<em>Cartonnage and Mummy of an Anonymous Man</em>, 3rd century C.E. Human remains, wood (Ficus sycomorus, sycamore fig), grass, linen, plaster, pigment, a: cartonnage: 13 1/4 x 35 7/16 in. (33.7 x 90.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.128a-e. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.128a_52.128e_PS2.jpg)

Cartonnage and Mummy of an Anonymous Man, 3rd century C.E. Human remains, wood (Ficus sycomorus, sycamore fig), grass, linen, plaster, pigment, a: cartonnage: 13 1/4 x 35 7/16 in. (33.7 x 90.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.128a-e. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.128a_52.128e_PS2.jpg)

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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!

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!

What is left of this mummy, bones or flesh?

There are definitely bones in the mummy and there is also skin and some flesh too. During the mummification process many organs were removed and the rest of the body was dried out to preserve as much as possible. Check out the wall panels to see some CT scans of the mummies on view!

I would like to know more about this mummy. What is the mummification process?

Mummification was a long process that had many iterations over Ancient Egyptian history. The most basic step was that the body was dried to slow decomposition by being packed in natron (a type of salt) and then linen or other materials were packed in the the face and torso help restore shape. Earlier in history most of the internal organs were removed before the drying process, but in the Roman period it was common for mummies to have their organs left inside the torso--like this man--so they would not have to be buried separately.

After all of this, of course, the body was tightly wrapped in linen. The tradition of adding a cartonnage mask (like the one you see here) began in the First Intermediate period almost 2000 years before this man died. The style of his mask though is distinctly Roman and was common at Deir el-Bahri where this mummy was excavated.

It looks like there's a swastika on this mummy--I thought that swastikas were a common Hindu symbol around this time period. How did it make its way into the Egyptian tradition?

Swastikas actually occur across a whole number of ancient (and modern) cultures, through different paths of development. Egyptians adopted the symbol from the Greeks. In Greek art, the swastika first appeared in the Geometric period and had connotations of life, movement, and holiness. By the Late Roman period swastikas were common in Egypt, especially on textiles.

Was everyone allowed to be a mummy?

Yes! Mummification was part of burial practices for every Egyptian. The very wealthy could obviously afford a much more elaborate mummification process. There are three known methods for Mummification, each is sharply divided by price. The most expensive involved removing internal organs and a very long process of drying the body via salt and other compounds. The cheapest method involved liquifying the internal organs and later draining them though the deceased anus.

Is the mummification process well documented?

There is some documentation of the process. Egyptologists have also done a number of experiments in recent years on the process to figure out how the ancient Egyptians did it.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus described three ways of mummifying bodies in his writings. He had traveled to Egypt in the 5th century BCE.

The different types of mummification that one could undergo after death depended on the cultural ideas at the time, such as our later period examples with Greco-Roman mummy portraits, and the amount of money one had.

Ah money.

I had never seen this. How come museums rarely exhibit the mummies themselves?

Some museums simply don't have them in their collections. Our Egyptian collection is very old, many objects on view came to the United States in the nineteenth century. Our curator believes that there is artistic value in the wrapped mummies we have on display, which is why they're presented as such.

Cool. Thanks!

My son wants to know what kind of cloth the mummies were wrapped in?

The mummies are wrapped in linen. You can see the outer linen wrappings of Demetrios and our Anonymous Man. Hor's mummy is encased in cartonnage which is made from linen and plaster.

Are there any bones in the mummies in the Mummy Chamber?

Yes, in fact the bones are largely what survives of the body. The mummies will often still have skin because of the preservation process (if the mummification was originally well done).

Is this a replica or a real mummy?

That is a real mummy. We do not know his name, but we have an idea of how he looked from the painted mask.

Sometimes those portraits were idealized, which means that the painting makes the person look more handsome or younger than he actually was.

Tell me more.

This Anonymous Man is one of the best preserved examples of a 3rd century CE mummy from Deir el-Bahri in the Theban Necropolis. Without an inscription we don't know his name. He lived during the Roman Period in Egypt which explains the very Greco-Roman style of his portrait.

The styling of the portrait is clearly Roman, but the scene at the bottom, including Anubis and the god Sokar, tells us that this unnamed man was a practitioner of the Ancient Egyptian religion in its final stage.

What are the ethical considerations of displaying real human remains?

Great question! Scholars do try to be as respectful as possible of human remains. Especially with advancements in imaging technology, coffins are not opened. Rather, they are CT scanned to gather more information. All of the mummies that you see here are displayed for the artistry of their mummification.

Thank you

When did the Egyptians stop mummifying people?

Mummification stopped entirely with the arrival of Islam in 642 CE. The practice had already changed dramatically during the Christian period beginning in the 4th and 5th centuries.

How were the mummies from the mummy chamber acquired?

The mummy of Demetrios was excavated by the famous archaeologist W. M. Flinders Petrie in 1911 and given to the Brooklyn Museum by his funders. At the time, archaeologists were allowed to remove a portion of their finds from Egypt to go to their home institutions.

The Cartonnage and Mummy, sometimes referred to as the Anonymous Man, was excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928-29 under the same law and was in their collection until we acquired him from them in the 1952.

The mummy of Gautseshenu was purchased in Egypt in 1934.

Do these have actual human remains in them?

Yes, there is a real mummified body inside! Preservation of the body was important to ancient Egyptians because of the belief that the in the afterlife, the soul would return to the body to rest.

Thank you!

Tell me more about the style of this mummy.

The style of his portrait as well as the cup and the flowers that he is holding come from a Greek and Roman tradition. The mummification, the necklace, and the scene at the bottom of the mask are very Egyptian.

He lived in Egypt during the time that the Romans ruled. His mummy shows the way that some people adopted new Roman styles while maintaining the ancient Egyptian traditions and beliefs.

Are there any real mummies/bodies here?

There are! There are four mummies currently on view and they are all in the Mummy Chamber section at one end of the Egyptian galleries on the third floor.

The mummies of Thothirdes and an anonymous man are laying down in cases, and the decorated cartonnages of Gautseshenu and Hor also contain their mummies.

This sign indicates that they used to not be displayed, why is that? Were there ethical considerations?

The museum certainly does make ethical considerations when displaying human remains, you may have noticed that this space is quite dark and contemplative. Some mummies are always kept in storage for conservation reasons. This sign refers to a previous approach to the installation of the Egyptian galleries, I believe before 2003. There was a period when many mummies in many institutions were removed from the galleries in an effort to be more respectful. More recently, we, and other institutions, have begun to return them to the galleries in new and (hopefully) more ethical contexts.

Ahhh understood, thanks.

How did the Brooklyn museum acquire these mummies?

Three of the mummies in the gallery, Thothirdes, Hor, and Gautseshenu, we acquired from the New York Historical Society with their entire collection of ancient Egyptian art.

The anonymous man we acquired from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who sponsored the excavation that found the mummy in 1929.

Thanks again for all the great answers today.

These are my favorites!

I love these dogs as well! These gold collars come out of the same tradition as the red ones you may see on other images of Anubis. The large part in the front is meant to represent a key. These keys likely have something to do with the Anubis's role as guardian of the cemetery and were a popular element in funerary decoration in Roman period Thebes.

Would you know which cranial bone was cracked to drain the brain during the mummification process?

I am not an expert in anatomy, so I do not know the scientific name of the particular bone, but I can tell you that the brain was removed through the nose by means of a hook that was inserted into the nostril and used to break into the brain cavity.

Thank you.

And would you be able to tell me more about natron?

Natron is a naturally occurring mineral very common in the geology of Egypt that is made up of multiple sodium-based compounds. The longest, and scientifically most important, part of the ancient Egyptian mummification process was to pack the body in this salt-like substance in order to draw out all moisture. The modern word, natron, comes from Wadi Natrun where the ancient Egyptians mined the mineral. The chemical symbol for sodium, Na, also has the same root.

Cartonnage and Mummy of an Anonymous Man

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

This cartonnage illustrates the combination of Egyptian with Classical art in the Roman Period: the idealized portrait includes the hieroglyph for “protection” (a symbol of Isis) as well as a wreath (in the Greek or Roman style). The red symbol on the left shoulder, which can easily be mistaken for a swastika, is actually an ancient Greek symbol for holiness, while at the bottom, the boat of Sokar (a form of the Egyptian sun god) is flanked by jackals.

Mummy of an Anonymous Man was unwrapped in the 1950s and rewrapped in 2010 for this exhibition. Carbon-14 dating conducted in 2009 suggests that this man died between 259 and 398 c.e., confirming the third-century century date suggested by the style of the cartonnage.

MEDIUM Human remains, wood (Ficus sycomorus, sycamore fig), grass, linen, plaster, pigment

Place Excavated: Deir el Bahri, Egypt

DATES 3rd century C.E.

PERIOD Roman Period

DIMENSIONS a: cartonnage: 13 1/4 x 35 7/16 in. (33.7 x 90.0 cm) b: necklace: 34 1/4 in. (87 cm) c-d: sheets: 39 3/8 x 84 1/4 in. (100.0 x 214.0 cm) c-d: fringe: 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm) e: approx. height through nose: 8 in. (20.3 cm) e: approx. width at shoulders: 20 in. (50.8 cm) e: approx. length: 62 in. (157.5 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 52.128a-e

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

PROVENANCE Probably found in the ravine outside the temple wall of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt; 1928-1929, excavated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; 1952, purchased from the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the Brooklyn Museum.

Provenance FAQ

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION a) Cartonnage from the mummy of a man. Painted plaster on linen; made as an overlay on mummy from head to waist. Face bearded, hands clasp glass cup and fillet. At bottom, debased Sokaris bark flanked by jackals etc. Moulded wreath on forehead, brilliant colors. b) Necklace (apparently amuletic) removed from neck of mummy. Long, single stand of grass woven into rope with open end at front. This end closed with single strand on which are fastened segments of leaves, duplicated in three similar strands above. Attached to necklace at front center in plain wooden mason's square pierced three times. Condition: In general good but materials are very dry and fragile. Some leaves are broken. c-d) Pair of plain linen sheets, fringed ends, which formed the outer wrappings of the mummy. Fairly coarse weave. Perhaps household linen used for funerary purposes. Condition: Good. A few holes and stains. Fabric is flexible. The fringe is rather worn, suggesting that linen was long in use. e) Mummy. In 1956, the cartonnage and necklace were removed, and the mummy unwrapped. In 2010, the mummy was rewrapped and the cartonnage and necklace were reattached.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Cartonnage and Mummy of an Anonymous Man, 3rd century C.E. Human remains, wood (Ficus sycomorus, sycamore fig), grass, linen, plaster, pigment, a: cartonnage: 13 1/4 x 35 7/16 in. (33.7 x 90.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.128a-e. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 52.128a_52.128e_PS2.jpg)

IMAGE overall, a,e, 52.128a_52.128e_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2010

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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