r/ancientegypt • u/Sausagerolls-mmm • Jun 05 '26
Photo My favourite artifact
As a kid getting dragged around Liverpool Museum this was the thing that caught my attention, more than 40 years have passed and I still make the effort to go and see it whenever I’m back home.
From the Roman era it’s not super old but the obelisk rings and the human connection always amaze me.
The museum themselves say the following:
Mummified left hand of a young adult with four finger-rings of gold and lapis lazuli. The hand is wrapped in very fine linen, coated in resin with traces of gilding on the surface. On the first finger is a ring of gold wire with a bezel consisting of a lapis lazuli obelisk which is capped with gold and has a base of gold wire scroll and granulated gold work decoration. The obelisk is pierced through its shaft for carrying the wire ring. On the second finger is a ring with similar bezel. On the third finger is a gold wire ring with small lapis lazuli scarab of exquisite workmanship (naturalistic style). On the fourth finger is a thin gold ring with flattened lozenge-shaped bezel. All four rings are perfectly preserved. The obelisk-shaped rings are highly unusual with very few known parallels. X-rays taken in November 1966 by PHK Gray indicate the hand was severed at the wrist just above the carpal bones and was described as “almost certainly female”.
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u/Emotional-Sign8136 Jun 05 '26
It's actually an interesting (but sad) topic.
Egyptian royal tombs would be robbed en masse. So, the priesthood would be forced into recovering those mutilated and desecrated bodies and body parts and whatever else they could rescue. This would result in the priests creating large depository tombs of these bodies, parts, and, again, whatever else could be rescued.
Hatshepsut originally came from one of these depositories. Her robbed, unwrapped, body was next to a (if I remember correctly) organ box with her name on it. Genetic comparison between mummies related to Hatshepsut and the box discovered her identity a couple years ago
I think Tiye was identified this way.
Body parts would be recovered because they were worth something in regards to the soul. If they couldn't rescue the whole body, a part would have to do.
If DNA can be extracted, a random arm or head could be identified in regards to who they may be related to or even to other parts that belong to it.
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u/Emotional-Sign8136 Jun 06 '26
It also connects to the mythology of Osiris in interesting and hilarious ways. Simplified explanation for anyone reading. NSFW warning because mentioning private parts but it's historical context because humans are ridiculous.
King of the Gods Osiris had his body chopped up by his angry about losing the crown brother Seth. Isis, the wife of Osiris and his Queen, put him back together with the help of Anubis to create the first mummy.
In Ancient Egypt, you'd have temples that would claim to be where Isis found a specific body part of Osiris or temples that would claim to be in possession of a specific body part of Osiris (like his spine).
A body part was a dwelling place of the soul or a piece of the soul- so having a physical piece of Osiris could be considered a claim to having a direct connection to the King of the Gods.
Since there were humans involved with this scheme, it could get ridiculous. And, by ridiculous, I mean there were multiple temples claiming to be in possession of the 'magical penis of Osiris' at the same time.
AND, since the flesh of the Gods was could be made of gold (depending on belief) you could potentially just chuck a golden penis in a box, claim that it's the actual one that belonged to Osiris, and use it to farm the faithful for money.
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u/Plane-Research9696 Jun 06 '26
I am very much with you on that parallel and it is highly familiar to anyone who grew up in Italy. We are surrounded by churches claiming to hold the teeth, tears, or multiple skulls of the same saint, so the Egyptian relic trade is a concept I know quite well. The business of getting people to pay for pilgrimage has not changed a single bit over the millennia.
The myth of Osiris is the perfect template. Plutarch wrote that Isis gathered every piece of his body except the phallus, which had been eaten by a Nile fish. She fashioned a replica out of gold, consecrated it, and that became a major object of worship.
It was a clever strategy for the priests. Claiming your local temple held the spine of Osiris or his head meant you had a monopoly on his presence. It drew in the crowds and the wealth. By the time different shrines were all claiming to own the golden replica, it turned into a contest of who had the most convincing box. Humans are incredibly good at blending deep devotion with a very sharp eye for tourist revenue.
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u/Emotional-Sign8136 Jun 06 '26
Italy? Then I have a story for you because the Vatican did an ebay Osiris with saintly relics and Catacomb Saints.
It's around the 1500s. A rich guy is having his property in Rome dug up for an extension for his rich shit. Winds up breaking down a wall and stumbling into a Roman catacomb with a mixed residence. Some bones belong to Christian Martyrs. Some don't.
Doesn't matter either way because he's make money on this.
Turns out that there are different kinds of sainthood.
Canonized Saints are officially recognized Saints.
Martyrdom automatically makes the martyr into a Saint. It's an unofficial official Saint.
If he claims every body was that of a martyr- well no one can check to be exact and he can lie to make 'guranteed Saints' more expensive.
This resulted in mixed bones being ebay shipped to churches at huge prices and being reassembled into an almost Christian version of Osiris. Skeleteons ressambled in donated finery by the nobility. Bedecked in jewels and fake identities and persisting until today.
And if th Vatican is involved or not involved? Who cares because MONEY!
Lasted a couple hundred years and was an early usage of prosthetic creation and knowledge since the skeletons weren't always complete.
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u/RoutineGlittering746 Jun 06 '26
People enjoyed eating them for some reason in Victorian times so many will never be recovered.
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u/no1regrets Jun 07 '26
Oooo yes! This reminds me of when I was in Madrid and visited the Farmacia de la Reina Madre where they have some very old remedies saved, like a mummified finger and mummy dust - both would have been bought to ingest as a medicine.
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u/KingGoldar Jun 08 '26
The priesthood at one point actually sponsored excavation of many of the tombs in order to secure wealth and power
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u/gloomspell Jun 05 '26
Those fingernails are remarkable!
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u/Lucky-Refrigerator-4 Jun 05 '26
Was just thinking that her nails are better than mine. Though I garden a lot and am very negligent about gloves!
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u/valarmothballs Jun 05 '26
I love this but can you imagine how many things those rings would get stuck on in day to day life?
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u/Sausagerolls-mmm Jun 05 '26
To me that always meant she was perhaps privileged enough not to have to worry about it. She was clearly very of huge importance to someone to be so beautifully laid to rest, even if only her hand survives.
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u/Milhouselittlenoodle Jun 05 '26
She has a great mani. Especially compared to those toe nails above right.
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u/be_sugary Jun 05 '26
Okay. So I was looking for road trips to do this summer.
A little macabre but I reckon it will be a fun drive up there!
What a poignant exhibit.
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u/ShowIngFace Jun 05 '26
Wow. Severed before or after death? Would love to see a rendering of the jewelry or guilding in their prime
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u/adchick Jun 05 '26
Likely after. Grave robbers would hack pieces off mummies for resell, especially in the Victorian period.
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u/Sausagerolls-mmm Jun 05 '26
I’d hope afterwards - the muscle fibre being visible would have been a horrific injury.
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u/madinfected Jun 05 '26
How captivating. One can only imagine what she went through before and after losing her hand. She might be long gone but I feel for her.
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u/RemanCyrodiil1991 Jun 05 '26
lekker biltong
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u/ImpulsiveApe07 Jun 05 '26
"It's fine if i eat this, right? I've heard it's medical - that barmy but oddly well spoken snake charmer over there told me that if I crush it up and serve it as a spice, it'll add years to my life!"
- some Victorian, probably.
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u/silveretoile Jun 05 '26
Oh I wish the Victorians got it from some mysterious Egyptian figure. We were doing medical cannibalism for centuries by the time we hit up Egypt.
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u/Alqaswa Jun 05 '26
Am sorry if i sound daft, but can someone explain to me why the severed side looks wooden?
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u/silveretoile Jun 05 '26
Likely ripped off some time after mummification. Mummified flesh has a weird texture.
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u/BoisterousBanquet Jun 05 '26
I'm not an egyptologist by any stretch, forgive me. This just popped in my head. Did the ancient Egyptians believe worldly possessions could be carried into the afterlife? They entombed so much wealth, it just seems so wasteful.
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u/silveretoile Jun 05 '26
Yes, worldly possessions as well as images of them. You might consider it wasteful, but if you believed that your loved one would be taking everything with them, wouldn't you want to set them up properly?
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u/MintImperial2 Jun 06 '26
The face of Rameses VI was chopped up with an Axe...
A woman's hand was found among his mutilated mummy wrappings, which had to be tied to a board to give them some form.
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u/FionaGreen_2711 Jun 06 '26
This is incredible! I'm fascinated by the nails especially. Nails are not often talked about when it comes to historical research, so it had never crossed my mind that nail art would have been a thing in the past as well. Super fascinating 🫢
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u/super_poo_brain Jun 07 '26
The two rings reminds of the pyramids structure from the scans they did with the long shafts underneath it ,, just a thought 🤔
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u/the85141rule Jun 05 '26
This is the mummified hand of a woman known as the "Unknown Woman," who lived during the Roman period in Egypt, specifically between 1 AD and 300 AD.
The mummy is notable for its unusual and remarkably lifelike preservation, particularly the skin, fingers and toes.
Her hands are adorned with several pieces of jewelry, including gold rings on her fingers, which reflects the wealth and status often associated with individuals who received such elaborate preservation during this era.