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The Bizarre Honey Mummies Of Ancient Arabia
Mysterious Universe
Accounts of what has become known as the Mellified Man originate in China, from a 16th-century Chinese pharmacologist named Li Shizhen. Li’s book was Bencao Gangmu, or the Compendium of Materia Medica, which is a medicinal tome that is still recognized as being the most meticulously complete and comprehensive book ever written on traditional Chinese medicine. In this book, Li mentions a practice that he had heard an account by another man, Tao Jiucheng, about a mysterious practice of mummification in honey carried out in Arabia which he refers to as miren, or literally, “honey person.”
According to Li’s report, the process started with a willing volunteer, typically an elderly person around the age of 70 or 80. Volunteering for the process was integral since it would allegedly not work unless there was an element of self-sacrifice involved. The volunteer would cease to eat regular food in order to subsist on a strict diet of nothing but honey, and even go so far as to bather in honey. According to the legend, after around a month the volunteer’s sweat, urine, and even feces would be comprised of honey. Perhaps coming as no surprise whatsoever, the person was unable to survive on nothing but honey, and they would inevitably die. Upon death, the corpse would be transferred to a special stone coffin that had been filled to the brim with honey and the date of death was written on a seal placed upon it. The coffin was then buried for a hundred years to allow time for the corpse to become completely saturated and infused with honey.
Reposted with permission
