Mummy Label

56.20.486a

Information

Wooden label, pieced at the top for attachment to a mummy. One side is decorated in black with a jackal, representing the dog Anubis, seated on a pedestal, with a key around his neck and a burning torch before him. On the other side are five lines of black painted Greek text, mentioning someone called Plenis Neoteros. During the Roman Period, such labels were attached to the mummies of deceased individuals as a means of identification to transport them from their home to the correct place of burial. Collected by William Frankland Hood near Thebes some time between 1851 and 1861. For more information, see the Mummy Label Database Project (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and CSIC Madrid): https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/mummy-label-database-mld.