'The Unlucky Mummy'

Wooden mummy-board; painted detail on plaster.

Egypt, early 22nd Dynasty, about 945 BC.
Wood
Height: 162 cm.
Donated through: Mrs Warwick Hunt. Donated by: Arthur F Wheeler. Acquired in 1889.
EA 22542

This exquisitely painted mummy-board formed the innermost covering of the mummy of a woman of high rank. During the 21st and early 22nd Dynasties such sculpted and painted covers had come to replace the masks which were placed over the heads of mummies in earlier periods. The name of the owner of this example is not preserved, but the style of the decoration is a sure guide to its date and provenance (Thebes). The deceased wears a very large floral collar, through which her open hands protrude, and below this is a complex arrangement of images of deities associated with the afterlife: solar discs and falcons, the winged sky-goddess Nut, ba birds and emblems of Osiris.

Since its acquisition in 1889, the mummy-board has become one of the most famous icons of the British Museum, though not on account of its historical importance or artistic quality. It has become the focus for a vast web of modern mythology which has its origins in the popular notion that to disturb an ancient Egyptian burial could bring down a 'curse' on those directly responsible (and even on persons only remotely involved). Although the body of the original owner has never been identified (and is not in the British Museum) the board has acquired the misleading title of 'the Unlucky Mummy'. The stories surrounding it have been perpetuated and elaborated through oral tradition, popular journalism and, more recently, via the internet. The four English travellers who brought the mummy-board from Egypt in the 19th century are said to have suffered premature death or injury, and similar misfortunes reputedly befell many others. On an early photograph of the board, the carved and painted face is supposed to have been miraculously replaced by the features of 'a living Egyptian woman of malevolent aspect.' Perhaps the strangest tale associated with the board is that it was sold to an American collector and sent to the USA on the Titanic in 1912, causing the ship to collide with an iceberg and sink. Although proof of the mummy-board's alleged supernatural powers is completely lacking, the mythology surrounding it continues to evolve.

Wooden anthropoid inner coffin of Djeho

Upper Egypt, Akhmim, Ptolemaic period, 305-30 BC
Wood
L176.0 cm
Purchased through: R J Moss & Co. Acquired in 1898.
EA 29776

Djeho's inner coffin is a classic example of an anthropoid mummy-case made for a man of high status. The divine qualities attained by the deceased in the next life are indicated by the application of gold leaf to the face and by the blue colouring of the wig; texts record that the gods were supposed to have flesh of gold and hair of lapis lazuli. Djeho's plaited and curled false-beard is another sign of his elevation to a higher state of being. The rectangular pedestal which supports the feet emphasises the coffin's sculptural qualities, and makes an allusion to the Opening of the Mouth – the ritual by which the mummy, placed upright at the entrance to the tomb – was reanimated. The images and texts below Djeho's large amuletic collar are associated with the safeguarding of the dead man in the hereafter. Over the breast is painted a figure of the sky-goddess Nut, with wings outstretched in a gesture of protection and flanked by wedjat-eyes. A vignette beneath shows the mummy of the deceased on a bier, with canopic jars below, flanked by figures of Isis and Nephthys in mourning. Below, a hieroglyphic inscription in vertical columns assures Djeho of the protection of Nut, while figures of deities armed with knives ward off any hostile entities that may threaten his security. At the foot of the lid are two figures of the jackal embalmer-god Anubis, whose role was to mummify the dead and to protect them in their tombs. These figures are rotated through 180 degrees to make them visible to the spirit of the deceased looking out through the painted eyes of the coffin-mask.

Granite seated statue of Sekhmet

18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III
Provenance unrecorded, but probably Thebes
Granodiorite
H143.0, W42.0, D70.0 cm
EA 65

Seating and standing statues of the lioness-headed goddess Sekhmet are a common sight in many museums. Most of them were recovered from the temple of Mut at Karnak, where some are still visible. But their original provenance was without doubt the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III at Thebes, where 365 standing and 365 seated Sekhmet figures formed a litany in stone to propitiate the goddess lest she act with the negative power of which she was capable, thereby affecting the king and through him, Egypt.

Amenhotep's temple fell into decay around 100 years after his death, and was used as a convenient statue-quarry by many later pharaohs. Considerable numbers of these statues were moved to the Mut temple, and some kings added their names to the statues in their new locations, although this example is uninscribed. The socket on top of the head was for a headdress, probably a solar disc, made from a separate piece of stone.

A divine attendant

Northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 811-783 BC
From Nimrud (ancient Kalhu)
Limestone
H. 182.8 cm
Excavated by H. Rassam
ANE118888

This is one of a pair of guardian deities who stand in an attitude of attendance. The figures originally flanked a doorway in the temple of Nabu, an important god of writing, at the Assyrian capital of Kalhu (modern Nimrud in northern Iraq). The cuneiform inscription carved around the body of the attendant states that the figures were dedicated to Nabu by the local governor, on his own behalf and on behalf of the king Adadnirari III (r. 811-783 BC) and of the queen mother Sammuramat (who was remembered in the later Greek period as the legendary queen Semiramis). The inscription ends with the request that the reader should "trust no other god". The statues were discovered in 1854 by Hormuzd Rassam who was excavating at Nimrud on behalf of the British Museum. According to his account, there were two pairs of statues, the other two were uninscribed and carried basins but these have not survived.

Queen's lyre

Southern Iraq, Sumerian, about 2600-2400 BC
From Ur
Lapis lazuli, shell, red limestone and gold
H112 cm
Excavated by C L Woolley
ANE 121198a

Leonard Woolley discovered several lyres in the graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. This was one of two that he found in the grave of 'Queen' Pu-abi. Along with the lyre, which stood against the pit wall, were the bodies of ten women with fine jewellery, presumed to be sacrificial victims, and numerous stone and metal vessels. One woman lay right against the lyre and, according to Woolley, the bones of her hands were placed where the strings would have been.

The wooden parts of the lyre had decayed in the soil, but Woolley poured plaster of Paris into the depression left by the vanished wood and so preserved the decoration in place. The front panels are made of lapis lazuli, shell and red limestone originally set in bitumen. The gold mask of the bull decorating the front of the sounding box had been crushed and had to be restored. While the horns are modern, the beard, hair and eyes are original and made of lapis lazuli.

Fusion and Transformation: the Diverse Cultures of Mesopotamia

The term "Mesopotamia" comes from the Greek and means "land between the rivers", referring to the region lying between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This area extends from the southern foothills of the Taurus Mountains in the north, south to the Persian Gulf, west to the Syrian Desert and east to the Zagros Mountains. Being a floodplain region, the terrain is flat and the earth quite fertile. People settled in the area particularly early, and this region became one of the greatest centers of civilization. During its early history, the area was occupied by a number of peoples, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Persians, who all at one time or another established kingdoms there. In 331 BC, the region was conquered and united under Alexander the Great, and in the first century BC, the Roman Empire annexed it as the Seleucid Kingdom.



The Sumerians were the first to establish a city in the land between the Rivers, developing a form of writing known as cuneiform and building magnificent shrines and palatial halls as well as creating beautiful ritual vessels, jewelry, sculptures, and carvings. The first people to set up an empire in Mesopotamia were the Assyrians, and it was Alexander the Great who brought Greek culture into the region. As a result, the cultures of Mesopotamia are defined by the long line of diverse peoples who have ruled this land between the Rivers.

Châsse Reliquary depicting the Adoration of the Magi

Limoges, France, c1200
Gilt copper-alloy and enamel
H18.5, W18.6, D8.7cm
Bernal Collection 1855
1855.12-1.8

The cult of the three kings at Cologne prospered as one of the four most important centres of pilgrimage in Europe. Gifts of relics from the shrine, contained in high quality reliquaries produced in Limoges, encouraged the cult to spread. The reliquaries consisted of richly enamelled copper sheets attached to a gable-ended, wooden core surmounted by a crest set with either rock crystals or enamelled roundels. The narrative of the journey and the adoration of the three kings can be seen on the front. Each side carries the image of an unidentified saint while the back is decorated with squares containing floral motifs. According to legend, the relics had been discovered by the Empress Helena who brought them to Constantinople. They were transported to Milan in the fourth century where they remained until they were installed in Cologne by Frederick Barbarossa between 1162-4.