Mummies and the Lost Art of Embalming
For many people, mummies and mummification evoke a sense of the macabre — conjuring images of a grotesque, linen-wrapped monstrosity shambling through an ancient temple. Indeed, for many decades mummies have been in the casts of horror movies and gothic novels and filed away in the public imagination as belonging to arcane religious rites. But mummification was a widespread and honored tradition in the ancient world, one that was imbued with deep religious significance and often performed by skilled specialists. It was practiced as a way to venerate the dead, or express an important religious belief — especially a belief … Read more