DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4671#0031
THE FUNERAL OF AN EGYPTIAN.
elaborate, and the bandages are neither so numerous,
nor are they so well or so carefully put on the body.
The greatest perfection in embalming was reached at
Thebes about B.C. 1700. The mummies of this
period are beautifully made, and all the limbs are
pliant and may be handled without breaking. About
B.C. 1000 it became the fashion to put the mummy
into a brightly painted cartonnage case, which was
fastened up the back by sewing. About B.C. 350,
the Egyptians began to put the head of the mummy
into a gilded mask, and to lay a hollow-work carton-
nage pectoral upon the breast. The use of bitumen
in the process of embalming became more frequent
and extensive, and the decorations consisted of poorly
written texts badly copied, and distorted figures of
the gods and mythological scenes. In the Graeco-
Roman period the whole mummy was sometimes
covered with a thin layer of plaster upon which
imitations of ancient Egyptian mythological scenes
were painted in bright colours or gold; the inscrip-
tions are sometimes written in Greek. In the early
centuries of this era the outer coverings of mummies
of wealthy people were made of silk; examples of
these are found chiefly at Akhmim (Panopolis).
The mummy of a high priestly official, or gentleman,
at Thebes in the XYIIIth dynasty was laid in a
d 2
elaborate, and the bandages are neither so numerous,
nor are they so well or so carefully put on the body.
The greatest perfection in embalming was reached at
Thebes about B.C. 1700. The mummies of this
period are beautifully made, and all the limbs are
pliant and may be handled without breaking. About
B.C. 1000 it became the fashion to put the mummy
into a brightly painted cartonnage case, which was
fastened up the back by sewing. About B.C. 350,
the Egyptians began to put the head of the mummy
into a gilded mask, and to lay a hollow-work carton-
nage pectoral upon the breast. The use of bitumen
in the process of embalming became more frequent
and extensive, and the decorations consisted of poorly
written texts badly copied, and distorted figures of
the gods and mythological scenes. In the Graeco-
Roman period the whole mummy was sometimes
covered with a thin layer of plaster upon which
imitations of ancient Egyptian mythological scenes
were painted in bright colours or gold; the inscrip-
tions are sometimes written in Greek. In the early
centuries of this era the outer coverings of mummies
of wealthy people were made of silk; examples of
these are found chiefly at Akhmim (Panopolis).
The mummy of a high priestly official, or gentleman,
at Thebes in the XYIIIth dynasty was laid in a
d 2