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The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process, is the
following.
They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the
brain through the nostrils, thus getting rid of a portion, while the skull is
cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the flank
with a sharp Nubian stone, and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which
they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm wine, and again frequently
with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with the
purest bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spicery except frankincense,
and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum for seventy days, and
covered entirely over. After the expiration of that space of time, which must
not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with
bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum, which is used generally by
the Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back to the
relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose,
shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in a sepulchral
chamber, upright against the wall. Such is the most costly way of embalming the
dead.
If persons wish to avoid expense, and choose the second process, the
following is the method pursued: Syringes are filled with oil made from the cedar-tree,
which is then, without any incision or disembowelling, injected into the abdomen.
The passage by which it might be likely to return is stopped, and the body laid
in natrum the prescribed number of days. At the end of the time the cedar-oil
is allowed to make its escape; and such is its power that it brings with it the
whole stomach and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dissolved
the flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and the bones.
It is returned in this condition to the relatives, without any further trouble
being bestowed upon it.
The third method of embalming, which is practised in the case of the
poorer classes, is to clear out the intestines with a clyster, and let the body
lie in natrum the seventy days, after which it is at once given to those who come
to fetch it away.
Herodotus, The Histories 2.86-89
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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