DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0117
98 HANDBOOK OF ARCHEOLOGY.
mode of mummification was extremely simple; the bodies were
prepared with natron, or dried in ovens, and wrayrped in woollen
cloth. At a later period every provincial temple was provided with
an establishment for the purpose of mummification. The bodies
were delivered to the priests to be embalmed, and after seventy
days restored to their friends, to be carried to the place of deposit.
The mode of embalming depended on the rank and position of the
deceased. There were three modes of embalming ; the first is said
to have cost a talent of silver (about 2507.); the second, 22 minae
(60Z.); the third was extremely cheap. The process is thus de-
scribed by Herodotus :—" In Egypt certain persons are appointed by
law to exercise this art as their peculiar business, and when a dead
body is brought them they produce patterns of mummies in wood,
imitated in painting. In preparing the body according to the most
expensive mode, they commence by extracting the brain from the
nostrils by a curved hook, partly cleansing the head by these means,
and partly by pouring in certain drugs; then making an incision
in the side with a sharp Ethiopian stone (black flint), they draw out
the intestines through the aperture. Having cleansed and washed
them with palm wine, thoy cover them with pounded aromatics,
and afterwards filling the cavity with powder of pure myrrh, cassia,
and other fragrant substances, frankincense excepted, they sew it
up again. This being done, they salt the body, keeping it in natron
during seventy days, to which period thoy are strictly confined.
"When the seventy days are over, they wash the body, and wrap it
up entirely in bands of fine linen smeared on their inner side with
gum. The relatives then take away the body, and have a wooden
case made in the form of a man, in which they deposit it; and when
fastened up thoy keep it in a room in their house, placing it upright
against the wall. (This style of mummy was supposed to represent
the deceased in the form of Osiris.) This is the most costly mode
of embalming.
For those who choose the middle kind, on account of the expense,
they prepare the body as follows:—They fill syringes with oil of
cedar, and inject this into the abdomen without making any inci-
sion or removing the bowels; and taking care that the liquid shall
not escape, they keep it in salt during the specified number of days.
The cedar-oil is then taken out, and such is its strength that it
brings with it the bowels and all the inside in a state of dissolution.
The natron also dissolves the flesh, so that nothing remains but the
skin and bones. This process being over, they restore the body
without any further operation.
The third kind of embalming is only adopted for the poor. In
mode of mummification was extremely simple; the bodies were
prepared with natron, or dried in ovens, and wrayrped in woollen
cloth. At a later period every provincial temple was provided with
an establishment for the purpose of mummification. The bodies
were delivered to the priests to be embalmed, and after seventy
days restored to their friends, to be carried to the place of deposit.
The mode of embalming depended on the rank and position of the
deceased. There were three modes of embalming ; the first is said
to have cost a talent of silver (about 2507.); the second, 22 minae
(60Z.); the third was extremely cheap. The process is thus de-
scribed by Herodotus :—" In Egypt certain persons are appointed by
law to exercise this art as their peculiar business, and when a dead
body is brought them they produce patterns of mummies in wood,
imitated in painting. In preparing the body according to the most
expensive mode, they commence by extracting the brain from the
nostrils by a curved hook, partly cleansing the head by these means,
and partly by pouring in certain drugs; then making an incision
in the side with a sharp Ethiopian stone (black flint), they draw out
the intestines through the aperture. Having cleansed and washed
them with palm wine, thoy cover them with pounded aromatics,
and afterwards filling the cavity with powder of pure myrrh, cassia,
and other fragrant substances, frankincense excepted, they sew it
up again. This being done, they salt the body, keeping it in natron
during seventy days, to which period thoy are strictly confined.
"When the seventy days are over, they wash the body, and wrap it
up entirely in bands of fine linen smeared on their inner side with
gum. The relatives then take away the body, and have a wooden
case made in the form of a man, in which they deposit it; and when
fastened up thoy keep it in a room in their house, placing it upright
against the wall. (This style of mummy was supposed to represent
the deceased in the form of Osiris.) This is the most costly mode
of embalming.
For those who choose the middle kind, on account of the expense,
they prepare the body as follows:—They fill syringes with oil of
cedar, and inject this into the abdomen without making any inci-
sion or removing the bowels; and taking care that the liquid shall
not escape, they keep it in salt during the specified number of days.
The cedar-oil is then taken out, and such is its strength that it
brings with it the bowels and all the inside in a state of dissolution.
The natron also dissolves the flesh, so that nothing remains but the
skin and bones. This process being over, they restore the body
without any further operation.
The third kind of embalming is only adopted for the poor. In