Priestess of the crocodiles

Human mummy flanked by two crocodile mummies resting on palm leaves. In his writings, Miani himself tells that they were discovered in Egypt, in a big cave on the Arabian chain near Manfalut, where many embalmed crocodiles were laid together with some human mummies. The body was perfectly preserved at the time of discovery and had the face covered by a gold mask. Miani hypothesized it was one of the priestesses described by Herodotus, whose task was to feed the crocodiles, considered the incarnation of the god Sobek. Both the priestesses and the sacred reptiles were embalmed and wrapped in bandages after death, as were all people of high rank. Today, the mummy appears in a rather deteriorated state, especially due to its transfer from Africa to Italy, and no longer bears its gold mask (G. Miani African collection).