Roman-era tomb in Egypt yields gold-covered mummies, golden tongues and Iliad papyrus
Updated
Updated · Dunya News · Apr 27
Roman-era tomb in Egypt yields gold-covered mummies, golden tongues and Iliad papyrus
13 articles · Updated · Dunya News · Apr 27
The find at El-Bahnasa in Minya, about 120 miles south of Cairo, included several mummies in wooden coffins, with three golden tongues and one copper tongue.
Archaeologists said the tongues reflected a ritual meant to help the dead speak in the afterlife, while linen wrappings and gold leaf offered new evidence on Greco-Roman funerary practices.
The University of Barcelona and the Institute of the Ancient Near East led the dig, expanding on an earlier report of a 1,600-year-old mummy containing a Homer Iliad Book II papyrus.
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Why was a Greek war epic used as a protective charm for a 1600-year-old Egyptian mummy?