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| © Trustees of the British Museum |
To listen to the full BBC recording, which I recommend, click here.
While the Mummy of Hornedjitef is not the earliest object in the series, it is often the start for museum-goers. Mummies are fascinating, even in the Medieval Ages, where they were ground up to make medicine. [A fun and disgusting fact!]
This particular mummy was found in Thebes, Egypt.
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| © Trustees of the British Museum |
Hornedjitef was an Egyptian priest living during the third century BCE. This puts him about 1,000 years after King Tut, during the very early ruling of the Greek kings, the Ptolemy Dynasty [think Cleopatra! Yes, she descended from Greeks!]. Thanks to modern day science, his mummified body was examined using a CAT scan and X-ray which revealed that he had arthritis and osteoporosis. This suggests he was an older man at his death.
In the mummification process, all his organs were removed. In this case, the embalmers put four packages, likely his lungs, liver, stomach and intestines in his torso area. His mummy and its two coffins (The first image inner and below the outer) were painted and decorated with pictures of the gods, spells, and portions of the Book of the Dead. This was supposed to help him on his journey to the afterlife.
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| © Trustees of the British Museum |
So why should we care about this artifact?
Often times, bodies are just nameless and unknown, but in the case of mummies and Homedjitef in this case, we are able to see the body well intact with hair, skin and even faces. We are able to actually see who was living during Ancient Egypt time and see that they are just normal people with normal human ailments.
So much can be learned about Homedjitef based off of just his tomb and mummy, but gaining this knowledge was a gradual process. What we know about him and others will also change as time progress. When the mummy was first discovered in the 1820's the hieroglyphic script remained unknown, but with the founding of the Rosetta Stone, the words on the sarcophagus could be read. Now with science, we have learned even more. There is no telling what future generations will be able to uncover.
Often times, bodies are just nameless and unknown, but in the case of mummies and Homedjitef in this case, we are able to see the body well intact with hair, skin and even faces. We are able to actually see who was living during Ancient Egypt time and see that they are just normal people with normal human ailments.
So much can be learned about Homedjitef based off of just his tomb and mummy, but gaining this knowledge was a gradual process. What we know about him and others will also change as time progress. When the mummy was first discovered in the 1820's the hieroglyphic script remained unknown, but with the founding of the Rosetta Stone, the words on the sarcophagus could be read. Now with science, we have learned even more. There is no telling what future generations will be able to uncover.
For more information, see BBC's website.
-VB
