Ancient Egyptian Coffin made for Pa-Ib (or Pa-ba-sa), ca. 500 BCE
Coffin lid of Pa-Ib, 500 BCE Unknown creator, ancient Egyptian This coffin lid was a part of the coffin and mummified remains given to Nancy Fish... Show moreCoffin lid of Pa-Ib, 500 BCE Unknown creator, ancient Egyptian This coffin lid was a part of the coffin and mummified remains given to Nancy Fish Barnum in 1894 to present to the Bridgeport Scientific Society. According to the hieroglyphs, the coffin contained the remains of Pa-Ib, a priest of the fertility deity Min. While it is unclear if the translation was made in the late 19th or early 20th century, we know that by the 1960s everyone referred to the mummy as “Pa-Ib.” Fast forward to 2006-2010 when diagnostic imaging was done on the mummified body. We learned then that the body is female, and the woman was about 30 years of age when she died. Therefore, the identity on the coffin could not be correct! How could the “wrong” body and coffin have been put together? This kind of mix and match approach to all sorts of antiquities was common among dealers in the 19th century and likely still happens today sometimes. Back then, there was more value in having so-called complete sets - in this case, body and coffin! - rather than preserving historical context. Or perhaps the original coffin had disintegrated or was just thought “too plain” and uninteresting. Perhaps you are wondering if this was a situation in which the person was buried in an older coffin, as was sometimes done in ancient Egypt. But here the coffin turns out to be much more recent: about 2500 years old, in contrast to the mummified woman, who lived about 4000 years ago--so that is not possible. What do the images on the coffin mean? Depicted on the front of the coffin are a series of scenes that relate to the Egyptian god of death, Osiris. The hieroglyphs are well worn, making a full translation of them tricky, but the visuals on the coffin show scenes from the afterlife: The first scene shows Osiris (the guy with greenish skin) and a human headed bird - that’s the soul of Pa-Ib. On Osiris’ right is his wife Isis, and on his left is his sister, Nephthys. In the second scene we see the god of Re-Horakhty (one of the sun god Ra’s many variations), along with a weighing of the heart of Pa-Ib. The weighing of the heart against the Feather of Truth determined if one was admitted to the afterlife. In the third scene, we see Pa-Ib’s mummy lying on a funerary bed, with Osiris and the hawk-headed god Horus nearby. (Label for March 2019.) Show less