1/16 in)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1911

Accession Number: 11.139

 

 

 This mummy retains the panel inserted over the face. The portrait depicts a youth with large deep-set eyes and a down-turned mouth. His downy moustache indicates that he is no older than his early twenties. A number of mummy portraits represent youths with their first facial hair, a feature that had particular connotations in the Greek-educated society of Roman Egypt. The incipient moustache was both an indicator of the young man's entrance into important social groups and a signal that he was at the prime of sexual attractiveness and vigor.

In this era mummies might be kept above ground for periods of some months up to several years before final burial. Most probably they were deposited in chapels in cemeteries, where they were visited by relatives for ritual meals.

 

Met museum

 

metmuseum.org

 

mummy of ibis

Animal Mummy of ibis decorated with appliqué of Ibis-headed god

Period: Late Period–Roman Period

Date: ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D.

Geography: From Egypt, Memphite Region, Saqqara; includes the Serapeum

Medium: Linen, animal remains

Dimensions: l. 36 cm (14 3/16 in)

Credit Line: Gift of James Douglas, 1890

Accession Number: 90.6.104

 

 Sacred animals had always figured in ancient Egyptian religion, but beginning about the 7th century the phenomenon of sacred animal cults burgeoned remarkably. In some temples a single sacred animal acted as the living incarnation of a god, in others living species were kept within the temple precincts, and there were also temples and sanctuaries attached to the burial places of sacred animals.
Most of the animal mummies in museums today are from among the hundreds of thousands or more made for sale to those wishing to make donations to a relevant divine animal or god in order to bring themselves to the god’s attention, perhaps for a specific purpose like a dream interpretation or a wish for fertility, perhaps for a better eternal life.
Research on animal mummies has shown that the majority of mummies found at the large animal cemetery sites are pre-adults who were purposely killed for use as donations. Some of the mummies are actually ‘substitute’ mummies containing only a few bones or feathers or possibly just sticks or sand.
Recently a review of the museum's animal mummies and their x-rays was conducted in consultation with an expert in their study, and brought to light a number of interesting points. In this particular case the wrappings include an elaborate applique of the ibis-headed Thoth with anthropomorphic form seated on a throne, while the contents are some bones but no organized animal mummy

 

 

Met Museum

 

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Ibis mummy inside a jar

Ibis mummy inside a jar


Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period

Date: ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D.

Geography: From Egypt, Northern Upper Egypt, Abydos, Ibis Cemetery, Egypt Exploration Fund excavations, 1912–13

Medium: pottery, animal remains, linen

Dimensions: (a-b jar, mummy) H. 43 cm (16 15/16 in.); Diam. 19.5 cm (7 11/16 in.) (c-lid) H. 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in.); W. 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); D. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1913

Accession Number: 13.186.4a–c

This jar contains an ibis mummy wrapped in linen. The lid, now open, was anciently replaced over the opening and sealed with lime plaster. This mummied creature was discovered with many others, some single burials, other group burials in large jars, in a concentration east of the processional way at Abydos. Most of the mummies in this concentration seem to have dated even to the Roman Period, although others nearby in the newly recognized north cemetery temple and catalcombs belong to the Ptolemaic Period.
Animal mummies are generally envisioned as being offered to the corresponding god - for the ibis that would be Thoth. However, there are no known temples to the god Thoth at Abydos. On the other hand, Thoth ws closely involved both in the confirmation of the king and in the justification and rebirth of the deceased king, so it has been suggested that ibises may have been offered in support of divine kingship, Abydos being the seat of the most ancient kings, and, in specific, of Osiris.

http://www.metmuseum.org/

Met Museum

Mummy of Tasheriteniset

Mummy of Tasheriteniset with mummy mask and other cartonnage elements, also with garland of plants

Period: Ptolemaic Period

Date: 305–30 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Middle Egypt, Asyut (Assiut, Siut; Lykopolis)

Medium: Human Remains, linen, cartonnage, paint, gold leaf, plant remains

Dimensions: L. 145.2 cm (57 5/16 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912

Accession Number: 12.182.48a

 

 This mummy belongs to the woman Tasheriteniset. Her mummy has a painted cartonnage mask and foot covering, and there are garlands on her chest. Her mummy mask features the depiction of earrings and of a headband with a golden wedjat eye amulet.

 

Met Museum

 

metmuseum.org

 

Mummy of cat

Mummy of cat

Period: Late Period–Roman Period

Date: ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D.

Geography: From Egypt

Medium: Linen, ink, animal remains

Dimensions: l. 34 cm (13 3/8 in)

Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson, 1915

Accession Number: 15.6.50

 

 Sacred animals had always figured in ancient Egyptian religion, but beginning about the 7th century the phenomenon of sacred animal cults burgeoned remarkably. In some temples a single sacred animal acted as the living incarnation of a god, in others living species were kept within the temple precincts, and there were also temples and sanctuaries attached to the burial places of sacred animals.
Most of the animal mummies in museums today are from among the hundreds of thousands or more made for sale to those wishing to make donations in connection with regular festivals or perhaps to address themselves to a particular god for a purpose suchas dream interpretation or a wish for fertility or for a better eternal life.
Research on animal mummies has shown that the majority of mummies found at the large animal cemetery sites are pre-adults who were purposely killed for use as donations. Some of the mummies are actually ‘substitute’ mummies containing only a few bones or feathers or possibly just sticks or sand.
Recently a review of the museum's animal mummies and their x-rays was conducted in consultation with an expert in their study, and brought to light a number of interesting points.This mummy is wrapped in a checkerboard pattern created by two slightly different shades of beige linen; inside the bundle is a perfectly preserved skeleton of a cat just reaching maturity, whose neck had been broken.

 

 

Metropolitan Museum

 

 

 

metmuseum.org

 

mummy Thutmosis IV tomb

in the right-hand corner, resting in an erect position against the wall, was a denuded mummy of a boy, whose stomach and rib cage had been ripped open by the ancient plunderers with a very sharp knife.

Bronze tweezers

 Bronze tweezers

From Egypt
Late Period, after 664 BC

These tweezers are made of a single piece of metal. They closely resemble modern examples. They were used, as today, by men and women to remove unwanted hair. Priests had to remove all their body hair before they were considered pure enough to enter the temple.
Tweezers were also used during the mummification process. Tweezers of various different sizes have been found among the tools used by embalmers. Much of their work, such as the removal of the internal organs, was done by hand. It was certainly not a job for the squeamish. However, several stages of the process included the use of hot oils and resins, which could inflict serious burns. The hot oils and resins would have been applied using linen swabs, held with the tweezers. Thus the embalmers would clean out the abdominal and chest cavities once the internal organs had been removed, and anoint the skin when the desiccation (drying) of the body was complete. The tweezers may also have been used for handling the salt or natron, as prolonged contact would have the same effects on the living as it had on the dead.

British Museum
Bronze tweezers

Bronce Probe

 Bronce Probe

From Egypt
Late Period, after 664 BC

Used to remove the brain

According to the Greek historian Herodotus (about 485-425 BC), the first stage of the process of mummification was to remove the brain. He refers to the instrument used in this procedure as an 'iron hook', a description which closely matches this object. It consists of a long shaft with a hooked or spiralled end. The brain was often removed through the nose. The hooked end of the probe was inserted into one of the nostrils. It was pushed until it broke the ethmoid bone separating the nasal cavity from the skull cavity. X-rays of a number of mummies show this characteristic fracture.
The brain was broken up with the probe, and the small pieces pulled out through the nose. These were then discarded, as the brain was not considered to be an important organ. The heart, rather than the brain, was thought to be the seat of intelligence and emotion, and was left in the body and protected with amulets. Before the deceased could enter the Afterlife it was the heart that was weighed against the 'feather of truth'. Other internal organs were also given special treatment, removed and separately mummified.


British museu
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