Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/46

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38 MUMMIUS and sheet-iron ware, 5 of upholstery, 5 tan- neries, 4 breweries, 3 flour mills, 1 planing mill, 7 saw mills, and 1 beef and 1 pork pack- ing establishment. Capital, Portland. MUMMIUS, Lneins, a Roman general of the 2d century B. 0. He was praetor in 154 B. C. His province was Further Spain, where he met with several defeats, but finally was victorious over the Lusitanians and Blasto-Phoenicians. When he became consul in 146, the Achaean chiefs, only partially humbled by the victories of Metellus, his predecessor, had assembled an army on the isthmus of Corinth. Mummius took command in person, easily defeated the Achseans, and entered Corinth. The city, almost entirely deserted by its inhabitants, was pillaged and burned. Mummius carried off an immense quantity of spoils, consisting largely of the finest paintings and statuary in Greece.- Many of the rarer works he sold to the king of Pergamus, and the remain- der he sent to Rome, where such of them as had escaped the per- ils of the sea were exhibited in his triumph. For his great victory, which completed the conquest of Greece, Mummius received the sur- name Achaicus, being the first nomis homo thus honored for mili- tary service. He remained in Greece during the greater part of the years 146 and 145, having in the latter year the title of proconsul. He governed wisely, and respected the religion of the people. He became censor in 142 with Scipio Africanus the younger; the two men were exact oppo- sites in character and culture, and disagreed in everything. Mummius was rustic, rigidly hon- est, but lenient to others, and died poor. MUMMY (Persian and Arabic, mumiya, from the Persian mum, naphtha or liquid asphal- tum), a dead body embalmed, or preserved from decay by desiccation. The custom of thus preserving the bodies of the dead pre- vailed among several ancient nations. The Assyrians, Persians, and Ethiopians practised it to some extent, as did also the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, and in America the Mexicans and Peruvians ; but it was most general among the Egyptians, who embalmed all their dead. For the methods employed by the last, see EMBALMING. After the em- balming process was finished, the Egyptians swathed $ the body with narrow linen bandages steeped in some resinous liquid, probably the MUMMY gum of the mimosa Nilotica. These were wound around with great nicety, all the irreg- ularities being padded so as to bring the body to a symmetrical shape. In the Greek and Roman period the limbs were bound sepa- rately, but the Egyptians enclosed in one en- velope the entire body, which when thus pre- pared exhibited only the general outlines of the human form, even the face being covered. The bandages, which differ in quality from fine muslin to coarse canvas, were sometimes more than 1,000 yards in length. The body was next enclosed in a cartonage or case made of layers of cloth cemented together, which was probably adjusted to it when damp so as to take its exact shape. When fitted it was taken off, dried, and then put on again and sewed up at the back ; after which it was richly painted and gilded, the face being colored to represent 1. Mummy in Bandages. 2. Cartonage. 3. Outer Case. 4. Sarcophagus. the features of the deceased, or overlaid with thick gold leaf, and the eyes made of enamel. The cartonage was covered with other cases, sometimes three or four, made of cedar ^ or sycamore, similarly painted. The cases varied in number, beauty, and style, in proportion to the expense incurred by the friends of the de- ceased, and the whole was sometimes placed in an outer sarcophagus of wood or stone, or- namented with paintings or sculptures. Mum- mies thus prepared were of those embalmed by the most expensive process, generally the bodies of priests or other dignitaries. The bodies of the middle classes seldom had more than one covering, and those of the lower orders were merely wrapped in coarse mats. Within the bandages were often placed papyri, small fig- ures of Osiris in blue porcelain, scarabaei, amu- lets, necklaces of glass beads or agate, ear rings, finger rings, bracelets, hair pins, and other ornaments ; and many of these are now found in mummies which have been undis- turbed. Mummies preserved by resinous sub- stances are of an olive color, and the skin dry, flexible, and as if tanned. The features appear