Jackal-headed Anubis (above), considered the inventor of mummification, presents the white-robed deceased to Osiris (left), the lord of the underworld, on this funerary shroud dating to about 180 A.D. Measuring 71 by 53 inches, the linen shroud once enveloped a mummy, with the realistic portrait placed directly above the deceased and the two deities folded over the sides of the mummy. The shroud was discovered in Sakkara, Egypt, the large necropolis used by residents of Memphis from the First Dynasty (2920–2770 B.C.) through the Greco-Roman period (332 B.C.–395 A.D.). Painted in profile with human body, jackal face, pointy ears […]
