ACCOUNT OF THE UNROLLING OF AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY, WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGION, OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

By T. J. PETTIGREW, F.R.S., F.S.A., &c.

ONE of the Friday evenings so judiciously set apart by the managers of the ROYAL INSTITUTION for the communication of useful knowledge, has lately been devoted to the consideration of the mummies of the Ancient Egyptians, and a lecture upon this subject was delivered on the 27th of May, by Mr. Pettigrew, whose attention has been frequently directed to this interesting subject, and the result of whose researches have been submitted to the public*. The mummy unrolled upon this occasion was one purchased by Mr. P. at a late sale of Egyptian antiquities, consisting of the collection made by the late Mr. Salt, his Britannic Majesty's Consul in Egypt. The lecturer stated that he had availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the Royal Institution to display the mummy to the members and their numerous visitors, in obedience to the solicitations of several distinguished scholars and antiquarians, and had overcome his own scruples in appearing before his audience in a public character, believing, as he did, that such an effort might be found useful in exciting a spirit of inquiry into an object of interest connected with Egyptian antiquities, and calculated to prove advantageous in assisting to demonstrate the certainty of hieroglyphical research, which he regretted to say, notwithstanding the great advances made in the course of a few years, had not yet, in the minds of many, sufficiently established its claim to truth and authenticity, and was still treated as being almost wholly speculative and conjectural. Mr. P., therefore, felt peculiarly happy in the present opportunity of putting this subject to the test, in the presence of nearly all those who have been in any way distinguished for their knowledge of hieroglyphical literature, and whose labours have tended so much to illustrate this curious branch of literary history; and to whom he was willing, on the present occasion, to submit the translation he had made of some of the principal passages depicted on the cases of the mummy, feeling satisfied with the decision of such competent judges; and deeming it of importance to show to those who may be sceptical on the matter, that when so many persons of known attainments can be brought together to agree as to the interpretation of the inscriptions, the basis upon which they are made must necessarily and obviously be founded in truth; and, therefore, likely to lead to important and correct results. With these preliminary observations, Mr. Pettigrew proceeded to consider the subject. He abstained from entering into any consideration of the etymology of the word MUMMY, whether it was to be traced to the Arabic noun mum, signifying wax, or amomum, a kind of perfume, as Salmasius describes it; but stated that he should employ the

History of Egyptian Mummies, and an Account of the Worship and Embalming of the Sacred Animals by the Egyptians, &c. 4to. Longman and Co., 1834.

VOL. II.

+ Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Burton, Dr. Leemans, Lord Prudhoe, Rev. Mr. Tattam, Mr. Cullimore, &c.

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term on the present occasion as applying to the body embalmed, and not to the embalming ingredients.

Mummy, it is well known, was, during the sixteenth century, extensively used in medicine, and there were not wanting authorities of high character to vouch for its healing properties. Avicenna, Serapion, and others among the Arabian physicians, spoke loudly in its praise; and in more modern times Lord Bacon, Robert Boyle, and others, equally eulogized its virtues. Lord Bacon declares that "Mummy hath great force in staunching of blood; which, as it may be ascribed to the mixture of balmes that are glutinous, so it may also partake of a secret propriety, in that the blood draweth man's flesh*." And Boyle says it "is one of the useful medicines commended and given by our physicians for falls, and bruises, and in other cases toot." Its introduction is attributed to a Jewish physician named Elmagar, a native of Alexandria, who, it is said, was, as far back as the fourteenth century, in the habit of prescribing it to the Christians and to the Mahometans then in the East, contending for Palestine. The demand for it gave rise to the spurious manufacture of mummies, and the traffic ceased in consequence of the importunities of a Jew engaged in these practices at Damietta, who, anxious to convert a Christian slave to the Hebrew faith, proposed to him as an evidence of the sincerity of his conversion, to submit to the ancient rite of circumcision. To this the boy objected, and was subsequently ill-treated by his master, whom he therefore denounced to the pacha, by whom the Jew was thrown into prison, and fined in 300 sultanins of gold; this being readily paid, the governors of other provinces, Alexandria, Rosetta, &c., levied a ransom upon all engaged in the commerce of mummies, and the Jews, to avoid a new oppression, discontinued their trade. Thus did mummy cease to be an article of the Materia Medica, and not from any discovery of its inefficiency in the cure of disease, to prove which, however, the celebrated Ambrose Paré published a treatise.

The desire of immortality, Mr. P. observed, is most strongly rooted in the mind of man, and innumerable means have, in all ages, and under all circumstances, been devised to perpetuate his memory after death. In no part of the world does this principle appear to have acted so strongly as in Egypt; and its ancient inhabitants have not only built huge pyramids, and erected mighty temples and obelisks, covered with symbols, expressing, in hieroglyphical language, characters and events; but they have succeeded beyond all other ages and people, in preserving from decay the remains of their own fragile frames. The extraordinary perfection to which they carried the art of embalming the dead is, perhaps, alone to be accounted for by referring to their theology. Believing in the immortality of the soul, the ancient Egyptians conceived that they were retaining the soul within the body as long as the form of the body could be preserved entire, or were facilitating the reunion of it with the body at the day of resurrection, by preserving the body from corruption; and Herodotus says, "The Egyptians are the first that laid down the principle of the immortality of the human soul; and that, when the body is dissolved, the soul enters into some other animal which is born at the same time; and that, after going the round of all the animals that * Sylva Sylvarum, Cent. X., s. 980.

+ Boyle's Works, Vol. II. p. 451.

inhabit the land, the waters, and the air, it again enters the body of a man which is then born. This circuit, they say, is performed by the soul in 3000 years*.”

There is abundant testimony as to the antiquity of the practice of embalming; but the information possessed as to the period of its cessation is but scanty. We have, however, the evidence of St. Athanasius and St. Augustine upon the subject, and it is clear that it was practised as late as the early part of the fifth century. The practice is distinctly alluded to by these fathers of the Church, who tell us that the Egyptians exercised a process by which the bodies were rendered as durable as brass; and St. Augustine says, the Egyptians had a better idea of the resurrection of the body than any other people. "Egyptii soli credunt resurrectionem, quia diligenter curant cadavera mortuorum: morem enim habent siccare corpora et quasi ænea reddere, Gabbaras ea vocant †.”

Among the ancient authors to whom we are indebted for accounts of the processes of embalming, must be enumerated Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Porphyry. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus describe, with most precision, the several modes of embalming; but Mr. P. stated, that it was impossible to reconcile all the kinds he had even witnessed to the division laid down by these ancient authors. Still it must be confessed, that their authority is of the greatest importance, for there is no one circumstance mentioned by them as belonging to the process of embalming which is not to be found, though perhaps not precisely in the order in which it is described. The time devoted to a lecture is insufficient to dwell upon these particulars; it would merely permit the lecturer to state, that three principal modes had been enumerated, and these he briefly referred to, in order that the kind which had been selected in the mummy, to be unrolled on this occasion, might be the more readily detected.

In the first, the most expensive, the brain was extracted through the nostrils by the aid of bronze crochets, and injections of bitumen were afterwards thrown into the skull. An incision was made into the left flank, from which the intestines were removed, then washed with palm wine, sprinkled with aromatics, and either returned into the body or placed in vases called Canopic. The body was then steeped in a solution of natrum for seventy days, at the expiration of which time it was washed, bandaged in cloths, and deposited in cases.

In the second mode, the brain was not extracted, no incision was made into the flank, but the intestines were withdrawn per anum; after which injections of oil of cedar and of natrum were thrown into the body, and it was steeped in natrum for the specified time. Little beside skin and bone remaining, they were given to their friends without any further operation. In the third mode the inside was washed with a liquor called surmaia (an infusion of senna and cassia), the body placed in natrum, and afterwards delivered to the friends.

Diodorus Siculus is particular in his relation respecting the funeral

Herodot. Hist. lib. ii. s. 123. + Sermones cxx. de Diversis, cap. 12. To those of our readers who may be anxious for more particular information

on this head, we must refer to Mr. Pettigrew's History of Egyptian Mummies, where the several parts of the different processes are minutely detailed.

*

ceremonies of the Egyptians. He tells us that the expense of the first mode of burial was a talent of silver, (two hundred and twenty-five pounds English money); the second, twenty minæ, (seventy-five pounds English); and the third, a trifling sum not mentioned. But the mode being selected, the friends of the deceased leave the body with the embalmers to be prepared. The body being laid down, the scribe marks the place for the incision on the left flank, which is then made by the cutter, or slitter, with an Æthiopic stone. Having done this he flies away as fast as he can, for even his companions in the process of embalming pursue him, cast stones at him, and curse him, the Egyptians holding that whoever offered violence, wounded, or in any way injured a body of the same nature as himself, deserved their hatred. The embalmers they esteemed worthy of honour and respect, and we learn that they were familiar with the priests, and went into the temples as holy men, without any prohibition. Mr. P. inferred from this statement that they were an inferior kind of priesthood. The incision being made, the embalmer removes the intestines and other viscera, all except the heart and kidneys. The intestines, as has been stated, are washed with palm-wine, and then sprinkled with aromatics, sometimes returned into the body, and sometimes placed in canopic vases. Porphyry+ has handed down to us the prayer in the name of the deceased, uttered by the embalmers on this occasion. It is as follows:-"O thou Sun, our lord, and all ye gods, who are the givers of life to men! accept me and receive me into the mansions of the eternal gods; for I have worshipped piously, while I have lived in this world, those divinities whom my parents taught me to adore. I have ever honoured those parents who gave origin to my body, and of other men I have neither killed any, nor robbed them of their treasures, nor inflicted upon them any grievous evil; but if I have done anything injurious to my own soul, either by eating or drinking anything unlawfully, this offence has not been committed by me, but what is contained in this chest," meaning the intestines, which, according to this author, are then thrown into the river. The injections into the body, and the application of the cedria and other substances, complete the process.

According to Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and other historians, the ancient Egyptians were a people holding truth and virtuous conduct in the highest estimation. Their penal laws applying to cases of homicide, parricide, perjury, adultery, rape, &c., mark the high sense of justice entertained by them, and this is even carried to the verge of the tomb; for we learn from Diodorus Siculus, that upon the death of any one, the relations of the deceased were obliged to announce to the judges (assessors forty-two in number) the time at which it was intended to perform the ceremony of burial. This consisted, in the first place, of the passage of the deceased across the lake or canal of the department, or nome, as it was called, to which the deceased had belonged. The jury being named, the assessors assembled, and the court of inquiry was open to all, so that any accusation might be urged against the defunct. Should his life have been bad, the right of sepulture *Biblioth. Histor., lib. i. s. 91. + De Abstinentia, lib. iv. cap. 10.

Lib. i. s. 92.

was denied to him, which was considered as one of the greatest calamities that could occur. If, on the contrary, the life of the deceased had been well-conducted and blameless, and that no reproach could attach to his memory, an eulogium was pronounced upon him, and he was permitted to be entombed with all due honour. Diodorus Siculus informs us, that in these eulogies no mention was ever made of the race or family of the defunct, all the Egyptians being considered equally noble. No one was exempt from this ordeal,-kings as well as the ordinary people were subjected to the same inquiry,—those who during life no one dared to reproach, or whose actions no one dared to question, when dead were submitted to a rigorous examination. A public audience was given to hear all accusations against the deceased monarch. The priests commenced by making his eulogy, and recounting his good actions. If the general opinion of the people as to the government and conduct of the monarch corresponded with that of the priests, the multitude poured forth their acclamations; but if the contrary, murmuring succeeded: and Diodorus Siculus says, there have not been wanting instances of the denial of burial to a deceased sovereign, in accordance with the decision of the people. M. Champollion saw in Biban-el-Molouk, the tomb of a king, in which the sculpture had been defaced from one end to the other, except in those parts where were sculptured the images of the queen, his mother, and of his wife, which have been most religiously respected, as well as the hieroglyphical legends relating to them. M. Champollion conceives this to have been the tomb of a king, condemned by the judgment after his death, and denied the rite of burial*.

Mr. Pettigrew illustrated this part of his subject by reference to some drawings, and to papyri, that had been found within the cases enclosing the mummies. He exhibited drawings of three funeral boats, which are exceedingly curious; two of these were lately purchased, at a very high price, for the British Museum; the third, discovered by Signor Passalacqua, in 1823, in a family sepulchral chamber, in the Necropolis of Thebes, is in the collection belonging to the Prussian government, at Berlin. These boats are all of similar construction, but the latter appeared to be the most complete, and was therefore particularly described. The boat, or bari, is cut out of sycamore-wood, and measures two feet, eight inches, and six lines, French measure. The boat is furnished with a large projecting portion of wood at the prow and at the poop. In the centre is a male mummy extended on a sofa, or table, of which the legs are formed of the limbs of a lion; this is surmounted by a canopy, on which are inscribed various hieroglyphical characters, and is supported by six pillars, painted successively in red, black, white, and green. At the head and feet of the mummy are two female figures; one of them is in an attitude of great grief and desolation, represented by the hair of her head falling upon the mummy, whilst her arms are employed in embracing the deceased; the hands of the other are placed upon the feet of the mummy. Four priests are seated upon the deck of the vessel, one at each corner of the table, or bier, whilst another in front is observed to be holding out a MS. unrolled before him, and appears to be delivering a funeral oration. Another, a sacrificer, is, with knife in

*Lettres écrites d'Egypte et de Nubie, p. 96.