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Well-preserved Egyptian mummy of a man from the Ptolemaic Period, with crossed arms and detailed linen wrappings, displayed in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
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Al-Jizah. Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt. Side view of Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background. The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids are astronomically oriented to be north-south, east-west (see notes)
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Well-preserved Egyptian mummy of a man from the Ptolemaic Period, with crossed arms and detailed linen wrappings, displayed in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
a well preserved Egyptian mummy from the Ptolemaic Period The mummified person's name, written hastily, can be read as either Pachery or Nenu. This well preserved Egyptian mummy is held in the collection of the Musee du Louvre in Paris, France.

mummy

embalming
Also known as: mummification
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mummy, body embalmed, naturally preserved, or treated for burial with preservatives after the manner of the ancient Egyptians. The process varied from age to age in Egypt, but it always involved removing the internal organs (though in a late period they were replaced after treatment), treating the body with resin, and wrapping it in linen bandages. Among the many other peoples who practiced mummification were the people living along the Torres Strait, between Papua New Guinea and Australia, and the Incas of South America.

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There was a widespread belief that Egyptian mummies were prepared with bitumen (the word comes from the Arabic mūmiyah ‘bitumen’), which was supposed to have medicinal value. Throughout the Middle Ages, “mummy,” made by pounding mummified bodies, was a standard product of apothecary shops. In course of time it was forgotten that the virtue of mummy lay in the bitumen, and spurious mummy was made from the bodies of felons and suicides. The traffic in mummy continued in Europe until the 18th century.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Meg Matthias.