What is this about?
That is the mummified body of Thothirdes. His coffin is shown in a nearby case. As you can see, the body is covered in many shrouds of linen, and would then have been placed in the wooden coffin. The process of mummifying the body was incredibly elaborate, and involved many religious and medicinal rituals. This was to ensure the protection of both the body and the soul of the person as they made the long and difficult journey through the afterlife.
Whoa, is this one a real mummy?
You found Thothirdes! He is an actual mummy, one of four we have in the galleries. The ancient Egyptians mummified the dead to keep the body safe for the afterlife.
You know their names and can recognize them?!
Sometimes! In Thothirdes' case, we have his coffin and the names of the dead were included on the coffins. Other times, we do not know who the person is.
That second one is called the "anonymous man" because we don't know his name! But, we have an idea of what he looks like from that painted board. However, those portraits were usually idealized, meaning the painting would make the person look more handsome or younger than he actually was.
Neat, bye, thanks for helping me!
What is the red binding on the mummy? Does it have a functional or aesthetic purpose?
The red linen probably has a ritual significance. There are texts that reference it in pyramids and coffins.
I'm going to be volunteering here soon and I need to learn more about the collections. How many mummies are here? Is the mummy still in Nespanetjerenpere's container?
Their are four mummies on view. "Mummy and Cartonnage of Hor," "Anthropoid Coffin of Thothirdes," "Inner Cartonnage of Gautsesheni," and "Cartonnage and Mummy." Nespanetjerenpere's cartonnage is empty, the mummy has been lost.
Hor and Gautsesheni are inside of their cartonnages so you can't actually see the mummies themselves, but those two are in there. You can see Thothirdes and one more unnamed mummy. Those would be the two the kids are really after!
Who is this?
This is the mummy and anthropoid coffin of Thothirdes. His mummy is elaborately wrapped using two colors of linen. His coffin is adorned with mythological scenes and writings that would have been important for his journey to the afterlife and the preservation of his spirit.
If you look closely at the center of the lid of the coffin you'll see an image of Thothirdes as a mummy. The human headed bird nearby represents his "ba," one aspect of his spirit. The ba was believed to be an individual’s physical and psychic alter ego.
What am I looking at?
You're looking at the mummy of Thothirdes. His coffin is shown in a nearby case. As you can see, the body is covered in many shrouds of linen, and would then have been placed in the wooden coffin. The process of mummifying the body was incredibly elaborate, and involved many religious rituals during the embalming process. This was to ensure the protection of both the body and the soul of the person as they made the long and difficult journey through the afterlife.
There are currently four mummies in the galleries: Thothrides, Hor, Gautseshenu, and the Anonymous Man. Let me know if you'd like any more information about the mummification process or any of the mummies on view.
Before becoming mummies, most of them were important people?
Important might not be the right word, wealthy might be a better term. Generally, royalty, the nobility or the very wealthy could afford lavish and highly decorative funerary rites. Thothirdes, for example, was a priest.
What does this mean? Why is there a cow on the bottom of the coffin?
That is the Apis bull which carried the mummy of Osiris on his back to Osiris’s son Horus. The idea is that the mummy (here Thothirdes) will be resurrected like Osiris was. The story of Osiris’s death and resurrection is a key concept in one of the foundational myths of the Ancient Egyptian religion, explaining how Osiris became the king of the Underworld after having been king on earth.