First indication for embalming in Roman Greece

AlphaGalileo ^ | Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

A Swiss-Greek research team co-lead by Dr. Frank Rühli from the Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, found indication for embalming in Roman Greek times. By means of physico-chemical and histological methods, it was possible to show that various resins, oils and spices were used during embalming of a ca. 55 year old female in Northern Greece. This is the first ever multidisciplinary-based indication for artificial mummification in Greece at 300 AD.

The remains of a ca. 55-year old female (ca. 300 AD, most likely of high-social status; actual location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece) shows the preservation of various soft-tissues, hair and part of a gold-embroidered silk cloth. This unique find allows multidisciplinary research on these tissues. In addition to macroscopic and anthropological analyses, electron microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry examinations were also performed. These showed the presence of various embalming substances including myrrh, fats and resins, but could not demonstrate clearly a conservatory influence of the surrounding lead coffin from Roman period. The findings significantly increase knowledge about the use of tissue-preserving, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidative substances in the mortuary practices of Roman Greece.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

That’s Dr. Frank Rahli.

[Loyal Buckeye]

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

As I remember both Greeks and Romans tended to burn their dead, so this possibly might be an early Christian burial. It seems more likely than an Egyptian expatriate.

[SunkenCiv]

Both did burial (with and without preparation) and cremation. And, like that Monty Python routine (”we can burn her, bury her, or dump her”), there were some of those killed in the arena whose bodies made it into the food supply (sez Lionel Casson).

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

there were some of those killed in the arena whose bodies made it into the food supply (sez Lionel Casson).

Thanks, but no thanks. I love Roman history, but explicit depictions of theis matter would be a little hard to stomach.

[SunkenCiv]

“...and for dessert, lady fingers.”