Mumia Oil
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Mumia vera aegyptiaca, as 19th century pharmacology called it, was a dark brown powder or tincture made from ground-up ancient Egyptian mummies and the scrapings from the bottoms of their coffins. Considered an exotic cure-all for hundreds of years, references to Mumia are found in the medical literature from the 8th through to the 20th centuries.
Mumia or mummia is the Latinized version of mumiya, the Arabic word for bitumen, a naturally occurring form of tar or asphalt, one of the prominent ingredients in the ancient Egyptian sacred oils used in mummification. It is from the word mumiya that the term “mummy” originally came, since the mummies, their wrappings, and sarcophagi were blackened by the bitumen/pine-tar-based oil mixture.
This dark brownish-black substance was a part of the Materia Medica of early physicians in Persia in 865 CE, who knew of its medicinal significance since Roman times. It was primarily prescribed as a topical medication to heal wounds, bruises, and sores - and was said to be particularly prized by the military.
Etymologically, we really don’t know which came first, the mummy or the bitumen. Interestingly, the last of the Hebrew 72 names of God, representing death and rebirth, is Mumiah; and, as we show in other articles here, the early Jews and Persians borrowed heavily from ancient Egypt, and vice versa.
Mumia later became a virtually omnipotent medical panacea for a broad spectrum of diseases, based not only on it’s bituminous and botanical substances, but upon the rather strange belief in the magical healing power of ancient Egyptian mummies. This made it a much sought after, hard-to-come-by and pricey medication only affordable by the very rich, and represents a peculiar facet of historical "medicinal cannibalism."
And so, "Mumia" or "Mummy" became a regular component of the pharmacists’ stock in trade for hundreds of years, particularly in the Middle Ages. Sadly, an unknown number of Egyptian mummies ended up in the digestive tracts of wealthy 17th century Europeans, and countless tombs were desecrated in Egypt as a result.
An inevitable shortage of sources for authentic mummies from Egypt eventually resulted in the production of fakes, including dried human bodies lacking the actual active ingredients, excepting perhaps a slathering of bitumen and pine tar.
With scientific breakthroughs of the 19th century and the resulting research-oriented approach to medicine, people gradually abandoned such questionable practices in favor of remedies and procedures whose beneficial effects can be scientifically proven. Consumption of mummy-based medicines finally became a thing of the past after the 1920’s. And yet, there are still bottles to found in antique stores from the 1800’s labeled “Mumia” that have the residue intact - in US pharmacies it was simply labeled “Mummy”.
The fact that it still appeared in German medical catalogs as late as the early 20th century proves that the efficacy of Mumia was not purely superstitious magic and it’s placebo effect alone. It appears that in outlawing it’s use, modern medicine threw the baby out with the bathwater, or rather, they threw the Mumia out with the mummy.
For an example of this, visit this website from the German pharmaceutical company Merck, which once collected and sold as a pharmaceutical real Egyptian Mumia. While they are quick to mention the superstitious beliefs surrounding the panacea, they barely mention the ingredients of the sacred anointing oils, much less their medicinal properties. See: Merck - Powdered Mummies Used As Medicine
As it turns out, of course, the actual active ingredients of Mumia are to be found in a mixture of at least a few if not all of the Egyptian Seven Sacred Oils, which were liberally poured over the heads and linen-wrapped bodies of the deceased, pooling and hardening over time on the bottoms of the sarcophagus or coffin, like tar.
Not having access to the recipes and ingredients for these oils at that time (these were not even discovered until the late 1800s, let alone deciphered), the only source for the early Persian and Roman physicians was scraped from the bottoms of ancient Egyptian coffins and extracted from the body cavities of the mummies where the black goo had pooled.
From the temple inscriptions, we know that all seven of these oils together contain no less than 18 different ingredients, each with their healing properties - the predominant being wood pitch or pine tar and bitumen.
The Research:
Now we have the technology to analyze the substances, and the scientific rundown is eye-opening since it verifies the ingredients of at least two of the seven sacred oils, Tuat (Pistachia spp. and Pine Tar) and Hat en Ash (Bitumen and Cedar), as well as the Madjet unguent (Tallow). According to an article in Organic Geochemistry volume 65:1–18 · December 2013:
“A rare tiny residue in a historic 18th century pharmaceutical vessel labeled MUMIA was microscopically subsampled and analysed with Curie point pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (CP-py-GC–MS) and GC–MS. From the data (e.g. fatty acids, terpenes, triterpenoids, n-alkanes, n-alkenes, wax esters) there is strong evidence that the vessel contained authentic mummy material. All subsamples could be put into a logical context of the mummification process and its product, i.e. fibres from bandages, wrappings or filling material, conifer wood fibres as a possible part of cover material, “used” embalming material in the form of a mixture of cedrium, pistachia resin (possibly Chios turpentine) and beeswax, (hydrolysed) fat (evidently including human sebum, possibly adipocere), mummified skin or tissue (possibly treated with polyunsaturated plant oil, highly oxidised by the time of analysis) and Dead Sea asphalt with a possible admixture of some asphalt from a different source.”
See also the British Museum article“What Is The Black Goo?” and the paper “Molecular analysis of black coatings and anointing fluids from ancient Egyptian coffins, mummy cases, and funerary objects”.
Only recently, the organic contents of 31 ceramic vessels recovered from a 26th Dynasty embalming workshop at Saqqara have been identified, again using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analyses, which adds much more to the picture.
The results verify predominant ingredients similar to the earlier studies:
One of the primary ingredients is a form of asphalt, or bitumen, a geological by-product resulting from the depositing of layers of organic material and their decomposition process over aeons. Used since ancient times for cosmetics, art, and the caulk of boats Egyptian mummies were treated with bitumen oils to improve their preservation.
Bitumen was long held in the early medical literature to be useful to cure varying pulmonary, digestive, ENT troubles, and even to help set fractures. In Iran, bitumen is still used to improve the quality of the skin, but mixed with carrier oils to limit its toxicity.
Next is Wood Pitch or Pine Tar:
Here we see Pliny the Elder's claim is vindicated by the gas-chromatography of the samples.
“In Europe tar is obtained from the torch-pine by heating it, and is used for coating ships' tackle and many other purposes. The wood of the tree is chopped up and put into ovens and heated by means of a fire packed all round outside. The first liquid that exudes flows like water down a pipe; in Syria this is called 'cedar-juice,' and it is so strong that in Egypt it is used for embalming the bodies of the dead.” – "Natural History" circa 79 CE.
Ingredients also present in the resulting ananyltical data:
Pistacia spp. (in the 4th Sacred Oil Tuat) and Juniperus spp. (in the 7th Sacred Oil Hat en Tjhenu).
These vessels were labeled according to their content and use, enabling researchers to correlate organic substances with their Egyptian names and specific embalming practices, with some surprises concerning the use of the word Antiu by this time period. See: “Biomolecular analyses enable new insights into ancient Egyptian embalming” for their fascinating discoveries.
Oddly enough, there was even a popular color of paint called "mummy" which used mumia for its unique and earthy color, highly esteemed by Renaissance artists; which also happens to very closely approximate the color of our Wandering Stars Mumia essential oil reproduction.
I think that the ancient Egyptians would be humorously horrified at the thought of silly future “noble” people ingesting ground-up mummies as medicine, when the actual healing properties were the anointing oils themselves. Meanwhile, it is highly unlikely that desiccated human bodies are medicinal in any appreciable way, nor were they really necessary to produce the artists’ pigment.
The ancient Egyptians surely didn’t seem to think so, as there is no record whatsoever of such “medicinal cannibalism” in the surviving medical papyri, although there is plenty of documentation of the anti-microbial and other health benefits of the ingredients of their Seven Sacred Oils - and even their Temple Incense.
Altogether, a mixture of some or all of these anointing oils yields a healing emollient oil that closely approximates what the wise Persian physicians highly valued and called Mumia. Considering the proven medicinal prowess of the ancient Egyptian physicians/priests, we might wish to take another look at healing Mumia oil with fresh eyes.
Note: Wandering Stars and 'The Egyptian' Sacred Scents guarantees that our Mumia Healing Oil contains no human body parts, but rather is simply a singular mixture of our Seven Sacred Oils, which we believe to be very nearly identical in makeup to the coveted Mumia that the Persian physicians once used - minus the mummy, of course!
Some 17th Century Preparations of Mumia:
"The King of Quacks" William Salmon's Powdered Mummy:
Given in doses of "2 drachms for epilepsy, vertigo and palsy." It was also applied externally to wounds to "prevent mortification."
Tincture or Extract of Mummy:
Salmon gives two versions. "Querceran’s Extract takes Arabian (Egyptian) Mummy in pieces and soak it in wine or turpentine. The liquid is reduced to the consistency of honey." Crollius’ version takes artificial mummy and makes the extract in wine:
“It is a counter-poyson, prevents the Plague, and resists all manner of Infection being taken only to one scruple, and cure being taken 20 one drachm or one and a half drachms.”
Treacle of Mummy:
Crollius’ formula. "Tincture of Mummy half a pound, Venice Treacle four ounces, salt of Pearl and Coral two drachms of each, Terra Sigillata two ounces, Musk one drachm. Mix and digest them in a gentle heat for a month."
Elixir of Mummy:
Salmon’s formula. “Artificial Mummy cut small to which put Spirit of Turpentine, putrifie it forty days in a Vessel close luted: strain it, and put it into a Bladder with Spirit of Wine, digest, and in an Alembic in sand draw off the Quintessence with the spirit, which separate; the feces (sic) reverberate, and sublime to a salt, which unite with the separated Quintessence by circulation: then digest this Quintessence with Treacle and Musk to an Elixir. It has all the vertues of the Tincture, besides which this is more speedy in the cure of the plague”.
Balsam of Mummy:
Salmon’s formula. “Artificial Mummy cut small, digest it forty days with Oyl Olive in a luted Vessel; put it in a glass Body, and in B.M. let the foetid scent exhale, till the Mummy is dissolved, digest it twenty days more with S.V. (spirit of wine, i.e. alcohol) which separate, and you have a sweet-scented red oyl. This Oyl is exalted by digestion with S.V. and drawing it off four or five times.
…..it has such a piercing quality, that it pierces all parts, restores wasted limbs, consumptions, Hectics, and cures all Ulcers and Corruptions if four, five or six grains be given twice every day in a proper vehicle.”
According to Bechler in his Parnassus Medicinalis, 1663, “Mummy dissolves coagulated blood, relieves cough and pain in the spleen, and is very beneficial in flatulency and delayed menstruation.”
>> Medical Disclaimer: Our expertise lies in incense, botanical fragrant oils, and cosmetic skin/hair ointments. Information contained on this website is to the best of our knowledge factual and backed by clinical studies, and is presented solely for your edification and enjoyment. Wandering Stars or 'The Egyptian' Sacred Scents is not a licensed healthcare provider and cannot give medical advice. For your own safety, do not ingest any of our products. <<
See also: The Seven Sacred Oils