ROYAL LADY OF ROME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 242, 13 October 1931, Page 2

ROYAL LADY OF ROME

MUMMY DISCOVERED ROUGE AND SCENT IN TOMB. For the first time in recorded history a mummy has been discovered iu Europe. The discovery has been made in a Roman tomb at Jaborjkgy, near Budapest, and the professors of Budapest have been nearly off their heads with excitement. Tho mummy is a perfectly preserved woman’s body, dressed in tho royal purple of Rome, proving her to have been •connected with tho imperial house. Tho woman apparently was exceedingly rich as well as something of a coquette. Lying in the grave were:A sponge, a pot of rouge, a bowl of powder, three bottles of scent. Numerious jewels, including an 82-piece ivory necklace, cut in the form of curls, and two ivory hairpins, one pair of cork-soled leather sandals. A bronze knitting-needle showed that she was not altogether devoid of knowledge in the household arts. A coin of the Roman Emperor Severus indicated that the woman must have lived some time about 225 A.D. Tho tomb was buried in rock, and this explains why these antique relics have been preserved intact until to-day. The composition of the scent is quite unknown. The powder is ordinary rice powder, still used as an article of adornment to-day, but tho rouge is of deeper dye than any quality sold in London, Paris, or New York. In Roman times Jaborjkgy was an outpost of empire, and a number of rare historical finds have recently been made by means of tho English method of prospecting by aeroplane and dig ging where thin cultivation shows the existence of stone in tho ground. Some military barracks set aside for tho use of gladiators and wild beasts have also been found. Cages and bones showed tho grim use to which the barracks had been put. A water organ, an antique musical instrument of which no other copy exists, has also been discovered.