"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 incision 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 adapted for the poor. In this they merely cleanse the body by an injection of syrmæa, and salt it during seventy days, after which it is returned to the friends who brought it."
Sir G. Wilkinson gives some further information with regard to the more expensive mode of embalming. The body, having been prepared with the proper spices and drugs, was enveloped in linen bandages sometimes 1,000 yards in length. It was then enclosed in a cartonage fitting close to the mummied body, which was richly painted and covered in front with a network of beads and bugles arranged in a tasteful form, the face being laid over with a thick gold leaf, and the eyes made of enamel. The three or four cases which successively covered the cartonage were ornamented in like manner with painting and gilding, and the whole was enclosed in a sarcophagus of wood or stone, profusely charged with painting or sculpture. These cases, as well as the cartonage, varied in style and richness, according to the expense incurred by the friends of the deceased. The bodies thus embalmed were generally of priests of various grades. Sometimes the skin itself was covered with gold leaf; sometimes the whole body, the face, or eyelids; sometimes the nails alone. In many instances the body or the cartonage was beautified in an expensive manner, and the outer cases were little ornamented; but some preferred the external show of rich cases and sarcophagi. Some mummies have been found with the face covered by a mask of cloth fitting closely to it, and overlaid with a coating of composition, so painted as to resemble the deceased, and to have the appearance of flesh. These, according to Sir G. Wilkinson, are probably of a Greek epoch. Greek mummies usually differed from those of the Egyptians in the manner of disposing the bandages of the arms and legs. No Egyptian is found with the limbs bandaged separately, as those of Greek mummies. On the breast was frequently placed a scarabæus in immediate contact with the flesh. These scarabæi, when of stone, had their extended wings made of lead or silver. On the cartonage and case, in a corresponding situation above, the same emblem was also placed, to indicate the protecting influence of the Deity. The subjects painted upon the cartonage were the four genii of Amenti, and various emblems belonging to deities connected with the dead. A long line of hieroglyphics extending down the front usually contained the name and quality of the deceased, and the offerings presented by him to the gods; and transverse bands frequently repeated the former, with similar donations to other deities. On the breast was placed the figure of Netpe, with expanded wings, protecting the deceased; sacred arks, boats, and other things were arranged in different compartments, and Osiris, Isis, Anubis, and other deities, were frequently introduced. In some instances Isis was represented throwing her arms round the feet of the mummy, with this appropriate legend: "I embrace thy feet." A plaited beard was attached to the chin when the mummy was that of a man; the absence of this appendage indicated the mummy of a woman.
SARCOPHAGUS, OR COFFIN. (With Noah's Ark cut in relief on the outside.)[ToList]
Mummy Cases and Sarcophagi.—The outer case of the mummy was either of wood—sycamore or cedar—or of stone. When of wood it had a flat or circular summit, sometimes with a stout square pillar rising at each angle. The whole was richly painted, and some of an older age frequently had a door represented near one of the corners. At one end was the figure of Isis, at the other Nepthys, and the top was painted with bands or fancy devices. In others, the lid represented the curving top of the ordinary Egyptian canopy. The stone coffins, usually called sarcophagi, were of oblong shape, having flat straight sides, like a box, with a curved or pointed lid. Sometimes the figure of the deceased was represented upon the latter in relief, like that of the Queen of Amasis in the British Museum; and some were in the form of a King's name or oval. Others were made in the shape of the mummied body, whether of basalt, granite, slate, or limestone, specimens of which are met with in the British Museum. These cases were deposited in the sepulchral chambers. Various offerings were placed near them, and sometimes the instruments of the profession of the deceased. Near them were also placed vases and small figures of the deceased, of wood or vitrified earthenware. In Sir John Soane's museum is the sarcophagus of Seti I. (Menephtha) B.C. 1322, cut out of a single block of Oriental alabaster. It is profusely covered with hieroglyphics, and scenes on it depict the passage of the sun through the hours of the night. It was found by Belzoni in his tomb in the Biban-el-molouk. The sarcophagus now in the British Museum was formerly supposed to have been the identical sarcophagus which contained the body of Alexander the Great. The hieroglyphic name, which has been read upon the monument, proves it to be that of Nectanebo I., of the thirtieth dynasty, who reigned from B.C. 381 to 363. Its material is a breccia from a quarry near Thebes, and is remarkable for its hardness. A remarkable rectangular-shaped coffin of whinstone was that of Menkare, the Mycerinus of the Greeks, and the builder of the third pyramid; this interesting relic was found by Colonel Vyse in the sepulchral chambers of the third pyramid, but was unfortunately lost at sea while on its way to England. The remains of the cedar-coffin of this monarch are in the British Museum. Many beautiful sarcophagi are in the Vatican at Rome.
COFFIN OF ALABASTER. (Features of the deceased Sculptured.)[ToList]