Displaying a Coffin:
Preservation, pt. 2

May 26, 2006

In my daily grind of translation for the Maqrizi chapter on the pyramids, I came across the following passage, excerpted by Maqrizi from a work called the Gift of Understanding (Tuhfah al-Albab) by an author known as al-Qaysi:

I entered inside [the pyramid] and I saw a large domed chamber, square at the bottom, but circular at the top. In its center was a well whose depth was 10 cubits and square. One person descended into it and found in each side of the squared well a door leading to a large room. In these rooms were the dead from the sons of Adam, Upon them were great winding sheets, more than 100 individual cloths on each one, which had disintegrated and blackened because of the length of time. Their bodies were like ours and not tall. Nothing was missing from their bodies nor from their hair. Among them there was not one old man nor anyone whose hair was white. Their bodies were sturdy, by no means anyone being able to remove any of their limbs. But they were light to the point that they became like refuse, because of the length of time. In that well were four of these rooms filled with dead bodies. In it were also large bats.

The story seems fantastic, but it is also hard not to be struck by small details which were drawn from tangential knowledge of genuine Egyptian antiquities. We easily recognize the dead in their thick layers of cloth as mummies. In the Egyptian Museum one can still marvel at the state of preservation for these ancient bodies. A look at a model of the Great Pyramid of Khufu also shows some parallel details. There is indeed a central Grand Gallery, and from the entrance of this gallery leading there is something conventionally called a "well".. a passage descending sharply to a subterranean chamber. The description is mistaken in many points, but that it also reflects a dim understanding of certain aspects of the pyramid.. and we know that medieval Arabs had gotten inside the Great Pyramid.

After a short paragraph on animal burials, the passage continues:

In this domed chamber inside the pyramid was a door leading to the high point of the pyramid. There were no stairs in it; its width was about 5 spans. It is said that it was ascended in the time of al-Ma’mun. It led to a small dome in which was an image of Adam from green stone like dahnaj (?). Then it was taken out to al-Ma’mun so that it was intact. When it was opened the body of Adam was found in it, upon it being armor of gold decorated with different kinds of gems. On his chest was the blade of a sword of inestimable value. At his head was a red ruby about the size of a chicken egg shining as a flame of light. Al-Ma’mun took the stone. I have seen the idol from which that dead man was taken, encountering it at the door of the residence of the king in Egypt in the year 511 AH.

Again there is a fascinating level of verisimilitude, as the highest point in the interior passages of the pyramid is the King's Chamber. The "armor of gold" sounds remarkably similar to the kind of golden and bejewelled anthropoid covers in which kings could be buried. I am not sure that this came from the pyramid, which was probably robbed and emptied of anything of value long before the Arabs came along.. However, something allowed them to come up with this description.

Most tantalizing of all in this passage is the first-person note that someone has seen this "idol" (which I assume to be an anthropoid coffin which held a mummified body) outside the door of the residence of the king of Egypt. If this is correct, then a Muslim ruler displayed an Egyptian antiquity in a prominent place, providing at least temporary preservation.

There is nothing in the passage that praises preservation as a value. When the rich coffin is described there is not a hint that this is something which should be carefully preserved for others to see.. even though it is described as being the body of Adam! The first reported action is al-Ma'mun snatching the egg-sized ruby for himself., and there is no reproach from the narrator. Nonetheless the curiosity value of the coffin has led to its display.. not in a museum, but as an item that increases the king's prestige. I wonder if before the time of Western museums, this kind of prestige display in the residence of palace of a king would be the place to look for the preservation of antiquities?