Pages

Friday, February 26, 2021

Two golden tongues

ANOTHER UPDATE: Major new discovery of mummies in Alexandria from Greco-Roman era. During the discovery of 16 burial chambers in stone-carved tombs, the Egyptian-Dominican mission found several mummies, remnants of gilded cartonnage and tongue-shaped gold foil amulets (Alaa Omran, Al-Monitor). This article is a good account of the discoveries in the tomb complex of Taposiris Magna, Egypt. And it finally relays official word on how many of the mummies there had golden tongues:
Khaled Abu al-Hamd, director general of Alexandria Antiquities, told Al-Monitor that the mission has found since the beginning of the year a number of mummies, most of them in bad condition because of their proximity to the sea and exposure to very high humidity. In addition, a female funeral mask was found, eight golden flakes, eight marble masks dating back to the Greco-Roman era, two golden tongues, gold coins and a lot of gold dust.
"Two golden tongues." There, that wasn't so hard.

Still no sign of Cleopatra though!

Background here and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.