Thomas Greenhill

author

Thomas Greenhill

b. 1681

Best known for a striking early 18th-century book on embalming, this London surgeon wrote with unusual curiosity about burial customs, mummies, and how different cultures cared for the dead. His work opens a vivid window onto medicine and funeral practice in his time.

1 Audiobook

ΝΕΚΡΟΚΗΔΕΙΑ; Or, the Art of Embalming; Wherein Is Shewn the Right of Burial, and Funeral Ceremonies, Especially That of Preserving Bodies After the Egyptian Method. Together With an Account of the Egyptian Mummies, Pyramids, Subterranean Vaults and Lamps, and Their Opinion of the Metempsychosis, the Cause of Their Embalming. As Also a Geographical Description of Egypt, the Rise and Course of the Nile, the Temper, Constitution and Physic of the Inhabitants, Their Inventions, Arts, Sciences, Stupendous Works and Sepulchres, and Other Curious Observations Any Ways Relating to the Physiology and Knowledge of This Art.

ΝΕΚΡΟΚΗΔΕΙΑ; Or, the Art of Embalming; Wherein Is Shewn the Right of Burial, and Funeral Ceremonies, Especially That of Preserving Bodies After the Egyptian Method. Together With an Account of the Egyptian Mummies, Pyramids, Subterranean Vaults and Lamps, and Their Opinion of the Metempsychosis, the Cause of Their Embalming. As Also a Geographical Description of Egypt, the Rise and Course of the Nile, the Temper, Constitution and Physic of the Inhabitants, Their Inventions, Arts, Sciences, Stupendous Works and Sepulchres, and Other Curious Observations Any Ways Relating to the Physiology and Knowledge of This Art.

by Thomas Greenhill

About the author

Born in 1681, Thomas Greenhill was an English surgeon who worked in London. He is remembered above all for Nekrokēdeia; or, The Art of Embalming, published in 1705, a book that brought together practical medicine, funeral customs, and wide-ranging historical material.

Greenhill also served as surgeon to Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk. His writing explores embalming methods, burial rites, Egyptian mummies, and contemporary medical ideas, showing how closely early modern science, religion, and curiosity about the ancient world could overlap.

Though not a widely known literary figure today, Greenhill left behind a book that still stands out for its unusual subject and rich detail. For listeners interested in medical history, funeral traditions, or the stranger corners of early nonfiction, his work offers something memorable.