Ancient Egyptian learning pack - Horniman Museumstaging.horniman.ac.uk/media/_file/Ancient_Egypt_March_2014_Final.… · Contents Introduction How the Horniman acquired the Ancient

Ancient Egyptianlearning pack

Contents

IntroductionHow the Horniman acquired the Ancient Egypt objectsLocation of the Ancient Egyptian objects in the Horniman Museum and GardensAncient Egypt objects in the African Worlds GalleryAncient Egypt objects in the Music Gallery

Activity ideas for before your visitObject investigation worksheet

Activities for your visit to the MuseumCanopic jarsAn Egyptian tombWish listEgyptian godsAnimal mummiesAfterlife

Activity ideas for use after your visit to the MuseumUnwrapping the mummy

pre

post

atm

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Pre-visit1314

At the Museum15151617181920

Post-visit2122

To book a free 45 minute Ancient Egypt session visit:horniman.ac.uk/learn/nurseries-schools-and-colleges or telephone the Schools Learning Team on 020 8291 8686.

Ancient Egyptianlearning pack

The Museum has a concise display of Ancient Egyptian objects relating to mummification and funerary rites. This display is in the African Worlds Gallery, at the far end of the hall from the introductory information. The Ancient Egyptian objects are placed in the context of contemporary African societies. The display is entitled “Kemet,” the Ancient Egyptians’ name for their own kingdom. This means the “black land,” a reference to the black, silty mud from the annual Nile floods that fertilized the land. Also in the African Worlds Gallery there is a small display case of Ancient Egyptian metal figures, which is opposite the collection of Benin brass plaques.

A pair of Ancient Egyptian ivory clappers is displayed in the Music Gallery.

Our displays do not include objects about the everyday life of the Ancient Egyptians. Most of the objects on display date from the New Kingdom(1550 – 1069 BC). The metal figurines are from the Greco-Roman or Ptolemaic period (305 – 30 BC).

This pack supports the Ancient Egypt session but is also useful for groups visiting the Museum on a self-led visit. It includes ideas for pre- and post-visit activities and also has activity sheets, which can be used in the Museum galleries.

The pack includes information about the location of Ancient Egyptian objects in the Museum; information about the founder, Frederick Horniman, and his collecting of Ancient Egyptian objects, and specific information about the objects on display.

The information given in this pack duplicates what is said in the Ancient Egypt session, so might be more useful as a reminder after a visit to the Museum.

The learning pack for teachers of Key Stage 2 History. However, teachers of other subjects or levels may find specific information about these objects a useful preparation for their visit.

introduction

Ancient Egypt Introduction © Horniman Museum and Gardens 3

Location of the Ancient Egyptian objects in the Museum

In this pack

National Curriculum links

Introduction

Frederick Horniman (1835 - 1906) joined his father’s tea business at the age of fourteen. He collected “curios and specimens of insect life” from an early age. Later, Frederick Horniman travelled widely and collected many interesting objects on his travels. At first he displayed his collections at his home, Surrey House, but when this became difficult he commissioned the present museum building, which opened in 1901.

In January 1896, Frederick Horniman travelled for two weeks in Egypt. He wrote about his tour for a local newspaper. On the trip he met Howard Carter, before he excavated the tomb of Tutankhamun. On January 20th, Carter showed Mr Horniman around the temples of Luxor and Karnak. Carter then took Mr Horniman to “the houses of several collectors, and [he] secured some interesting and genuine Egyptian relics for the Museum at Forest Hill.”

The next day Carter’s colleague, Dr Narille, head of the Egypt Exploration Fund, showed Mr Horniman around the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri. Mr Horniman was impressed by the work of the Fund and wrote, “I did myself the honour of becoming a donor and subscriber to the Fund, which is being so ably and judiciously employed.” This proved beneficial to the Museum, as a coffin found at Deir-el-Bahri, which is not on display in African Worlds, was presented to Mr Horniman by the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund, according to the Museum’s annual report of 1896.

On February 24th 1897, Mr Horniman organised a lecture on mummies. He allowed the speaker to unwrap a mummy in order to illustrate the lecture. The newspaper accounts of the lecture are included here under the post-visit activities. The Museum’s annual report of 1897, also included in the post-visit activities, confirms that the mummy, which was unwrapped, was that of Pet-Amena-Neb-Nest-Taiu. At the conclusion of the evening Mr Horniman gave his guests a souvenir of wrappings from the mummy.

Ancient Egypt Introduction 4

How the Horniman acquired the Ancient Egyptian objects

“……We had yesterday Mr Horniman

(of Horniman’s tea fame) visit, he had

luncheon with us. Carter took him over the

temple, and he was so much interested

and struck by the beauty and the size of

the work that he said at once that he would

give us one day’s profit, £100, and an

annual subscription of £5. He immediately

took out his chequebook, and wrote out

the enclosed cheque……..I am bound to

say that it is to Carter that the Society is

indebted for that gift. It is he who made Mr

Horniman acquainted with the Fund, and

who took him over the temple yesterday.”

Letter from Edouard Naville to H.A. Grueber,

22nd January 1896

© Horniman Museum and Gardens

Gallery Square

Lift

Tower Entrance

Down To Aquarium

Up To Main Entrance

Centenary Gallery

Hands on Space

African Worlds Gallery

Music Gallery

1

2

3 4 5

6

7

Lower Ground Floor

Object locator gallery map

African Worlds Gallery

1 Female mummy bandaged in linen wrappings

Coffin case

Coffin lid with portrait of an Egyptian priestess

Coffin lid with portrait of an Egyptian lady


Canopic jars

Shabti figures and shabti box

Scarab amulet

Heart scarab amulet

The Eye of Horus

Stone stela

Wooden stela

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris

2 Ancient Egyptian metal figures

Music Gallery

3 Childhood and Learning

4 Adulthood and Survival

5 Death and Remembrance

6 Trading Sounds

7 Listening to Order


objectsAncient Egyptian objects in the Horniman Museum and Gardens


This mummy was placed inside the coffin case displayed below the body itself. Hieroglyphs on the coffin case identify her as “Henut Sokar,” which means wife of Sokar and suggests that she was a priestess of Sokar1. The inscriptions also state that she worked as a priestess of the Ka2 and that she was responsible for providing food offerings at an altar set up in the name of a deceased person. She could also have been part of the temple personnel

at the Temple of Amun at Karnak, possibly as a musician or a singer. These were the sorts of jobs which might have been done by noble ladies. The style of decoration on the coffin case suggests that Henut lived during the New Kingdom era. This mummy has wrappings that are criss-crossed in an elaborate pattern all over her body. The wrappings have been daubed with bitumen. She has a cartonnage3 mask, which extends from the face and neck to the pelvic area, and is bound within the wrappings. Look for the false slippers on the base of the feet.


Female mummy bandaged in linen wrappings

Coffin case

1 Sokar: earth or fertility god from Memphis (near modern Cairo), who was also a patron of craftsmen

2 Ka: the creative life force of the individual. In the afterlife the ka reunited with the ba to bring the corpse back to life.

3 Cartonnage: linen or papyrus stiffened with plaster (“gesso”) and decorated with paint4 Osiris: god of the afterlife. In earlier times he was associated with fertility and the

growing of the corn.

This coffin belongs to Henut, the mummy detailed above. The head end the coffin has the sign of a knot of Isis (also called tyet), which symbolises the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, surrounded by papyrus plants and ostrich feathers.

On the near side of the coffin, from right to left, you can see figures of the four sons of Horus, who also often appear on the lids of canopic jars. These are:Qebsennuef (hawk’s head), who guarded the intestines;Hapi (ape’s head), who guarded the lungs;Duamutef (jackal’s head), who guarded the stomach;Imsety (human head), who guarded the liver.

Left of these is an image of a deceased person, who is depicted in men’sclothes. This suggests that the coffin was not made especially for Henut.Next to this, Osiris4 is seated on a throne under a canopy and Thoth, theibis-headed god of writing, assists him.

See 1 on map



This coffin lid has a small face and an outsized wig with a vulture feather headdress. The hands are heavily stylised; their shape suggests the crossing of the arms seen on mummies from particular eras, reflecting Osiris holding the crook and flail.

A standard offerings formula5, which does not include the name of the deceased, runs vertically down the centre of the coffin lid. Anubis is pictured sitting above the writing.

5 Offerings formula: asking Osiris or Anubis to make sure that the deceased is provided for in the afterlife. Bread and beer are almost always mentioned which feed the Ka.

6 Weighing of the heart ceremony: this ceremony takes place in the underworld and passing the test is a pre-requisite for entering the afterlife. The deceased’s heart (put back into the body before being wrapped in bandages) is weighed against the feather of truth – if the heart is lighter the person is allowed into the afterlife by Osiris, if it is heavier the heart is eaten and the deceased stays in the underworld.

7 Ba: the “personality” of the individual. It left the physical body after death and is depicted, on coffins, as a bird. When the ba reunited with the ka in the afterlife, it allowed the individual to live again in the form of the “akh.”

Coffin lid with portrait of an Egyptian priestess


The upper part of this coffin lid shows the weighing of the heart ceremony6.

Below the representation of the weighing of the heart, falcons with sun discs and outstretched wings flank a picture of the dead person, who is lying on an animal-shaped couch or bier, with the canopic jars placed underneath. Winged uraei (snakes) with sun discs flank the falcon, representing the ba7 of the dead person. Look for symbols that protect the body, such as the Eye of Horus (wadjet or udjat).

The coffin has an offering formula on the feet.

See 1 on map



This coffin is shown sideways so that you can see the inside and outside of it. This coffin case has been identified as belonging to Peta-Amena-Neb (or “Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest-Taiu”). The body of this priestess was unwrapped during a lecture at Surrey House in 1897 (see the post-visit activities for more information).

Inside the coffin:The representation and hieroglyphs indicate that this is the goddess of the sky, Nut. Nut features in the creation myth of the Ancient Egyptians. As the wife of Geb the Earth God, she was the mother of Osiris, Isis, Nepthys and Seth.

Nut is depicted on the interior of coffin lids (particularly from the New Kingdom onwards) because, just as her body arched over the Earth, with each limb touching a cardinal point, so she enfolds and protects the mummy. It was believed that Nut also swallowed the setting sun and gave birth to it in the morning. In this way Nut is looking after the mummy and will give birth to it again.

Outside the coffin:On the coffin breast Nut is depicted again, this time with outstretched wings.(Her name is in the sun disc above her head).

Look for the body of the dead person lying on an animal-shaped couch. There is a bird flying above the body, which is a symbol of the ba, sometimes the bird had a human head, that of the deceased. The physical body had to reunite with the ba every night. The Book of the Dead contains a spell about the ba: it says that the ba bird should be placed on the mummy’s chest to help this to take place. The mummy mask and hieroglyphic inscriptions of the person’s name will help the ba to locate the right body.

Under this, the four sons of Horus are represented twice, with eyes of Horus at the feet. There are five columns of dedication to Amen, Seb Ap-Uat, Ra and Osiris-Kheut Amenti respectively (1897 annual report).


See 1 on map



Shabti figures and shabti box

The shabti furthermost to the left may be made of wood or clay covered in a plaster called gesso and painted. The other three figures in our display are made of faience. This ceramic material consisted mainly of quartz particles mixed with water and moulded into shape. The glaze was usually bright blue or green but other colours could also be made. The shape of the shabti box is like the shape of the “pylons” or gates of Egyptian temples.

Scarab amulet

Canopic jars

Both the canopic jars in the “Kemet” display have a human head, with hieroglyphic descriptions. While these jars should have contained livers, the jar on top has an inscription that mentions Hapi, the ape-headed god who guarded the lungs. What do you think happened?

Scarab amulets are modelled on the dung beetle. This insect lays its eggs in bits of dung, which it rolls into balls. The newly hatched beetle emerging from the ball of dung was linked to Ancient Egyptian ideas of resurrection, because the Egyptian word for “existence” sounded very like the word for “beetle.” The amulet symbolised resurrection and linked to living forever in the Afterlife.

See 1 on map

Left: Picture of amulet from the Handling Collection



Picture from the handling collection

Heart scarab amulet

The heart scarab was an essential funerary amulet placed over the heart. On the underside a spell is inscribed telling the heart to say nothing during the weighing of the heart ceremony, for fear it might make a guilty confession.

The Eye of Horus (also called “wadjet” or “udjat”) amulet

This symbol ensured good health and it protected the wearer against the evil eye.

Stone stela

The names of the four people pictured are written above their heads. They are smelling lotus flowers. In the Egyptian creation myth the sun rose out of this flower so it became a symbol of rebirth. The women have blocks of hair pomade, made of scented animal fat, on their heads.

The text below the figures is a standard offerings inscription:

“An offering, which the king gives to Osiris, the head of the Westerners (the dead), the great god, ruler of everlasting time.May he give offerings of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, clothing, incense, oil, all good, pure things, on which a god lives, for the ka of Nebmehyt (man on left) and Pa-Men-Neferwadju (woman on left).”

Wooden stela

This shows the falcon-headed sun god (Ra) crossing celestial waters with three other gods to meet the deceased. The inscription is a hymn to Ra, from the Book of the Dead.

See 1 on map


These figures are opposite the Benin plaques. Bronze casting, using the lost wax method, originated in Egypt. The copper required for the figures was mined in the Eastern desert, the Sinai region and Nubia to the south of Egypt. The video recording, which accompanies the Benin display, shows the lost wax (“cire perdue”) method.

These figures are votives: they were offered to a deity in connection with a vow. They date from the Greco-Roman or Ptolemaic period (305 – 30 BC).

The figures include Isis suckling her son Horus, Osiris, Ptah, Nefertum and Hathor. There is also a cat, which may be offered in honour of the goddess Bastet and a bull, representing Apis.

Ptah – patron deity of metal smithsNefertum – lord of the perfumesHathor – goddess of musicBastet – goddess of the town BubastisApis – sacred bull associated with Ptah


Spells or magical texts from the Book of the Dead were inscribed on papyrus and placed in the tomb. Sometimes these were stored inside hollow figures such as this one representing Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, a composite form of the god of the dead. These figures also sometimes contained corn mummies. Corn grain was mixed with soil and wrapped in linen bandages in the form of a mummy. The figure was given a facemask made of wax. The inclusion of corn in the funerary equipment enabled resurrection to take place, as Osiris was also a fertility god who made the corn grow.

Ptah is the creator god of Memphis8 who devised the opening of the mouth ceremony; this elaborate ritual involved touching the mummy’s mouth with a forked instrument. It was believed to bring the corpse back to life so that it can become a vessel for the ka of the deceased. He was identified with Osiris as early as the Old Kingdom (3100 – 2686 BC).

Sokar is a hawk god from Memphis who was also associated with Ptah.

The gods were unified as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris during the Middle Kingdom (2055 – 1650 BC). The god’s crown is composed of ram’s horns, reeds, ostrich feathers and a sun disc.

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris

8 Memphis: capital during the early Dynastic period (3100 – 2686 BC) and during the Old Kingdom, (2686 – 2181BC)

Ancient Egyptian metal figures

See 1 on map

See 2 on map



Music and dancing was a popular pastime, and entertainment at feasts and banquets formed part of religious rituals. Musicians were professional and usually women of fairly high status. There is no evidence of a recognisable musical notation having been used but the words of many songs and hymns have survived.

In the Gallery you will see the following instruments which are similar to the instruments which might have been used by the Ancient Egyptians.

Childhood and Learning No 11 Vessel rattle, El Amarna, Egypt; c. 1360 BC

Adulthood and Survival No 27 Tanbur, long-necked lute and nahun, plectrum; from UzbekistanNo 34 Doira, frame drum; Uzbekistan

Death and Remembrance No 18 Tambourine used in churches, KenyaNo 22 Tsenatsil, sistrum, EthiopiaNo 30 Rababa, lyre used in zar ceremonies, Eritrea

Trading Sounds No 57 Setar, lute; Iran

Listening to Order No 11 Concussion plaques of bone in the form of

a pair of hands; Egypt c. 1450 BC. Given by Sir Flinders Petrie.

No 183 Beganna, lyre; Amhara people, EthiopiaNo 184 Endongo eya soga, lyre; Ganda people,

UgandaNo 236 Nanga, arched harp, SudanNo 237 Nanga, arched harp, Uganda

Ancient Egypt in the Music Gallery

music

See 3-7 on map


Ancient Egypt Pre-visit activities 13

Find pictures of animals that live in Egypt. Find out about the gods who were identified with these animals. Make a poster showing the links.

Why did the Egyptians make the jackal into a god?

Read Herodotus’ account of mummification. Find out about other conditions that preserve bodies, e.g. mummies found in Russia and Central America, or bodies found in peat bogs in the British Isles.

How have these conditions preserved the bodies?

In the Museum you will see the goddess Nut on the inside of a coffin lid.Read the story of the Egyptian creation myth.

Compare this with other creation myths(e.g. of the Ancient Greeks).

Take close-up photographs of Egyptian figures on the objectsfor your class to act out during or after your visit.

Being able to examine objects and question them is a skill that can be learned in the classroom before a visit. We can find out a lot about objects and what they were used for just by looking at them. Use the Object Investigation Sheet on page 14.

Start this investigation in the class by selecting some everyday objects for small groups of students to look at. They should try to forget everything they know about the object and just concentrate on what they can find out about it from a close examination.

They could focus on colour, shape, size and materials it is made from. They might also like to think about whether they can tell what it might be used for and who might have used it.

Questions like these can be transferred to the Museum setting, getting pupils to closely examine the archaeological artefacts on display.

Animal gods

Mummification

Creation

Walk like an Egyptian

Looking at objects

pre-visit activitiesPre-visit activities


Ancient Egypt Pre-visit activities 14

Worksheet to develop questioning skills

What colour is it?

What shape is it?

Is it whole?(are bits missing?)

What materials is itmade from?(wood, plaster, fabric,stone, clay)

How do you think thisobject was used?

Who do you thinkmight have used itand why?

object investigationObject investigation

Draw a close-up of some of the detail on the object.

Draw a picture of the object in the box.

.........................................................

.........................................................

.........................................................

.........................................................

.........................................................

.........................................................

.........................................................

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gs


Ancient Egypt At the Museum 15

Canopic jars

at the museumAt the MuseumFind the canopic jars in the African Worlds Gallery. In one of the boxes below draw the jar. Look really closely at the jar and copy some of the hieroglyphics on it.

When you go back to school, look up what the other canopic jars look like.Draw them in the other three boxes. Each jar had a different gods head and had something different inside. Label the jars’ with the name of the god and the jars contents.



An Egyptian tomb

People put objects the dead would need in the afterlife.

What else would you put into a tomb?

Add your ideas to your picture.

All of the objects in the last display case of Egyptian objects come from an Egyptian tomb. Look at the picture below andadd in the missing objects by copying the objects in the display.

When you’ve drawn them in, label your picture.

tomb


W ...................................................

M ...................................................

P ...................................................


Find the metal figures in the gallery(opposite the Benin brasses and near to the Ijele mask).

These figures were used by Egyptians as offerings when they made a wish or asked for something from the gods.

Wish list

wish

What are the three things these figures can be made from?

What would your wish be?Write it in the thought bubble.

Draw one of the figures in the space.


18Ancient Egypt At the Museum

Look really closely at all the objects in the Egyptian cases, what can you see?

Egyptian Gods

gods

How many times can you see the ibis headed Godof Wisdom?

..................Find the ScarletIbis in the NaturalHistory Gallery.

AnubisThothAnubis is said to be the god of mummification.

Draw the mummy on display in thebox below.

HorusThis symbol is the eye of Horus (wadjet). Egyptians thought it would protect them from evil.

On which objects can you see this symbol?

..................

..................

..................

..................

..................

..................

OsirisOsiris is the King of theDead and looks aftereveryone who has died.

Look closely at howhe is dressed.

What does itremind you of?

Can you find a scene like this anywhere on the objects?



Animal mummies The ancient Egyptians believed that some animals were sacred or holy because they stood for various gods. Some people would bring presents of mummified animals for the gods when they went to worship them.

Look at the pictures below and see if you can find the animal which has been mummified in the Natural History Gallery.

When you’ve found them match the picturewith the animals name by drawing an arrow.

animal

Baboon

Ibis

Cat

Bull

Falcon

Crocodile



Afterlife

afterlife

The scene in this picture shows the weighing of the heart ceremony. When an Egyptian died they went to the underworld where they would have their heart weighed to see if they had been good or bad during their life.

If they were good – their heart was lighter than the feather of truth and they would go to the afterlife.

If they were bad – their heart was heavier than the feather of truth and their heart would be eaten by Ammut and they had to stay in the underworld.

Draw a comic strip of the weighing of the heart ceremony in the boxes.

Add speech and thought bubbles to the characters inthe story.

Was your main character good or bad in their lifetime?

Does Ammut get to eat their heart?

What will they say to Osiris when they meet him?


Ancient Egypt Post-visit activities 21

Mr Horniman has just come back from his fortnight in Egypt where he bought the objects you saw in the Museum.

Design an advertisement for the local newspaper about the new display of Ancient Egyptian objects at the Horniman Museum and Gardens.

“I was there when they unwrapped the mummy.”

Mr Horniman invited people to a talk about mummies. He gave permission for one of the mummies to be unwrapped during the talk.

Pretend that you were at the talk and write a diary entryabout your evening.

See the attached source for newspaper clippings about the event.

Look at your drawing of the canopic jar you made at the Museum. It is one of a set of four. The other three have animal heads.

Find out what the other three look like and add them to your sheet to complete the set.

Find out what goes inside each jar and label it with information about its contents and the names of the protecting gods.

From the photographs you took at the Museum,ask your pupils to choose a pose and strike it.

See if other people in the class can guess who they are trying to copy.

Maybe a group of students would like to make a frieze of a scene found onsome of the objects, for example the weighing of the heart ceremony foundon the coffin lid.

Roll up! Roll up!

I was there…

A complete set

Walk like an Egyptian

post-visit activitiesPost-visit activities



“On February 24th Mr Horniman presided

at a lecture, given before the Dulwich

Scientific and Literary Association by

Mr H W Mengedoht, on “Mummies

and their History.” After giving a very

graphic account of the different methods

of embalming, and how these varied

at different periods, he proceeded to

illustrate his subject, by unrolling, with

the assistance of Mr Quick, the mummy

which Mr Horniman had kindly lent for the

occasion from the Museum collection.

The body was first removed from the

case of painted sycamore, and placed

on the table. The mummy measured a

little over five feet in its bandages. The

ancient Egyptians were short in stature.

Over the whole of the bandages was a

kind of shroud bound with tape-like strips,

passing around and across diagonally.

The bandages were numerous and of

different texture, applied with great

neatness and precision. The limbs were

separately bandaged. On the ends of two

of the bandages some hieroglyphical

Extract from “The Horniman Free Museum Seventh Annual Report 1897”Events of the Year, 1897

characters were found, bearing reference

to the date of the operation, etc, the

month corresponding with our March. The

bandages being removed, the body was

exposed. The brain had been extracted

through the nostrils, and the viscera from

the abdomen by an incision in the left side,

and returned into the cavity, which was

filled with the dust of some bitter wood.

The nails on both hands and feet were

perfect, and had been stained with hennah.

No scarabei or other ornaments were

found upon it, and the lecturer declared it

to be a Memphite mummy of the period of

about 1500 BC. It was that of a woman of

about sixty years of age.

On the lid of the coffin the name was given

of Peta-Amen-Neb-Nest-Taiu, who was

a priestess of Amen-Ra and daughter of

an officer of high rank at Thebes (whose

mummy is now in the British Museum).

Mr Horniman gave to each of the visitors

present a small sample of the mummy

cloth, as a souvenir of the occasion.”

Additional excerpts from another newspaper report….

“He (Mr Mengedoht) had made careful search for ornaments and writings from the Book of the

Dead, but found none. The mummies head, which had come off the trunk, was stuffed with gum

and myrrh…”

“the lecturer added, with a smile, it was impossible now to state the cause of death…”

“The cavity of the chest was stuffed with sawdust and aromatics….”

Unwrapping the Mummy



Mummies and Their History – A Unique

Illustration

“A more effective or unique illustration of

a lecture could not possibly be than that

which took place in Lordship Lane Hall on

Wednesday night, when Mr H W Mengedoht

discoursed on “Mummies and their History.”

Mr Fredk. John Horniman, M.P., presided,

and kindly permitted a Mummy, upwards of

three thousand years old, from his Museum

to be unrolled in order to demonstrate

the pains taken by the ancient Egyptians

in preserving the bodies of their notable

dead. In the Horniman Free Museum there

are many of these Mummies which have

been secured from the tombs in the great

pyramids of Egypt, and Mr Mengedoht was

very fortunate indeed in being permitted

to illustrate his lecture so realistically as

was the case through the kindneas of Mr

Horniman, who once again showed his

willingness to assist in anything tending

towards the enlightenment of the people.

Very little is known at the present time

regarding the mummification of the dead as

practised by the Ancients, but the Mummies

recovered from the tombs have thrown such

a powerful light upon early civilisation that

any further information is welcomed and

highly appreciated by the men of research.

In addition to the Mummy were also many

other Ancient Egyptian articles from the

Museum, and which, it is needless to state,

From local newspapers…(with original spelling and punctuation!)

proved a great attraction, and lent force

to the explanations given by the Lecturer,

who appeared to be a thorough master of

the subject.

Mr Fredk. John Horniman, M.P., who

received a most cordial reception,

said it was indeed a pleasure to him to

introduce to them a gentleman who

was quite an authority upon the subject

which they sought to have elucidated

that night. As the lecture, however, would

be a somewhat lengthy one it would be

unfair on his part to take up the time,

and therefore he would merely ask Mr

Mengedoht to deliver his lecture.

Mr Mengedoht, who was loudly cheered,

said Mummies differed at various periods.

The mummies from Thebes were very

pliable and were in nine cases out of

ten Priests or Priestesses. No expense

was spared in embalming them, in fact

the process adopted at this period was

a very expensive one. The Mummies of

Memphite would last for ever. They were

worked in pitch to such an extent that

the pitch very often impregnated the

skin and flesh to such a degree that one

could not tell the difference between the

pitch and the other part of the body. In

one instance he had had to use a chopper

in order to cut off the legs of one of this

class of Mummy. The Mummy of the



From local newspapers… (continued)

Macedonian period differed from the two

just quoted. There was no such thing as

pitch used in the process of mummification,

and there was no pliability. These Mummies

were nearly always preserved in honey.

The bodies were doubled up in a way as

to permit their being placed in a jar, and

over them poured liquid honey and wax.

The preserving power of honey was very

great. He himself had experimented in this

way. He placed a mouse in honey and left it

there for two and a half years, and he could

assure them that at the end of that period

it was taken out in as good a condition as

when placed there, there being not the

slightest sign of decomposition. He then

described very lucidly the means adopted in

mummification, showing how the methods

varied at different periods. He then went on

to state that mummification was killed on

the introduction of Christianity into Egypt.

It was supposed by the ancient Egyptians

that after thousands of years the soul would

return to the body, and that was why they

were so particular in preserving the bodies

of their dead. As soon as they were taught

to believe in the resurrection they realised

that it was useless to embalm, and they at

once began to practise economy. He then

described the coffins of different periods,

and explained how they varied in shape

from time to time, and then enlightened

the audience as to the parts supposed to

be played by the figures which generally

accompanied the Mummies. The process of

unrolling the Mummy was then proceeded

with, and from time to time Mr Mengedoht

came upon information which he imparted

to the audience. It was wrapped in several

hundred yards of cloth, and when nearing

the body the Lecturer stated that it was

a Memphite Mummy of the period about

1,500 B.C. When the body came to view it

created much curiosity. An inscription was

found which, said the Lecturer, was written

in a priest’s hand. Mr Mengedoht explained

the conditions under which he found the

different parts, and stated that the mummy

was that of a woman between 60 or 70

years of age. At the conclusion of the

lecture the audience were asked to inspect

the Mummy, and almost without exception

the vast assembly accepted the invitation.

Hearty votes of thanks were accorded the

Chairman and Lecturer on the motion of

Mr J. R. Manning, who said how deeply they

were indebted to Mr Horniman for the loan

of the Mummy, and to Mr Mengedoht for

the treat he had offered them that night.

Mr Horniman kindly presented each person

with a small portion of the cloth with which

the Mummy had been wrapped.”


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Ancient Egyptian learning pack - Horniman Museumstaging.horniman.ac.uk/media/_file/Ancient_Egypt_March_2014_Final.… · Contents Introduction How the Horniman acquired the Ancient