Ancient mummies. Mummies: dark secrets of the Egyptian pharaohs (6 photos). How and why they did it in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is probably the most famous civilization of the ancient world. The people who lived on the banks of the Nile a thousand years BC had their own distinctive pantheon of gods and a rich culture. In the common consciousness, the mummies of the pharaohs are most associated with Ancient Egypt, which attract interest for their mystery and belonging to the cult of death.

The meaning of mummification

The ancient Egyptians believed that after death a person goes to the afterlife. Therefore, the bodies of the richest and most influential residents of the country were necessarily mummified after death. This was done with pharaohs, high priests, and aristocrats. The process of processing a corpse was full of various subtleties that were known only in Ancient Egypt.

Superstitious residents of the African country believed that the mummies of the pharaohs helped their owners to go unhindered to the afterlife. There was a strong belief in the popular consciousness that rulers were of divine origin, which made their connection with supernatural phenomena even closer. The mummies of the pharaohs were buried in special tombs - pyramids. This style of architecture was a unique Egyptian invention that was an unprecedented innovation in the ancient world. Nothing like this was built then either in the Mediterranean or in Mesopotamia. The most famous are the pyramids of Giza.

Mummification process

Mummification was considered the destiny of the elite, but in fact it could be purchased if a person wanted to ensure a quiet stay in the afterlife, and also if he had enough money for this. But there were also procedures available only to pharaohs and members of their family. For example, only their organs were placed in special vessels (canopic jars). For this purpose, the body of the deceased was cut in a special way. The holes were filled with oil, which was drained after a few days. The masters who engaged in mummification were privileged members of society. They knew the science of embalming, inaccessible to others. Over the centuries of the existence of Egyptian civilization, these secrets never became known to other peoples, such as the Sumerians.

The organs in the vessels were kept next to the mummy's sarcophagus. The secrets of the pharaohs were buried with their bodies. All personal belongings were placed in the tomb, which, according to the religious conviction of the ancient Egyptians, would also serve their owners regularly in the other world. The same thing happened with the organs that were supposed to return to the pharaohs when they found themselves on the other side of existence.

Mummy processing

The treated body was subjected to drying, which could last up to 40 days. The procedure allowed it to persist for many years. To prevent the body from losing its shape due to natural processes, it was filled with a special solution, which also contained sodium. Embalmers obtained the necessary substances on the banks of the Nile, which was the sacred river of the entire civilization.

The mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were also treated by cosmetologists and hairdressers. At the last stage, the body was covered with a special oil made from wax, resin and other natural ingredients. Finally, the corpse was wrapped in bandages and placed in a sarcophagus, where a mask was put on it. In total, the mummification process took about 70 days and involved the work of a dozen people. The secret craft was taught to the priests of the cult. It could not be disclosed. Violators of the law faced the death penalty.

Valley of the Kings

Along with the mummy, all the property of the deceased was also buried in the tomb: jewelry, furniture, gold, as well as chariots, which were generally a symbol of belonging to the main social stratum. Members of the same family, as a rule, had their own tomb, which became the family crypt. Archaeologists find several mummies in such pyramids. There were sacred places where especially many pyramids were built. They were in southern Egypt. This is the Valley of the Kings, as well as the Valley of the Queens. Representatives of several dynasties that ruled the ancient state found their peace here.

There was a city of Thebes. It is in its place that the famous Valley of the Kings is located. This is a vast necropolis in which many mummies of the pharaohs were kept. The valley was discovered almost by accident by the scientist brothers Rasul during their expedition in 1871. Since then, the work of archaeologists here has not stopped for a single day.

Cheops

One of the most famous is the mummy He ruled Egypt in the 26th century BC. e. His figure was known to ancient historians, including Herodotus. This fact alone suggests that this pharaoh was truly great even in comparison with his predecessors and successors, because the names of many pharaohs were not preserved at all in any historical source.

Cheops was a despot who severely punished his subjects for any mistake. He was merciless towards his enemies. This character was familiar to those whose power, as contemporaries believed, came from the gods, which gave the pharaohs carte blanche for any whims. At the same time, the people did not try to resist. Cheops also became known for fighting in the Sinai Peninsula against the Bedouins.

Pyramid of Cheops

However, his pyramid amazed all his contemporaries and distant descendants with its size. It was included in the list of 7 ancient wonders of the world and remains the only monument from this list that has survived to this day.

Religious complex in Giza

The lost mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh was kept inside a huge labyrinth of corridors inside a structure 137 meters high. This figure was only surpassed at the end of the 19th century, when the Eiffel Tower appeared in Paris. Cheops himself chose the location of his tomb. It became a plateau on the territory of the modern city of Giza. In his era, this was the northern edge of the cemetery of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt.

Together with the pyramid, a monumental sculpture of the Great Sphinx was created, which is known throughout the world no worse than the pyramid itself. Cheops hoped that over time a whole complex of ritual structures dedicated to his dynasty would appear on this site.

Ramses II

Another great pharaoh of Egypt was Ramses II. He ruled almost his entire long life (1279-1213 BC). His name went down in history thanks to a series of military campaigns against his neighbors. The most famous conflict is with the Hittites. Ramses built a lot during his lifetime. He founded several cities most which was named after him.

This was the ruler who changed and transformed Ancient Egypt. The mummies of the pharaohs were often hunted by grave diggers. The tomb of Ramses II was no exception. The priests of Egypt ensured that the royal necropolises remained intact. While the ancient civilization still existed, the body of this ruler was reburied several times. First, the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses was placed in the crypt of his own father. It is not known exactly when it was plundered, but eventually the priests found a new place for the body. It was a carefully hidden cache that belonged to Pharaoh Herihor. Mummies from other tombs robbed by robbers were also placed there. These were the bodies of Thutmose III and Ramses III.

Fighting grave robbers

The cache was discovered only in the 19th century. He was first found by Arab grave robbers. In those eras, it was a profitable business, since the African sands still contained many treasures that were sold for a good price in European markets. Typically, robbers are interested in treasures and precious stones, and not in the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt. Photos of devastated graves confirm this trend.

However, already in the 19th century, the Egyptian authorities created a special ministry that monitored the illegal trade in antiquities. Soon the source of the jewelry was discovered. So in 1881, the untouched mummy of Ramses fell into the hands of scientists. Since then it has been kept in various museums. By studying it, researchers around the world still receive new information about mummification. In 1975, the remains were subjected to a unique modern conservation procedure that preserved a surviving artifact of the past.

Such a case is an extreme success for the scientific community. As a rule, when a new tomb is discovered, there is nothing left in it, including mummies. The secrets of the pharaohs and their wealth have attracted adventurers and traders for many centuries.

Tutankhamun

In popular culture, the mummy of Tutankhamun is most famous. This pharaoh ruled at a young age from 1332 to 1323 BC. e. He died at the age of 20. During his lifetime, he did not stand out in any way among his predecessors and successors. His name became known due to the fact that his tomb was untouched by ancient looters.

Modern scientific studies of the mummy have made it possible to study in detail the circumstances of the young man’s death. Before this, the popular belief was that Tutankhamun was forcibly killed by his regent. However, this is not confirmed by the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh itself. The pyramid in which it was kept was full of bottles of malaria medicine. Modern DNA analysis has not ruled out the possibility that the young man suffered from a serious illness, due to which he died prematurely.

When a team of archaeologists discovered the crypt in 1922, it was full of all sorts of unique artifacts. It was the tomb of Tutankhamun that allowed modern science to recreate the environment in which the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were buried. Photos of the tomb immediately penetrated the Western press and became a sensation.

Curse of the Pharaohs

Even greater hype around the tomb of Tutankhamun began when Lord George Carnavon, who financed the research of the distant find, unexpectedly died. The Englishman died in a Cairo hotel shortly after the ancient crypt was opened. The press immediately picked up this story. Soon, new dead people appeared related to the archaeological expedition. Rumors spread in the press that there was a curse that fell on the heads of those who entered the tomb.

A popular view was that the source of evil was the pharaoh's mummy. Photos of the deceased ended up in widely circulated obituaries. Over time, refutations appeared that debunked the myth of the curse. Nevertheless, the legend has become a popular story in Western culture. Several films were filmed in the 20th century feature films dedicated to the curse.

To a large extent, it was thanks to them that the theme of Ancient Egypt gained popularity among the widest public. Any news in which this or that mummy appears has become known. A pharaoh's tomb that was intact and intact has not been found since the discovery of Tutankhamun.

George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, reading on the veranda of Howard Carter's house. Circa 1923 Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

On April 5, 1923, George Carnarvon, a British aristocrat and amateur Egyptologist who financed archaeologist Howard Carter's excavations in the Valley of the Kings, died at the Continental Savoy in Cairo. They talked about an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances: a mosquito bite and the subsequent careless gesture with a razor, and then blood poisoning, pneumonia and death, which caused real panic among the Cairo elite. Of course: barely all the world's newspapers had time to report on the unique discovery in the Valley of the Kings - the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, preserved almost in its original form - when one of the main characters of the event dies in the prime of life, at the age of 56. Unlike many other tombs that were plundered already in the 19th century, only ancient Egyptian thieves visited the tomb of Tutankhamun, leaving behind a lot of valuables. Correspondents familiarly called the pharaoh of the 18th dynasty the Boy Pharaoh or simply Tut. The story of the discovery itself was amazing: for seven years Howard Carter, financed by Carnarvon, dug up the Valley of the Kings in search of an unlooted tomb - and only in November 1922, when Carnarvon was about to stop funding, did he discover one.

Then the devilry began: Egyptologist and Daily Mail correspondent Arthur Weigall, who covered the story from the very beginning, wrote that Carter’s bird was eaten by a cobra, a symbol of the pharaoh’s power, shortly after the opening of the tomb. They also said that Carnarvon’s dog died at the same time in his family estate, Highclere (today better known from the TV series “Downton Abbey”). Upon learning of Carnarvon's death, readers quickly correlated one with the other - and the curse of the tomb became a reality. Weigall, who in every possible way denied its existence, died in 1934 at the age of 54 and was willingly listed among the victims of the tomb.

Funeral mask of Tutankhamun. Photo from 1925

Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker in the burial chamber of Tutankhamun's tomb. 1924© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Objects found in the tomb. 1922© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Howard Carter and Arthur Callender wrap the statue before transport. 1923© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Bust of the goddess Mehurt and chests in the treasury of Tutankhamun's tomb. 1926© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Howard Carter examines the inner coffin, made of solid gold. 1925© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Ceremonial bed in the shape of a Celestial Cow and other items in the tomb. 1922© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Howard Carter examines the lid of the second (middle) coffin in the tomb's burial chamber. 1925© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas examine one of the chariots found in the tomb. 1923© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Alabaster vases in the tomb. 1922© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

An ark with a statue of the god Anubis on the threshold of the treasury. 1926© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and workers in the burial chamber. 1923© Harry Burton / Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colored by Dynamicchrome

The media hysteria around Tutankhamun was also explained by the fact that reporters that year did not have many high-profile topics to discuss. The summer was so scant for news that a story about a farmer who grew gooseberries the size of an apple tree made the front pages of leading publications. In addition, Carnarvon sold exclusive rights to cover the opening of the tomb to The Times newspaper, which caused a storm of protests from other reporters and only exacerbated the race for sensations. One of the American shipping companies even introduced additional flights to Egypt so that all interested tourists could quickly get to Luxor. As a result, Carter was so tormented by the press and onlookers besieging the excavations that he once even blurted out in his hearts: “It would be better if I had never found this tomb!”

Despite the fact that no curse messages were found either at the entrance to the tomb or in the burial room, the legend continued to circulate and only gained momentum when someone in any way connected with the tomb died. The number of alleged "victims of the curse" varies from 22 to 36 people; however, according to data published in The British Medical Journal, the average age of those who died was 70 years. “Tutmania,” as they said then, also swept the film industry - in 1932, the film “The Mummy” was released with the main actor of horror films, Boris Karloff.

According to popular belief, it was the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb that began the legends of curses that were later capitalized on by science fiction writers and Hollywood. However, given this explanation, what is surprising is the readiness with which educated Europeans throughout the first half of the 20th century spread incredible stories about mummies and pharaohs. In fact, this was due to the fact that by 1923 scary tales of vengeful mummies and ancient Egyptian curses have been part of popular Orientalist folklore for more than a century.

A still from the series "Agatha Christie's Poirot." 1993 In Agatha Christie's story "The Secret of the Egyptian Tomb", which plays on the story of Tutankhamun, the only person who does not take the curse seriously is the experienced and cynical detective Hercule Poirot. ITV

On July 21, 1798, French troops met the Mamluk army in the shadow of the Great Pyramids of Giza, a testament to the greatness of the Old Kingdom. The prologue to the Battle of the Pyramids is considered to be the famous monologue of Napoleon Bonaparte:

“Soldiers! You came to these lands to wrest them from barbarism, bring civilization to the East and save this beautiful part of the world from the English yoke. We will fight. Know that forty centuries are looking at you from the heights of these pyramids.”

Despite the fact that the Egyptian campaign ended for Bonaparte with defeat at Aboukir, the triumph of the British fleet and Admiral Nelson personally, Napoleon’s adventure was a success - but not military, but scientific. Not only soldiers, but also a whole army of scientists—167 people—went with him to the banks of the Nile: the best French mathematicians, chemists, physicists, geologists, historians, artists, biologists and engineers. On the spot they founded the main scientific institution of those times for the study of Egypt - Institut d'Égypte. Under his auspices, a series of publications “Description de l’Égypte” was published, from which many Europeans first learned about great history ancient civilization. The British also developed a taste for Egyptian antiquities, who after the victory in Aboukir received many French trophies, including the famous Rosetta Stone A stone slab found by a French captain in 1799 in Egypt, near the city of Rosetta. Three identical texts are engraved on the slab: one is written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the other in ancient Greek, and the third in demotic writing, the cursive script of Ancient Egypt. By comparing them, linguists were able to decipher the hieroglyphs for the first time.. Obelisks, elegant statues of gods and pharaohs, funerary and ritual objects left Egypt on French and British ships. Excavations, not regulated by any authorities, bordering on vandalism, created an extensive market for the trade in antiquities - before they even appeared on the market, the best exhibits immediately ended up in the private collections of wealthy aristocrats in London and Paris.

In 1821, the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I, better known as the Tomb of Belzoni, in honor of the archaeologist and traveler Giovanni Belzoni, who was responsible for the discovery in 1817, was recreated in a theater near Piccadilly. During the show, the attraction was visited by thousands of Londoners. The English poet Horace Smith, who competed with the poet Shelley in writing sonnets dedicated to the Nile, composed “Address to the Mummy” - it was publicly read at the exhibition.

Unwrapping mummies imported from Egypt became a popular social pastime in the 1820s. Invitations to such events looked like this: “Lord Londesborough at Home: A Mummy from Thebes to be unrolled at half-past Two.”

Invitation to unwrapping the mummy. 1850 UCL Institute of Archeology

Real surgeons were responsible for the technical part of the performance. Thomas Pettigrew, nicknamed The Mummy, was considered the main expert in the field of mummy unwrapping. Pettigrew has publicly unwrapped more than 30 mummies throughout his illustrious career.

In 1824, the architect of the Bank of England, Sir John Soane, bypassed the British Museum and bought the elegant alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I for 2,000 pounds (the mummy was found only in 1881).

Sarcophagus of Seti I at Sir John Soane House Museum Sir John Soane's Museum, London

On the occasion of the purchase, Soane threw a large-scale soiree: for three evenings, in a room furnished with oil lamps for greater effect, representatives of the London establishment raised their glasses to Seti I. It got to the point that entire alleys in cemeteries were decorated in the style of the Luxor Valley of the Kings. In the Parisian cemetery of Père Lachaise, opened by order of Napoleon in 1804, today you can see several outstanding examples of Egyptomania, in particular the graves of members of the Napoleonic expedition - mathematicians Joseph Fourier and Gaspard Monge. Not far from them stands the obelisk of Jean François Champollion, the young French genius who deciphered the Rosetta Stone in 1822 and laid the foundation for Egyptology.

Grave of Gaspard Monge at Père Lachaise Cemetery. Engraving from the book “Manuel et itinéraire du curieux dans le cimetière du Père la Chaise”. 1828 Wikimedia Commons

In England, the funerary fashion for Ancient Egypt is best seen at Highgate Cemetery, opened in 1839. Highgate's Egyptian Avenue has 16 crypts - eight on each side. The entrance to the avenue is decorated with a massive arch framed by large columns in the spirit of the Karnak Temple and two Egyptian obelisks. In the 1820s and 30s, obelisks began to appear on the graves of people who had nothing to do with Egypt - and quickly became an integral part of the Victorian cemetery landscape.

Egyptian Alley at Highgate Cemetery. 19th century engraving Friends of Highgate Cemetery

The appearance of Egyptian symbols in European cemeteries is not surprising - almost all the knowledge about Ancient Egypt that scientists and ordinary people had was related to the theme of death: from the construction of tombs and pyramids they learned about the afterlife of the Egyptians, temples told about gods and mythology. About life and everyday life ordinary people very little was known. It turned out that Ancient Egypt was a civilization of great pharaohs and their priests. Hence the mystification, the feeling of mystery and sacredness surrounding Ancient Egypt and everything connected with it.

Despite the fact that the townspeople went in droves and without any fear to look at the mummified bodies of the ancient Egyptians, already in the 1820s the first fears and concerns began to appear. They were reflected in literary works that historians would later call Egyptian Gothic. The first author in this genre was Jane Webb-Ludon. Inspired by London's Egyptomania and Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, she wrote the Gothic horror film The Mummy! "

In addition to being one of the first science fiction writers (the book takes place in the 22nd century in a world filled with incredible technologies, one of which looks suspiciously like the Internet), she also came up with the image of a vengeful mummy. True, in the book of Loudon, the revenge of a mummy named Cheops takes the form of personal revenge rather than a terrible curse that can befall anyone.

Imperial paranoia only fueled the superstitious horror of ancient Egyptian secrets. At the same time, a curious process of adapting the exotic genre to classic Victorian Gothic took place: revived mummies walked through gloomy old mansions with creaking floorboards. However, the very appearance of the mummy in the context of an English mansion looked quite plausible: the British who visited Egypt often brought similar artifacts to their home - to their home museums. In the 1860s, another hybrid genre appeared - ghost stories in an Egyptian setting, such as An Egyptian Ghost Story about ghosts in a Coptic monastery. In the short story “The Story of Balbrow Manor,” published in 1898, an English vampire ghost takes possession of the body of a mummy brought by the owner of the house from Egypt and begins to terrorize the household.

By the end of the 19th century, the political and economic situation in Egypt had noticeably deteriorated. The exorbitant spending of Khedive Ismail, as well as the unjustified trust that the Khedive placed in his European “advisers,” gradually brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy. First, the British Prime Minister Disraeli in 1875 made the “purchase of the century” with the money of the London Rothschilds - 47% of the shares of the Suez Canal - and a year later the British and the French established financial control over Egypt and created the Egyptian Debt Fund. In 1882, Great Britain, having suppressed a powerful uprising of the Egyptian officers, occupied the country of the pharaohs.

Illustration for the novel "Pharos the Egyptian" from The Windsor Magazine. 1898 Project Gutenberg

At the same time, archaeologists are making stunning discoveries in the Theban necropolis. Egypt is becoming even closer to the average person, reading daily newspapers and attending public lectures and salons. It was during this period that Egyptian Gothic experienced a real heyday. In 1898-1899, the novel “Pharos the Egyptian” by Guy Boothby, a close friend of Rudyard Kipling, was published. According to the plot, Pharos is Ptahmes, the high priest of the 19th dynasty pharaoh Merneptah, the son of Ramses II, taking revenge on the English who desecrated his land. The anti-colonial motive (or rather, the fear of it) is felt throughout the entire story. In particular, in the episode about the mummy that the protagonist’s father took from Egypt at one time, the following words appear: “Oh, my friend from the 19th century, your father stole me from my native land and from the grave that was ordained for me by the gods. But beware, because punishment is pursuing you and will soon overtake you.”

A cunning (and probably immortal) priest, dressed as an ordinary Londoner, lures a good-natured Englishman to Egypt, where he infects him with the plague. An unsuspecting European sails back to England - as a result, millions die from the epidemic. But before that, Pharos gives his victim a tour of the English Parliament and private clubs, showing him the corruption of the elite. The amazing plot combines all the hidden fears of a resident of the empire, including the fear of catching a terrible disease in the East - it is no coincidence that a quarantine was established in Port Said for ships traveling to Britain. By an amazing coincidence, the mummy of the real Merneptah was found by archaeologists in 1898, when the author of the novel Boothby was on vacation in Egypt.

First edition of Richard Marsh's book The Scarab. 1897

From the writings of Egyptian Gothic, one gets the feeling that the elite were most afraid of the revenge of the rebel mummies and pharaohs: in Richard Marsh’s book “The Scarab”, an ancient Egyptian creature that does not have a specific form attacks a member of the British Parliament. Actually, the responsibility of the political elites for establishing the occupation, and later the protectorate, was indisputable - hence the fear of retribution that would overtake them first.

The book was published in the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula and significantly outsold it. Perhaps it was the success of a competitor that inspired Bram Stoker to write his other novel, The Curse of the Mummy, or the Stone of the Seven Stars, which tells the story of how a young lawyer tries to revive the mummy of the Egyptian Queen Thera (in 1971, it was made into the film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb ").

Stories about the deadly mummies of Egyptian queens and priestesses gradually moved from the literary genre into the category of popular superstitions - and, conversely, superstitions fueled literature. So, for several years, a real drama unfolded in the British Museum with a sarcophagus with the unremarkable serial number EA 22542.

Cover of Pearson's Magazine featuring the story of the "unlucky mummy". 1909 Wikimedia Commons

The story, overgrown with rumors and fiction, dates back to 1889, when the British Museum received a sarcophagus from a private collector. Upon examination, it became clear that it belonged to a wealthy woman. Egyptologist Wallis Budge, then working in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, identified her in the museum catalog as a priestess of Amun-Ra, presumably of the XXI or XXII dynasty. Despite the fact that the sarcophagus was empty, everyone persistently talked about the mummy and spread strange stories: they say that the British man who bought it in Egypt shot himself in the hand, after which he gave the mummy to his friend - her fiancé soon left her, then her mother fell ill and died, and soon she herself fell ill. After which the “unlucky mummy,” as she was called, ended up in the British Museum. In the museum, the machinations of the mummy did not stop - they said that various unpleasant incidents happened to the photographers who photographed her. The journalist who wrote about it, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, died three years after publication - he was 36 years old. Robinson's close friend Arthur Conan Doyle immediately stated that he was the victim of the mummy's curse. There were even rumors that the museum decided to get rid of the mummy and sent it as a gift to the Metropolitan on the Titanic liner in 1912 - although the sarcophagus has not left the building on Great Russell Street all these years, and can still be viewed today in Hall No. 62 (since the “unlucky mummy” is still popular with the public, sometimes the sarcophagus is taken to temporary exhibitions). By the way, the creator of Sherlock Holmes made his contribution not only to the formation of the legend of the “unlucky mummy”, but also to the genre of Egyptian Gothic: in 1890 he published short story"The Ring of Thoth", in which an Egyptologist, having fallen asleep at work in the Louvre, finds himself locked up with mummies and the almost immortal priest of Osiris Sosra. In another Doyle story, “Lot Number 249,” published two years later, a mummy attacks Oxford students: it turns out that she is acting on the orders of one of the students.

Thus, by the 1920s, legends of deadly mummies and curses of the pyramids were firmly entrenched among other popular European ideas about Egypt. So when, in 1923, reporters began reporting that members of the Carter expedition and those involved in the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb were dying one after another, an explanation was quickly found that would appeal to Daily Mail readers. The public, familiar with the stories of Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker, if they did not believe in the curse, then willingly discussed it - it was not mummies that came to life, but plots familiar from childhood.

Historians have tried to count how many stories and novels about mummies and curses were published during the entire colonial period before the outbreak of the First World War - it turned out to be something like a hundred. However, Egyptian Gothic was not limited to literature - it created a whole set of rather dubious ideas about Ancient Egypt that continue to be broadcast in pop culture to this day.

Sources

Beynon M. London's Curse: Murder, Black Magic and Tutankhamun in the 1920s West End.
Brier B. Egyptomania: Our Three Thousand Year Obsession with the Land of the Pharaohs.
Bulfin A. The Fiction of Gothic Egypt and British Imperial Paranoia: The Curse of the Suez Canal.
English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920. Vol. 54. No. 4. 2011.
Day J The Mummy's Curse: Mummymania in the English-speaking World.
Hankey J. A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the “Curse of the Pharaohs”.
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Luckhurst R. The Mummy's Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy.
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Egyptian mummies

A mummy is a body preserved by embalming. A mummy is a body (not only of a person, but of any other living creature) that has been subjected to special chemical treatment, as a result of which the process of tissue decomposition stops or slows down. The word “mummy” first appears in European languages (Byzantine, Greek and Latin) around the year 1,000. It comes from the Persian word “mum” (“wax”). The word “mumia” was used by Arab and Jewish medieval healers to designate a special medicine. The ancient Egyptians themselves called mummies “sahu”.

Ancient Egypt is probably the most famous civilization of the ancient world that made mummies from the dead. In the common consciousness, the mummies of the pharaohs are most associated with Ancient Egypt, which attract interest with their mystery and belonging to the cult of death.

Superstitious residents of the African country believed that the mummies of the pharaohs helped their owners to go unhindered to the afterlife. There was a strong belief in the popular consciousness that rulers were of divine origin, which made their connection with supernatural phenomena even closer. In addition, the mummies of the pharaohs were buried in special tombs - pyramids. This style of architecture was a uniquely Egyptian invention. Nothing like this was built then either in the Mediterranean or in Mesopotamia. The most famous are

Mummification

The Egyptians believed that death was a transition to another world where the dead would need their bodies. To prevent the body from decomposing, it was subjected to special treatment - embalming. The result was a mummy that was preserved for thousands of years. Embalming was very expensive, therefore, the highest quality services were available only to the rich. Mummies were also made from the bodies of sacred animals - monkeys, cats and crocodiles. The mummy was placed in several wooden coffins, nested one inside the other, and placed in a stone sarcophagus.

Mummification was considered the destiny of the elite, but, in fact, it could be bought if a person wanted to ensure a quiet stay in the afterlife, and also if he had enough money for this. But there were also procedures available only to pharaohs and members of their family. For example, only their organs were placed in special vessels (canopic jars).

The masters who engaged in mummification were privileged members of society. They knew the science of embalming, inaccessible to others. Over the centuries of the existence of Egyptian civilization, these secrets never became known to other peoples.

The embalmer offered the relatives of the deceased several methods of mummification, and those, based on
their financial condition, choose the most acceptable one. After all the conditions were discussed, the craftsmen got to work. The mummification process was carried out not by one “master”, but by a whole team.

The ancient Egyptians considered the heart to be the most important part of the human body. And the brain seemed to them an absolutely useless organ. “First, they remove the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook. This method removes only part of the brain, the rest by injecting dissolving drugs. Then, with a sharp Ethiopian stone, an incision is made just below the abdomen and the entire abdominal cavity is cleared of the entrails. Having cleaned the abdominal cavity and washed it with palm wine, the masters then clean it again with ground incense. Finally, they fill the womb with clean, crushed myrrh, cassia and other incense (except incense) and sew it up again. After this, the body is placed in soda lye for 70 days. However, the body cannot be left in the lye for more than 70 days. After this 70-day period, they wash the body, wrap it in a bandage made of fine linen cut into ribbons and smear it with gum (it is used instead of glue)” (Herodotus, 2.86).

This is the first one best way embalming in the description of Herodotus. The second, cheaper one, is as follows: “Using a washing tube, cedar oil is injected into the abdominal cavity of the deceased, without, however, cutting the groin or removing the entrails. They inject oil through the anus and then, plugging it so that the oil does not flow out, they put the body in soda lye for a certain number of days. On the last day, the oil previously poured into it is released from the intestines. The oil is so strong that it decomposes the stomach and entrails, which come out along with the oil. Soda lye decomposes the meat, so that only skin and bones remain from the deceased” (Herodotus, 2.87).

The third method, intended for the poor, is even simpler: “Radish juice is poured into the abdominal cavity and then the body is placed in soda lye for 70 days. After this, the body is returned to its relatives” (Herodotus, 2.88).

Organs removed from the corpses of pharaohs and members of their families were not thrown away or destroyed. They were also preserved. After removal, the organs were washed and then immersed in special vessels with balm - canopic jars. In total, each mummy was given four canopic jars. The canopic lids, as a rule, were decorated with the heads of four gods - the sons of Horus: Hapi, who has the head of a baboon; Duamutef, with the head of a jackal; Quebehsenuf, who has the head of a falcon, and Imset, who has a human head. Certain organs were placed in certain canopic jars: Imset stored the liver, Duamutef the stomach, Kebeksenuf the intestines, and Hapi contained the lungs.

The mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were also treated by cosmetologists and hairdressers. At the last stage, the body was covered with a special oil made from wax, resin and other natural ingredients. During mummification, the deceased retains his lifetime facial features. Many Egyptians kept their dead relatives at home, and, since they were well preserved, admired them.

Members of the same family, as a rule, had their own tomb, which became the family crypt. The ancient capital of Egypt was the city of Thebes. It is in its place that the famous Valley of the Kings is located. This is a vast necropolis in which many mummies of the pharaohs were kept. The valley was discovered almost by accident by the scientist brothers Rasul during their expedition in 1871. Since then, the work of archaeologists here has not stopped for a single day.

Mumiyo is mine

The value of a mummy lies in the jewels that surround it and the historical significance, from understanding the embalming process to genetic research. But, some time ago, mummies represented another rather strange interest...

Mumiyo is an organo-mineral product of alternative medicine of natural origin. Mumiyo resembles that thick black composition that the Egyptians used to beginning of III thousands of years BC embalmed the bodies of the dead. Since the demand for this remedy was very high, in later times the hardened mass began to be cleaned from skulls and remains of bones, scraped out of body cavities and processed. In case of acute deficiency, there was no need to be scrupulous: the mysterious embalming agent was smeared along with dried muscle fibers and skeletal remains. Mumiyo obtained in this way could be supplied in large quantities.

Mumiyo was the name of an earthen, or rather mineral, resin known under the Greek name “asphalt”. It was highly valued as a remedy for various types of bodily ailments. But rare raw materials were clearly not enough. This craft of mumiyo began the monstrous robbery of Egyptian tombs. At first it was about a universal remedy, then pure devilry began. The extract extracted from mummies was not cheap. Enterprising merchants of Alexandria made sure that mumiyo became an important export item to Europe. They hired whole crowds of Egyptian peasants to excavate necropolises. Corporations of merchants exported ground human bones to all corners of the world - and made a good profit.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, mumiyo became a common remedy sold in pharmacies and medicinal herbal shops. When raw materials again became scarce, they began to use the corpses of executed criminals, the bodies of those who died in almshouses or dead Christians, drying them in the sun. This is how “real mummies” were made! In addition, gangs of robbers stole freshly buried bodies from graves, dismembered them and boiled them in cauldrons until the muscles were separated from the bones; an oily liquid dripped from the cauldron and, poured into bottles, was sold for huge sums of money to the Frankish merchants. According to documents, in 1420, the city judge of Cairo ordered the flogging of several grave desecrators until they admitted that they had dismembered human corpses and, in a kind of “pharmaceutical lard,” processed them into a marketable medicine. And in 1564, the French doctor Guy de la Fontaine from Navarre, in the warehouse of one of the merchants in Alexandria, discovered piles of bodies of slaves that were intended for processing into the notorious drug.

Egyptian authorities tried to put an end to the trade in corpses by passing a law. However, no regulations have been able to curb the export of mumiyo. The profits were so high and tempting that transports with large loads of mumiyo (mummies) continued to cross the Mediterranean Sea and reach Europe.

Over the centuries, dozens of recipes have been cited for making medicines using, for example, a quarter ounce of powder from a mummy or a piece of its burial cloth. Magical recommendations were also given: the mummy’s hand, lying in a box made of Lebanese cedar, protects the house and property from misfortune, and the nail from the mummy’s middle finger, worn around the neck in a silk bag, ensures the friendly attitude of others.

Among the goods brought from Egypt to Europe, mummies were considered the most expensive. Ivory, precious stones, gold and Chinese silk were less valuable. True, when more ancient remains began to be found in Egypt, prices for them decreased.

Mummies were very difficult to transport. The crew often began to protest loudly, threatening to abandon the ship - the sailors were afraid of the death of the galley and other misfortunes. Sometimes, however, prayers and sprinkling mummies with holy water helped. According to the stories of many sailors, ghosts in ancient Egyptian robes appeared on board sailing ships trying to take the remains of ancient inhabitants out of Egypt, and angry voices were heard in the roar of the storm, shouting curses in an incomprehensible language.

The captain of the French galley La Belle Laurence, which in 1729, by order of a certain Marseilles collector, transported two sarcophagi with mummies, upon arrival swore that during the entire two-week journey in front of the ship, misty figures glided along the waves - an elderly man and a young woman in flowing clothes.

Charlatans and pharmacists dissolved the remains of mummies in wine vinegar and vegetable oils and made ointments that supposedly helped with pneumonia and pleurisy. The French doctor Savary believed so much in healing power this drug, which he considered proven to be the assertion that only completely black and pleasantly smelling mummies have a positive therapeutic effect. Kings, princes and ordinary townspeople continued to search for the drug, which was rumored to have fabulous properties. People no longer saw the difference between the natural medicine of antiquity and the disgusting mixture that was sold on the market. Mumiyo became synonymous with mummies, and mummies themselves remained the basis for the manufacture of medicines until the 19th century.

The dead, both ordinary and noble, were dragged out of the tombs, torn to pieces while still in the burial chambers; They were first turned into dust and ashes, and then, in sealed porcelain vessels, they were sent to the international market. Thus, the remains of those who lived during the era of the pharaohs were exported from Egypt in unlimited quantities. They became unwitting victims of scientific research and superstitions associated with magic. Perhaps such superstitions have not been eliminated to this day. For example, in some American pharmacies, you can still buy several ounces of a mixture of “real” mumiyo.

Cheops mummy

One of the most famous is the mummy of Pharaoh Cheops. His figure was famous ancient historians, including Herodotus. This pharaoh was truly great, even in comparison with his predecessors and successors, because the names of many pharaohs were not preserved at all in any historical source.

Cheops was a despot who severely punished his subjects for any mistake. He was merciless towards his enemies. This character was familiar to the rulers of Ancient Egypt, whose power, as contemporaries believed, came from the gods, which gave the pharaohs carte blanche for any whims. At the same time, the people did not try to resist. Also, Cheops became known for fighting in the Sinai Peninsula against the Bedouins.

But the greatest achievement of this pharaoh is the pyramid that was built for his own mummy. The rulers of Egypt prepared for their death in advance. Already during the life of the pharaoh, the construction of his pyramid began, where he was supposed to find eternal peace. However, the Cheops pyramid amazed all contemporaries and distant descendants with its size. The lost mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh was kept inside a huge labyrinth of corridors, inside a structure 137 meters high. Cheops himself chose the location of his tomb. It became a plateau on the territory of the modern city of Giza. In his era, this was the northern edge of the cemetery of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt.

Along with the pyramid, a monumental sculpture was created Great Sphinx, which is known to the whole world no worse than the pyramid itself. Cheops hoped that over time a whole complex of ritual buildings dedicated to his dynasty would appear on this site.

Mummy of Ramses II

Another great pharaoh of Egypt was Ramses II. He ruled almost his entire long life (1279 - 1213 B.C). His name went down in history thanks to a series of military campaigns against his neighbors. The most famous conflict is with the Hittites. The warlike pharaoh also went down in history as a great peacemaker. When he was tired of skirmishes on the border with the Hittites, he concluded the first peace treaty known in the history of mankind: by an alliance with another power, he established peace for 50 years. Ramses built a lot during his lifetime. He founded several cities, most of which were named after him.

Ramses, despite his many royal duties, also found time for his wives. And there were at least six main ones and a dozen just spouses and concubines, who brought him about a hundred children. As a teenager, Ramses received a whole harem as a gift from his father. The pharaoh himself recalled this with gratitude: “He made sure that my harem was as beautiful as his own.” And my father’s choice turned out to be good. Obviously, of these first consorts, one turned out to be special - for 25 years Nefertari remained the embodiment of charm, friendliness and love and, as the pharaoh himself swore, his most trusted confidante. And it was she who gave birth to the first son of Amonherkhopeshef, whose hot blood appeared at the age of five, during a military campaign.

But Nefertari had to share her husband with her rivals, to whom the pharaoh often bestowed his favor while fulfilling his diplomatic duty. The loving Ramses shared his bed with his closest relatives. At least one of his sisters and two daughters were legally married to him. And the daughter Meri-Tamun, apparently, after the death of her mother Nefertari, took her place as the Great Queen.

Ramses II was probably over 90 when he died in the 67th year of his reign. X-rays of the mummy convincingly show that his body was affected by arthritis and that the elderly pharaoh lived for a long time in severe insanity. But he didn't want to die. Ramses outlived twelve heirs. The thirteenth son, Merenptah, was already 60 years old at the time of his father’s death - the eldest, but still a living son. As the new pharaoh, Merenptah led a procession that headed to the tomb that had long been prepared for his father in the Valley of the Kings...

Unlike the pharaohs Old Kingdom, who found rest in tombs near the pyramids, the rulers of the New Kingdom built their necropolis on the slope of Mount Kurn - carved into the rocks, with well-hidden entrances and false passages inside. In the darkness, and with an imperceptible stone threshold, thousand-year-old tombs with luxurious ornaments, statues, sarcophagi and treasures awaited their explorer. Thus, the family mausoleum of Pharaoh Ramses II was discovered in the Valley of the Kings. In a huge tomb, the ancient Egyptians apparently buried 52 sons of Ramses, heirs to the throne, many of whom were survived by their own father. Here, apparently, all the offspring of the pharaoh, who during their lifetime suffered from their powerful, imperious and tenacious father and all the time quarreled with each other over his inheritance, were finally united in death.

“This was the tenth, last and most terrible plague of Egypt, which the God of the people sent - all the firstborn in Egypt must die, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave girl who is at the millstones.”

First, the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses was placed in the crypt of his own father. It is not known exactly when it was plundered, but eventually the priests found a new place for the body. It was a carefully hidden cache that belonged to Pharaoh Herihor. Mummies from other tombs robbed by robbers were also placed there. These were the bodies of Thutmose III and Ramses III.

In 1881, the intact mummy of Ramses II fell into the hands of scientists. When they unwrapped the body, which had remained under a tight shroud for three thousand years, some muscle in it straightened - and in front of the scientists, the pharaoh raised his hand. This was the last royal gesture of the great Ramses. In 1975, the remains were subjected to a unique modern conservation procedure that preserved a surviving artifact of the past. The greatest of the pharaohs is now a museum exhibit. His withered body is on display in a glass case at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo is a real accumulation of antiquities and mumouys. There are always a lot of people there. On one of the usual hot days, when the stuffiness enveloped the halls of the museum, after sunset the electric light in the building was turned on. And then the irreparable happened. A drawn-out sound was heard from the sarcophagus where the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II was kept. The hinges of the tomb creaked. And then those present saw a picture that made everyone tremble. The mouth of the king's mummy was twisted with an inaudible scream. The body trembled, the embalming bandages burst, and the arms crossed on the chest straightened, hitting the glass lid of the sarcophagus with force. The fragments scattered in different directions. People rushed up the stairs in panic, and some of the guests jumped out the window.

In the morning press all the circumstances of this shocking event were discussed with gusto. However, the Ministry of Antiquities in its comments indicated that, in fact, the explanation for such strange “behavior of the mummy” is quite simple. The crowd of people in the hall created unbearable stuffiness and humidity. And the mummy should be kept in the dry air of a cool tomb.

Whatever the climatic conditions, the mummy froze, turning his head in a northern direction - towards the Valley of the Kings. The broken glass was soon replaced. The hands were swaddled, as before, in a cross-shaped position. However, the face of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt remained turned to the north.

Tutankhamun's mummy

But the mummy of Tutankhamun is most famous. This pharaoh ruled at a young age from 1332 to 1323 BC.
AD. He died at the age of 18 - 20 years. During his lifetime, he did not stand out in any way among his predecessors and successors. His name became known due to the fact that his tomb was untouched by ancient looters.

Who was the last person the pharaoh's almond-shaped eyes saw before closing forever? Scientists who have studied Tutankhamun's mummy are inclined to believe that he died violently. Scientists took about 50 x-rays of the head of the pharaoh's mummy, which has been perfectly preserved to this day. The photographs clearly show that the bones of the skull are unusually thin in the ear area. This gave reason to believe that one or even several blows were struck in this exact place. Most likely, scientists suggest, Tutankhamun actually received a blow to the temple with some kind of blunt object, say, a wooden gong hammer. But he only stunned him. Then came the second blow, fatal for the pharaoh, who before this, it seems, had been prudently drugged. However, even then the mortally wounded Tutankhamun tried to rise. He was given strength by the reflex developed by the ancient Egyptians, associated with the belief that the victim must see his killer before death, so that her ghost, having parted with her bodily shell, would relentlessly pursue the tormentor. But who could dare to kill the pharaoh?

Tutankhamun's wife, 16-year-old Akhnesepaaten, apparently, after all, sincerely loved her husband. One of the evidence of this is the bouquet of modest wildflowers she placed in the sarcophagus of the deceased, which, having lain there for over three thousand years (!!!), appeared intact before the admiring eyes of the scientists who discovered this only unplundered tomb. And yet, love is love, and politics is politics. Ankhesenamun was the daughter of the famous reformer pharaoh Akhenaten and his equally famous beautiful wife Nefertiti. The period of Tutankhamun's reign was the time when Egypt emerged from the civil war caused by the struggle between two religious movements. The murder of Tutankhamun was, apparently, the last desperate attempt by Akhenaten’s supporters to assert themselves and try to regain power. But this is only one of the possible versions of the death of the young pharaoh.

However, the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh itself refutes violent death. The tomb in which she was kept was full of bottles of malaria medicine. Modern DNA analysis has not ruled out the possibility that the young man suffered from a serious illness, due to which he died prematurely.

We got closer to the truth after studying the gene background of his family. “The artifacts showed that the kings of the 18th dynasty had an androgynous appearance and an unknown form of gynecomastia,” the scientific council announced. This conclusion was made after examining the mummy of Tutankhamun’s grandfather, his father and two stillborn children discovered in his tomb. As it turned out, two children were born from the marriage of the boy pharaoh to his half-sister Ankhesenamun.

Tutankhamun, as it turned out, suffered from a bunch of serious illnesses. He had brittle bones and wolfish
mouth The boy had a clubfoot and was dragging his left leg - his left foot was twisted. Congenital dislocation. A more thorough scan showed that the boy was far from handsome. But it’s hard to call him a freak either. Although Tutankhamun's teeth were crooked. In addition, the pharaoh also had genetic ailments: which turned him almost into a woman - with thick thighs and the semblance of mammary glands.

Scientists from London also suggest that Tutankhamun had epilepsy. “It is assumed that the heir to the dynasty suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, which is transmitted through the male line. People with this disease show activity and religious zeal when exposed to sunlight."

Perhaps Tutankhamun was the weakest and most infirm of the pharaohs. The clue to his state of health lay in his tomb, where about 130 walking sticks were found. It was the tomb of Tutankhamun that allowed modern science to recreate the environment in which the mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt were buried.

Curses of the Egyptian Pharaohs

The Egyptians tried to make the graves inaccessible to living people - they blocked the entrances to underground tombs with tons of rubble and stones, created false passages, and carefully disguised the real ones, setting up deadly traps. The inscriptions on the tombs threatened the curious with terrible death and deprivation of the afterlife - “their bodies will not wait for repose, punishment will fall on their descendants.” And sometimes, if the criminals knew how to read, it helped.

The mystery of the “curse of the Egyptian pharaohs,” which has haunted the minds of historians, archaeologists, doctors and simply curious people around the world for decades, still remains unsolved. Where did all this come from?

In the 60s of the 19th century, a wealthy Englishman, Douglas Murray, who was collecting a collection of unique items, bought a lid taken by “tomb robbers” from the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy. A couple of days after the acquisition, during a hunt, a gun exploded in Murray’s hands, and the collector lost his hand. A little later, the lid of the sarcophagus was lent by him to a private exhibition in another city and sent by ship. During those few days while she was in the hold, the unfortunate ship burned twice.

The biggest misfortune befell Murray’s acquaintance, who helped him acquire part of the sarcophagus. She received news of the death of her husband, son and two sisters during a flood in . The lady immediately went to the British colony for the funeral of her relatives, but the ship hit a reef and sank near the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1860, during excavations of the pyramid, five local residents found a tomb with the mummy of the great priestess of the temple of Pharaoh Amenemhat II Amon-Ra from the city of Great Thebes. The sarcophagus with the mummy was bought from them by four English archaeologists. The Arabs started a quarrel among themselves over the money they received, which ended in a bloody fight. They all died from the stab wounds they received. These were the first five victims of the Egyptian priestess.

An Egyptologist transporting the mummy to Cairo injured his finger on the sarcophagus, resulting in blood poisoning. Surgeons had to urgently amputate his arm to save his life (think about it, because of the scratch!). The scientist's assistant, who was involved in sending the mummy to London, soon shot himself. The third member of the archaeological expedition died of fever. The fourth was crushed in the street by a dray driver's cart...

The next owner, a London antique dealer, lost his young wife on the third day after acquiring the mummy: she died after falling from a horse. A journalist who was preparing an article about the priestess of Amun-Ra for a ladies' magazine, during a month of work on the report, a number of misfortunes occurred: her mother died, her fiancé broke off their engagement, and two young and healthy spaniels unexpectedly died. The girl fell into severe depression and refused to work on the article. Friends helped her find a Scottish witch who performed special cleansing rituals to get rid of evil spells.

The photographer, who was commissioned by the Egyptian authorities to take photographs of the priestess, went crazy. His imagination painted him terrible pictures - the priestess came to life and thirsted for the blood of the people who awakened her. To the horror of witnesses, a mask appeared on the photo negatives that did not in any way resemble the face of the Theban priestess painted on the lid of the sarcophagus. The second photographer died eight days after filming from sunstroke (!).

Scientists refused further research and in 1889 the fatal exhibit was transferred to the British Museum. During its transportation, one of the loaders broke his leg, and the second fell ill with some mysterious disease and after a couple of days gave his soul to God.

The object was cataloged as number 22542 and placed in the first Egyptian Hall. Soon rumors spread that the curator of the Egyptian collection of the museum, Sir Ernest Badge, who was keenly interested in magic, during one of the seances received a secret order to get rid of the mummy and preserve only the empty sarcophagus. They said that for a very long time they could not find a buyer for the remains of the priestess. It was not until 1912 that an eccentric American millionaire acquired the mummy and sent it to the New World aboard the steamer Hampshire. On the way to New York, the ship sank. There are other versions of the disappearance of the mummy. In any case, since then the sarcophagus has been empty.

In 1921, at night, in the presence of several witnesses, a ritual of exorcism was performed in the museum. But it is unknown whether he helped - almost every day those who stare too long at the image of the calm, thoughtful face of the deceased priestess faint at the glass display case with the sarcophagus. A museum workers, especially the night watchmen, claim that from time to time in the corridors adjacent to the hall you can see the ghost of a woman wrapped in linen ribbons, with her hands tightly pressed to her body, easily gliding through the air...

In 1890, Professor Soren Resden from Göttingen excavated a burial place in the Valley of the Kings and immediately
came across an ominous warning: “Whoever desecrates the tomb of the temple scribe Shinar will be swallowed up forever by the sand before the moon changes its face twice.” Resden, however, continued his work, and having completed the excavations, he soon sailed from Egypt. He was found dead in the cabin - the ship's doctor stated strangulation without the use of violence. To the amazement of those present, a handful of sand spilled out of the deceased’s fist...

On April 4, 1912, one of the most grandiose ships in history, the Titanic, set sail from the shores of Southampton. He was going to New York. There were two thousand passengers on board the ship. It was led by one of the best captains, sea wolf Smith, who has an excellent reputation and has not made a single mistake in his entire career. But on this day, something unimaginable happened to him: he gave orders without being completely aware of their consequences. He ordered to increase the speed and changed the direction of the ship.

About 40 thousand kg of supplies were placed in the holds of the Titanic: vegetables, fruits, 7 thousand bags of forage, 35 thousand eggs... and one mummy of Ancient Egypt. She was transported from London to New York by Lord Canterville. The remains belonged to the famous Egyptian oracle Amenophis IV. Under the head of the mummy was a figurine of Osiris, on which were inscribed the words: “Rise from the dust and all who stand in your way will perish.” After some organizational measures, it was decided to place it near the captain’s hold. Victims of the mummy curse were known to suffer from mental confusion and delirium. Maybe it was this mummy of Ancient Egypt that became a trap for Captain Smith? After all, we all know very well what ultimately happened to the Titanic and how many people died...

In December 1993, the tomb of Pharaoh Peteti and his wife was opened in Giza. The age of the tomb was about 4,600 years. Archaeologists were attracted by the inscription: “The great goddess Hathor will twice punish anyone who dares to desecrate this grave.” These words turned out to be not an empty threat. The head of the excavations, Zaki Hawass, suddenly suffered a heart attack, which almost led to death. An earthquake destroyed the house of his fellow archaeologist, who was at an excavation site. Ultimately, the train carrying the recovered treasures derailed and most of the artifacts were completely destroyed.

But the most famous story about the curse of the mummies is associated with the misfortunes that befell everyone who was present at the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. As is known, the leaders of the expedition, the English Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, their secretaries, servants, as well as members of their families and even dogs died under mysterious circumstances within several years after the opening of the tomb.

Over the course of several years, one by one, all the members of the expedition who carried out excavations and extracted treasures from the tomb, and those who were involved in the study of the mummy of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, died. Only 22 people. For all of them, death was equally unpredictable and fleeting. Death did not spare doctors, linguists, world-famous historians: La Flor, Callender, Winlock, Estori...

Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, died on April 5, 1923, four months after visiting the tomb at Cairo's Continental Hotel from pneumonia, and almost immediately hoaxes arose around his death.

On May 16, 1923, 59-year-old American financier George Gould, who also visited the tomb, died of transient pneumonia due to a fever caught in Egypt.

On July 10, 1923, a member of the Egyptian royal family, Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey, who was present at the opening of the tomb, was shot and killed by his wife.

On September 26, 1923, after dental surgery, Carnarvon's half-brother, traveler and diplomat Colonel Aubrey Gerber, died of blood poisoning.

X-ray scanning of the mummy removed from the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun was entrusted to Archibald Juglas
Reed. His work was carried out flawlessly and was highly praised by experts. But as soon as he arrived home, he felt a sharp attack of nausea, weakness, and after two hours of delirium he died.

On November 19, 1924, Governor General Sir Lee Stack was shot dead by a terrorist in Cairo.

On April 6, 1928, archaeologist Arthur Mace died at the age of 54. His health gradually deteriorated since the discovery of the tomb and was the subject of attention and speculation in the press; it was officially stated that the explorer died from arsenic poisoning.

On May 26, 1929, Carnarvon's younger half-brother Marvin Herbert died of "pneumonia secondary to malaria."

On November 15, 1929, Carter's secretary, Captain Richard Bartel, died unexpectedly. A young, healthy man's heart failed. The story of the pharaoh's curse spread throughout Europe.

On 20 February 1930, Bartel's father Sir Richard, Baron Westbury, jumped from a seventh-floor window; According to some newspaper reports, a hearse carrying the baron's body crushed a boy to death on the street.

Geoffrey Dean, who holds the position of chief physician at the Port Elizabeth Hospital in, found a virus - a fungus that caused symptoms in patients: dizziness, weakness, loss of reason. Any animal, including bats, could become spreaders of pathogenic microorganisms. They were the permanent inhabitants of the chambers of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. This disease is transmitted by the respiratory tract, therefore, Lord Carnarvon’s nurse soon suffered the same fate.

In 1962, after the results of Dr. Dean’s research on pathogenic bacteria were announced, physician Ezzeddine Taha from Cairo University convened a special meeting. For a long time, Dr. Taha monitored the health of archaeologists and staff members of the Egyptian Museum who worked with the mummy. In their lungs, he discovered the presence of microscopic fungi Aspergillus niger, which remained closed for a long time in pyramids and tombs. The scientist concluded that one can now quite safely go in search of new treasures, since there is a vaccine against these pathogenic bacteria. Perhaps science would have known the true reasons for the death of Lord Carnarvon and the team members if he himself had not suffered the same fate: the curse killed Taha.

A deserted road in the middle of the sand between Cairo and Suez. A car passing by here is a rarity. No road markings, signs, sharp turns or descents. Dr. Taha and his two colleagues traveled along this road to Suez. An accident occurred on the road, they crashed into a limousine: all three died on the spot, the passengers and the driver of the other car were not injured. During the autopsy, an embolism was discovered in the doctor’s respiratory tract - a rupture of the vessels of the respiratory tract...

Even if we take into account the fact that fungi caused the death of Lord Carnarvon and his entourage, the circumstances of the death of other people associated with the discovery of the pharaoh's tomb remained a mystery. Scientists have also put forward a version that in Ancient Egypt there was a known recipe for preparing poison using these same microorganisms. He served as the best protector for the treasures of the tombs and the peace of the pharaohs.

But what happened to the fate of Govar Carter, who spent many years, day after day, in a stuffy crypt in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor? He was tormented by constant migraines and suffered from hallucinations. However, he lived for quite a long time after the opening of the tomb. It can be assumed that due to long contact with these bacteria, his body has developed immunity.

Along with poisonous mixtures, there were other protective agents that were used by priests in Ancient Egypt to protect burials with mummies, including in pyramids. According to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, the essence of the human “I” was embodied in three substances: “Hat” is its physical shell, “Ba”, which personified the spiritual force, that is, the soul, and “Ka”, which represented the unity of Hat and Ba. The inner essence of each person, his Ka, is individual and unique. This principle provides a protective shell for the energy field and ensures the connection of the two principles.

Ka controls only the living body. Once a person goes to the Kingdom of the Dead of Osiris, Ka loses control and peace. In order to soften the fate of Ka, prayers were read and sacrifice rituals were performed. The appearance of the deceased was depicted on sarcophagi and tombs. They helped Ka find a new shell and incarnate in him. For this reason, Ka was tied to the burial site. The angry spirit, left without its abode, body, did not spare anyone. The ancient Egyptians firmly believed in his existence and feared his wrath. There were also those who skillfully controlled this energy, mainly priests.

This explains that it was not ordinary citizens who were engaged in robberies; they would not have dared to disturb the peace of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. The tombs were plundered by those who possessed knowledge and had the appropriate rank during the performance of religious services. They had information about the exact location of the tomb and the treasures.

Scientists have determined that Tutankhamun's tomb has already been opened. This is evidenced, as Carter himself claimed, by the royal seals. The burial site was probably discovered by Oremheb, who was the chief military commander under Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Ancient Egypt. After the death of the young king, he took his throne, continuing the dynastic line. Whether Oremheb was to blame for his death has not been proven by science. But it is known that he made every effort to erase the name of Tut from the walls of all temples and shrines. By the way, he had unlimited power over the priests. However, for an unknown reason, several years after the opening of the tomb, the pharaoh's mummy was returned to the place where it had lain in all alone and darkness for several centuries.

It is known that before the closing of the tomb of the pharaohs, a ritual of bloody sacrifice was performed near it. Many slaves participating in the construction of the tomb died. They knew the entrances and exits, the location of the corridors and cells. But this was not the only reason. Their Ka essence, which did not find peace in the crypt, was bound to inevitably destroy in anger anyone who entered the tomb. But modern science is unlikely to be able to explain this ancient Egyptian religious custom...

The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not the only site of excavations in the Valley of the Kings. Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of walled crypts with mummies here. Did they all bear the same mark of the curse?

Archaeologist Belzoni spent several years conducting research in Luxor. Here's what he said about his work: “The Valley of the Kings or, as it is even more accurately called the “Valley of the Dead,” is one of the most mysterious, but at the same time, the darkest and most damned places on earth. We have carried out a number of works in this area, and what can I tell you. Working conditions are terrible. The stuffiness of the narrow rooms of the tombs makes it difficult to breathe. Many workers faint. And all this in heat of +45 - +60°C. Fine sand—limestone—is constantly falling from the ceiling. The lungs are saturated with this mixture. The nose and throat are not breathing. Also, don't forget, we are surrounded by a lot of mummies that are giving off fumes. Sunlight practically does not penetrate these places. We light candles or torches, while seeing a terrible spectacle of mummies around us. One day I accidentally sat on someone's mummified remains instead of a wooden chair. It was an unpleasant feeling."

Perhaps the ancient Egyptians used radioactive radiation to protect the chambers of the pharaohs. The famous Egyptologist Goneim noted: “It has long been scientifically proven that when carrying out mummification, the ancient Egyptians used resins extracted from the Red Sea coast. They contained radioactive particles. Bandages of mummies found in tombs were impregnated with this substance. Obviously, the dust in the crypts was a source of radiation. This suggests that the ancient Egyptians used this substance during religious rites. Most likely, they personified him with the incarnation of Ra - the cult of the Sun."

But, quite recently, a group of physicists from the National Center for Nuclear Research ARE refuted this theory. According to experts, Egyptian mummies found at different times in ancient burials do not contain any radioactive elements and are absolutely safe for human health.

Using the most modern equipment, specialists spent almost a year studying more than 500 mummies located in various museums in Egypt. Not only the remains of such legendary personalities, like the pharaohs Ramses II and Amenhotep, exhibited in Cairo National Museum, but also the mummies of hundreds of unknown viziers and associates, which were kept at the medical faculty of Qasr al-Aini University. The experiments carried out allowed us to state with confidence: there are no sources of harmful radiation in mummies.

Even in the days of silent cinema, films appeared in which mummies, revived or revived through the efforts of sorcerers, pursued people, strangled them, and drove them to suicide. Fiction. Fairy tales. And yet... Modern bioenergy therapists who have studied Egyptian antiquities unanimously claim that mummies have a very negative energy field, therefore, they need to be studied with extreme caution. It seems that the mysteries of ancient Egyptian civilization will never be completely solved.

Johannes Krause, a paleogeneticist from the University of Tübingen, reported that the genome of three of the 151 mummies that German researchers worked with was completely restored. Their DNA was well preserved despite the hot Egyptian climate, high humidity in the burial sites and the chemicals used for embalming.

Restoring the genome promises, albeit in the distant future, the restoration of its owner as well. By cloning. Which would suit the ancient Egyptians, who hoped to somehow and someday rise from the dead. For this reason they became mummies. As if they foresaw that the remains of flesh and bones would be useful...

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When it comes to mummies, many people first of all remember ancient Egypt, the pharaohs, whose bodies have survived to this day, and the Hollywood blockbuster “The Mummy.” But in fact, mummies are not only about Ancient Egypt and Hollywood. In our review, little-known, and sometimes simply incredible facts about mummies.

1. What is a mummy

A mummy is a human or animal body that has been preserved from decomposition by removing internal organs, treating it with soda (sodium carbonate decahydrate) and resin, and then wrapping it in bandages.

2. Mum means wax

The word "mummy" comes from the medieval Latin word"mumia", borrowed from the medieval Arabic "mūmiya" and from the Persian "mum" (wax), which meant an embalmed body, as well as a bitumen-based embalming agent.

3. Variety of mummies

Archaeologists have discovered many mummies of animals, including jackals, cats, baboons, horses, birds, gerbils, fish, snakes, crocodiles, hippos and even a lion.

4. Anubis

Some people wonder why so many jackal mummies have been found. The explanation for this is quite simple - the god of mummification was Anubis, the Egyptian god with the head of a jackal.

5. The art of mummification

The ancient Egyptians began making mummies around 3400 BC, but it took them almost eight hundred years to realize that if the internal organs were removed, the mummy would be preserved rather than rotting. Over time, mummification became a very complex and lengthy process that lasted up to seventy days.

6. Herodotus is the first person to describe mummification

The first person to write in great detail about the mummification process was the Greek historian Herodotus. This happened after he visited Egypt around 450 BC.

7. Chinchorro tribe

Although mummies are almost exclusively associated with Egypt, the South American Chinchorro tribe were the first to make mummies. According to recent archaeological evidence, the oldest Chinchorro mummies date back to the seventh millennium BC, which is twice as old as the first Egyptian mummies.

8. X-ray of a mummy

The first modern scientific examinations of mummies began in 1901, conducted by English professors at the government school of medicine in Cairo. The first x-ray of a mummy was taken in 1903, when professors Grafton Elliott Smith and Howard Carter used the only x-ray machine in Cairo at the time to examine the mummy of Thutmose IV.

9. Classic

Not all mummies were wrapped in the same position. For example, the vast majority of pharaohs were positioned in a prone position with their arms crossed over their chest. This is the situation most often shown in films and popular media.

10. Osiris

According to Egyptian mythology, the god Osiris was the first mummy in history. However, his remains were not found.

11. Afterlife hospitality

It is for this reason that, after the mummy was all wrapped in bandages, it was covered with a special cloth with a painted image of Osiris. This was done so that the Egyptian god of the underworld would be kind and hospitable to the dead.

12. If only I had money

Many people mistakenly believe that only pharaohs were mummified. In reality, those who could afford it were mummified.

13. I’ll take everything I own with me.

The ancient Egyptians believed that items that were buried in a tomb along with a mummy would help the deceased in life after death. Thus, everything valuable to the deceased was buried with them. These included art, artifacts, treasures and jewelry.

14. Protection from thieves

There was also protection against thieves - ancient Egyptian myths warned that the tombs and their contents were under a curse that would strike all who entered them. It has been claimed that a number of archaeologists who discovered some of these burials suffered from total bad luck, and some even died under unusual circumstances.

However, these curses were unable to prevent many graves from being robbed and jewelry and other expensive items being stolen from the mummies into the afterlife.

15. Dubious entertainment

Additionally, during the Victorian era, unwrapping mummies became a popular activity at parties. Hosts hosting a dinner party would buy a mummy, and guests could unwrap it during the party.

16. Essential medicinal component

In Victorian times, mummies were considered an essential ingredient in many medicines. Most eminent doctors assured their patients that mummies powder or ground mummies had amazing healing properties.

17. Ramesses III was afraid of reptiles

Ramesses III was afraid of reptiles. It was for this reason that his mummy was found wearing an amulet that was supposed to protect him from snakes in the afterlife.

18. Receptacle of intellect and emotions

The only organ that the ancient Egyptians left inside the mummy was the heart. At that time, the heart was considered the center of intellect and emotions - qualities that were needed by the dead in the afterlife.

19. Profitable business

Mummies were a very profitable business in ancient Egypt. In the process of preparing the mummy, many workers were used: from embalmers and surgeons to priests and scribes.

20. Average weight of a mummy

Modern sleeping bags are made wide at the shoulders and narrow at the legs, which makes the person lying inside look like a mummy. This is not just a coincidence, as their design was inspired by the way mummies were wrapped to be preserved for millennia.

Continuing the topic, we decided to remember about.

In ancient Egypt, it was believed that the physical body should join the soul in the afterlife, so it should be preserved as best as possible. Thanks to mummies, modern science has learned a lot about the life, nutrition, disease and death of the ancient Egyptians.

The word "mummy" comes from the medieval Arabic word "mūmiya", meaning "bitumen" or "something impregnated with bitumen."

Archaeologists have discovered mummies not only of people, but also of many different animals - jackals, cats, baboons, horses, birds, rodents, snakes, crocodiles, hippos and even a lion.

The god of mummification in ancient Egypt was Anubis - a creature with the body of a man and the head of a jackal. Apparently, this is why so many jackal mummies have been discovered.

The first mummies in ancient Egypt began to be made around 3400 BC, but only eight hundred years later the Egyptians realized that for better preservation it was necessary to remove internal organs. Over time, mummification became a complex and lengthy process that could last up to 70 days.

The first person to describe the mummification process in detail was the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt around 450 BC.

Although we associate mummies with Egypt, a South American tribe called the Chinchorro actually began making mummies much earlier. According to recently discovered archaeological evidence, the oldest Chinchorro mummies are about 7,000 years old, twice as old as Egyptian mummies.

Not all mummies were given the same pose. For example, the pose with arms crossed, familiar to us from films, belonged to male royalty.

According to Egyptian mythology, the god Osiris was the first to be mummified. Of course, his remains were never found.

After the mummy was completely wrapped in cloth, special clothes with images of Osiris were put on top. It was believed that this would help appease the god of the underworld.

Many people mistakenly believe that only pharaohs were mummified. In fact, the procedure could be ordered by anyone with sufficient funds.

The ancient Egyptians believed that all items placed in a tomb would help the deceased in the afterlife. He was accompanied by works of art, tools, jewelry, and even slaves.

According to Egyptian myths, the tombs were sealed with a curse that would fall on anyone who entered. Indeed, many archaeologists died under strange circumstances. However, no curses prevented unknown daredevils from plundering some of the jewelry that accompanied the mummy.

During the Victorian era, unwrapping mummies was a popular party activity. The owner bought the mummy, and the guests unwrapped it. Strange way to have fun, isn't it?

In the same Victorian era, mummy powder was included in many medicines and doctors assured patients of its excellent healing properties. No comments.

Ramses III was afraid of reptiles and therefore his mummy was equipped with an amulet that was supposed to protect him from snakes in the afterlife.

The heart is the only organ that the ancient Egyptians left inside the mummy. They considered the heart to be the seat of the mind and emotions - those qualities that the deceased would need in the next world.

Making mummies was a very profitable business, employing many people - from embalmers and surgeons to priests and clerks.

If all the shells are removed, the weight of an average mummy will be about 3 kilograms.

Most of the mummies of the pharaohs had a golden mask with magical writings. Tutankhamun's mask is made of pure gold. If it were sold today, it would cost about $13 million.

Sometimes the mummy's mouth was left open to help the deceased breathe easier in the afterlife. Perhaps it was this custom that caused the fear that the mummy might come to life.

Sometimes mummies are used to calibrate tomographs in hospitals, at radiation levels that are dangerous and even fatal to a living person.

King Charles II believed that the mummy's dust contained the secret of greatness. He kept several mummies, from which he collected crumbled dust and rubbed it into his skin.

Modern sleeping bags are often made wider at the shoulders and narrower at the legs, which makes the person lying inside look like a mummy. This is not just a coincidence; the design of the sleeping bag was actually copied from mummies.

Ancient mummies. Mummies: dark secrets of the Egyptian pharaohs (6 photos). How and why they did it in Ancient Egypt

The meaning of mummification

Mummification process

Mummy processing

Valley of the Kings

Cheops

Pyramid of Cheops

Religious complex in Giza

Ramses II

Fighting grave robbers

Tutankhamun

Curse of the Pharaohs

1. What is a mummy

2. Mum means wax

3. Variety of mummies

4. Anubis

5. The art of mummification

6. Herodotus is the first person to describe mummification

7. Chinchorro tribe

8. X-ray of a mummy

9. Classic

10. Osiris

11. Afterlife hospitality

12. If only I had money

13. I’ll take everything I own with me.

14. Protection from thieves

15. Dubious entertainment

16. Essential medicinal component

17. Ramesses III was afraid of reptiles

18. Receptacle of intellect and emotions

19. Profitable business

20. Average weight of a mummy

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The meaning of mummification

Mummification process

Mummy processing

Valley of the Kings

Cheops

Pyramid of Cheops

Religious complex in Giza

Ramses II

Fighting grave robbers

Tutankhamun

Curse of the Pharaohs

1. What is a mummy

2. Mum means wax

3. Variety of mummies

4. Anubis

5. The art of mummification

6. Herodotus is the first person to describe mummification

7. Chinchorro tribe

8. X-ray of a mummy

9. Classic

10. Osiris

11. Afterlife hospitality

12. If only I had money

13. I’ll take everything I own with me.

14. Protection from thieves

15. Dubious entertainment

16. Essential medicinal component

17. Ramesses III was afraid of reptiles

18. Receptacle of intellect and emotions

19. Profitable business

20. Average weight of a mummy

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