According to http://www.egyptartsite.com/ani.html, this series depicts the Egyptian ritual of mummification. In particular for this piece, it was for the royal scribe, Ani. Since, after death, the person was supposed to travel to the afterlife after they died. The body was an important part to this process, so they had to preserve it for eternity in order for the person to be able to successfully travel to the afterlife.
Now onto the main topic at hand. You'll notice there is a figure close to the center bottom on the left side that has a jackal shaped head. That is Anubis, also known as the Guardian of the Afterlife. Anubis actually has been used several times in our current culture. Hell, they've even used him in a few movies and video games.
But the sad part about this is that usually when something is taken from the past and recreated into something for present media, the people who recreate it usually change what the icon formerly was and make it into something that it wasn't. Anubis has been made into an antagonist at times and although he's still given the job of dealing with the afterlife, he's sort of made out to be this bad guy. When really, the Egyptians honored and respected him.
If anything, I'd sort of like to relate this to Hades who was, in Greek mythology, the ruler of the Underworld. Now, as some people might know, Disney created a movie called Hercules. This movie depicted Hades as a bad guy. Funny enough, Hades wasn't really all that bad. If you want a real shocker, you should read up on Zeus. You'll definitely see him in a new light after you read up on what really happened.
Point is, it seems over the years, different iconic characters start to develop different backgrounds if one generation is inspired by another. This isn't always a bad thing, but it is sort of a shame since the old icon starts to lose it's meaning. But, I suppose that just gives people all the more reason to research the history of certain subjects.
Interesting!
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