An Undertakers' Archive from the Kynopolite Nome (P. Kynopolites) [Paperback]

This book provides a comprehensive edition of five well-preserved Greek papyri from an archive of undertakers (<i>nekrotaphoi</i>) from the late Ptolemaic Kynopolite nome, four of which unpublished. The texts contain a wealth of information on mummification practices and funerary taxation in this era, in particular concerning the use of the embalming products <i>kedria</i> (Egyptian <i>sfy</i>) and <i>pharmakon</i> (Egyptian <i>p<u>h</u>r.t</i>), the traditional seventy-day funerary period, and a mummification procedure in which bodies are temporarily buried in the sand. All this and more is discussed in an extensive commentary combining Greek and Egyptian evidence.