Egyptian Galleries @ the University
of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology
and Anthropology
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From the Scribe: Egyptian writing consisted of over 700 signs, or hieroglyphs, most of which are recognizable as pictures of things. They probably began by representing objects, and later came to stand for sounds, too. Send an instant online Museum Postcard to anyone in the world. |
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The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science An important cultural and scientific exhibition featuring mummies from the Museum's own collection, "Secrets and Science" shows how science can unlock the mysteries of mummies. Using scientific techniques such as X-ray and autopsy studies of mummified remains, scientists uncover the health and disease patterns of ancient Egyptians as well as their ideas about life after death. Cat Mummy (left) ca. 2nd century BC Mummies of cats were prepared and dedicated to the cat-goddess Bastet, whose worship attracted such fanatical devotion that living cats were treated with extraordinary reverence. In the 5th century BC the Greek scholar Herodotus observed that the owners of a cat shaved their eyebrows in mourning when it died. Diodorus Siculus, visiting Egypt in the 1st century BC, witnessed the lynching of a Roman who had accidentally killed a cat.
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