Wooden mummy label

During the Graeco-Roman Period bodies were regularly transported from the home to the cemetery, and, if the person died away from home, back to their village, and they were usually identified with mummy labels such as this one. The labels were made from wood or stone and often inscribed with a short text in Greek or demotic giving details such as name, age and home-town, for the poor it seems the labels replaced traditional stelae. This label has an ink drawing of the god Anubis, seated on a pedestal with a key around his neck and a burning torch before him.

Present location	LIVERPOOL MUSEUM [03/061] LIVERPOOL
Inventory number	56.20.486a
Dating	GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD
Archaeological Site	UNKNOWN
Category	MUMMY LABEL
Material	WOOD
Technique	INCISED; PAINTED
Height	15.5 cm

Bibliography

• Piotr Bienkowski and Angela Tooley., Gifts of The Nile: Ancient Egyptian Arts and Crafts in Liverpool Museum., 1995., 82; pl.131.