The migrations of early culture: A study of the significance of the geographical distribution of the practice of mummification as evidence of the migrations of peoples and the spread of certain customs and beliefsSmith, Grafton Elliot
History
The migrations of early culture: A study of the significance of the geographical distribution of the practice of mummification as evidence of the migrations of peoples and the spread of certain customs and beliefs
Smith, Grafton Elliot
Ethnology; Human beings -- Migrations; Mummies
[8] How insistent the desire was to make a statue of the mummy itself is
shown by the repeated attempts made in later times; see the account of
the mummies of Amenophis III. (=86=) and of the rulers and priests of the
XXIst and XXIInd Dynasties (=78= and =87=).
[9] For an account of the geographical distribution of serpent-worship
and a remarkable demonstration of the intimacy of its association with
distinctive “heliolithic” ideas, see Wake (=103=).
[10] Sir William Thiselton Dyer informs me that in all probability it was
not _cedar_ but _juniper_ that was obtained by the Ancient Egyptians from
Syria [and used for embalming]. The material to which reference is made
here would probably be identical with the modern ‘huile de cade,’ and be
obtained from _juniperus excelsa_.
I retain the term “oil of cedar” to facilitate the bibliographical
references, as all the archæologists and historians invariably use this
expression.
[11] Since this memoir has been printed Dr. Alan Gardiner has published
a most luminous and important account of “The Tomb of Amenemhēt” (N. de
Garis Davies and Alan Gardiner, 1915), which throws a flood of light upon
Egyptian ideas concerning the matters discussed in this communication.
[12] Mr. Crooke has called my attention to a similar practice in India.
Leith (Journ. Anthr. Soc. of Bombay, Vol. I., 1886, pp. 39 and 40) stated
that the _Káší Khanda_ contained an account of a Bráhman who preserved
his mother’s corpse. After having it preserved and wrapped he “coated the
whole with pure clay and finally deposited the corpse in a copper coffin.”
[13] Jackson refers the suggestion to Curzon’s “Persia and the Persian
Question,” 1892, where I find (Vol. II., pp. 74, 79, 80, 146, 178 and
192) most conclusive evidence in proof of the fact that the body of Cyrus
was mummified and all the Egyptian rites were observed (see especially
Mr. Cecil Smith’s note on p. 80). In Persia, under Darius (p. 182), the
Egyptian methods of tomb-construction were closely copied, not only in
their general plan, but in minute details of their decoration (see p.
178)—also the bas-relief of Cyrus wearing the Egyptian crown (p. 74).
Cambyses even introduced Egyptian workmen to carry out such work (p. 192).
There are reasons for believing that India also was in turn influenced
by this direct transmission of Egyptian practices to Persia, but only
after (perhaps more than a century after) the Ethiopian modification of
Egyptian embalming had been adopted there.
[14] See, however, p. 69. At some future time I shall explain what an
important link is provided by the ancient culture of the Black Sea
littoral between Egypt and the civilizations of the Western Mediterranean
on the one hand and India on the other.
[15] Reutter (=63=) quotes the statement from Tschirch that Neuhof has
described the embalming of bodies in Asia. In Borneo camphor, areca
nut and the wood of aloes and musk are used; and in China camphor and
sandalwood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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