Golden Mummies : Mummified body of a man

Golden Mummies

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Mummified body of a young man. This is one of only around 100 from this period that survive with the panel painting intact. This example depicts the man wearing a crown of leaves picked out in gold – a sign of justification after, and victory over, death. Between his lips is a thin line of gold leaf. This may deliberately echo the fact that some contemporary burials include a golden cover on the tongue of the deceased. The implication is the divinisation of the dead man. On his moulded plaster footcase, his toes are represented as golden – the flesh of the gods – and bound enemies are depicted under his feet. The elaborate rhomboid linen wrappings with gilded studs reference the patterning of the shrouded form of Osiris, the god of rebirth.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The body was last CT-scanned at Manchester Children's Hospital on 3/5/12. Results indicate the man’s well-preserved set of teeth, which suggest that he was a young adult when he died in the first century CE.</p>