THE BRITISH MUSEUM LITTLE BOOK OF TREASURES

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  MUMMY AND COFFIN OF A PRIESTESS
  EGYPTIAN, c.1000 BC
  This fine anthropomorphic coffin belonged to an unnamed Theban priestess who is represented on the lid, wearing a heavy wig and garlanded with flowers. Found complete with her neatly bandaged mummy, it is painted inside and out with figur ... (continue)

  MUMMY AND COFFIN OF A PRIESTESS
  EGYPTIAN, c.1000 BC
  This fine anthropomorphic coffin belonged to an unnamed Theban priestess who is represented on the lid, wearing a heavy wig and garlanded with flowers. Found complete with her neatly bandaged mummy, it is painted inside and out with figures of gods and sacred texts intended to protect her on her journey through the underworld.
  The first Egyptian experiments in mummification took place around 2500 BC; a thousand year later it had become a sophisticated art. In the case of rich patrons who could afford the full treatment, the corpse was taken to the embalmer's workshop, where the internal organs were removed and the body dried out with natron. Sometimes the treated organs were returned to the body cavity, but generally they were kept separate and the cavity stuffed with linen or sawdust. It was then sewn up and the body wrapped on linen bandages. The whole process with its attendant rituals took 70 days, after which the body was placed in its wooden coffin for the journey to the tomb.

  THE ROSETTA STONE
  EGYPTIAN, 196 BC
  It may not be among the most beautiful exhibits, but the Rosetta Stone (height 114 com), which provided the key to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian writing, is nonetheless one of the British Museum's greatest treasures. It was discovered in 1799 by French military engineers working at Rosetta (modern Rashid) in the Nile Delta. Such fragments of reused ancient masonry were common, and it would probably have been discarded had it not been for the officers in charge of the party who guessed that its inscription - in Greek, hieroglyphics and Demotic - might be of significance. Copies of the inscription were sent to scholars around the world. Having read the Greek version of the text - a priestly decree listing the gifts of Ptolemy V to various temples - they were able to find the hieroglyphic equivalent of certain words such as royal names and by comparing these with other sources slowly unravelled the mysteries of the ancient Egyptian language.

  SHIVA VISHAPAHARANA
  CHOLA, c.AD 950
  Shiva, the creator and destroyer, is one of the three principal Hindu deities and figures prominently in Indian myth. In this magisterial bronze (height 59 cm) of Shiva Vishapaharana (Shiva destroying Poison), the god is shown seated on a throne in the position of royal ease, his right foot resting on a lotus. His body is adorned with fine jewellery; he wears odd earrings indicative of his dual male/female nature. A crescent moon rests in his piled-up matted hair, the hair of the wandering and homeless ascetic. In accordance with convention, he is shown with four arms in order to display attributes and gestures suggestive of his infinite qualities. His upper hands hold an antelope, referring to his life as a forest yogi, and an axe, symbolic of the cutting of bonds of ignorance. His lower left hand holds a cobra representing the poison of this myth, while the right makes the gesture of reassurance.

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Book Details

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• English Books
• Paperback 64 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0714150304
• ISBN-13: 9780714150307
• Publisher: BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS
• Pub date: Jan 01, 2004
• Dimensions: 11 cm x 11 cm x 1 cm Just how big is that?

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