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. IN mass consciousness There was a strong belief 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 became an unprecedented innovation in 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 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). 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 stored 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 future. 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. The embalmers obtained the necessary substances on the banks of the Nile, which was the sacred river of the entire civilization.
The mummies of Egyptian pharaohs 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 Rasul brother-scientists 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.
The Pyramid of Cheops
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. Cheops was no exception to this rule.
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 of which were 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 days it was a profitable business, since the African sands still contained many treasures that were sold for good price in European As a rule, robbers are interested in treasures and gems, not 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 research The mummies 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 analysis DNA did not rule 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 surrounding 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 became a popular story Western culture. In the 20th century, several feature films dedicated to the curse were made.
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.
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. Our review contains 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 you take them out internal organs, the mummy will be preserved and not rot. 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 the latest archaeological evidence, the oldest Chinchorro mummies date back to the seventh millennium BC, which is double older than 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 Grafton professors 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 underworld was 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 precious jewelry and other expensive items being stolen to accompany the mummies into the afterlife.
15. Dubious entertainment
Besides, in Victorian era, unwrapping mummies has become a popular party activity. 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.
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 DynamicchromeOn 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 unplundered 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, average age the number of deaths 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 July 21, 1798 French fighting units met with the Mamluk army in the shadow of the great pyramids of Giza - evidence of greatness Ancient 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 script, 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 topic of death: from the construction of tombs and pyramids they learned about the afterlife of the Egyptians, temples told about gods and mythology. Very little was known about the life and everyday life of ordinary people. 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 the fact that Loudon was 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 terrible curse which can befall everyone.
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, like " Egyptian history about ghosts" (“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.
TO end of the 19th century century, the political and economic situation in Egypt deteriorated noticeably. 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, for 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 from literary genre gradually moved into the category folk 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 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".
L., N.Y., 2007.
- Luckhurst R. The Mummy's Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy.
- Riggs C. Unwrapping Ancient Egypt.
When a person passes into another world, it is customary to bury his body. But sometimes, by various reasons, people want to preserve the deceased for a longer memory and not at all in photographs...
You won't believe it, but we found 18 dead people, whose bodies are still carefully kept among the living!
1. Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924, Russia)
The father of Russian communism and the first leader of the USSR died almost 100 years ago, but his body looks like Vladimir Ilyich fell asleep and is about to wake up!
Back in 1924, the government decided to preserve the deceased leader for future generations. To do this, they even had to invent a complex embalming process! On this moment Lenin's body has no internal organs (they are replaced with special humidifiers and a pumping system that maintains internal temperature and fluid intake), and requires constant injections and baths.
It is known that during the existence Soviet Union The dead leader’s suits were changed once a year, but after the fall of the communist nation, the leader stopped being fashionable and now “changes” his clothes once every 5 years!
2. Eva "Evita" Peron (1919 - 1952, Argentina)
“Don’t cry for me, Argentina,” Madonna-Evita sang, playing the role of the main and beloved woman of the entire Argentine people, Evita Peron, in the film of the same name.
No, then in 1952 the country did not want to put up with the death of the wife of President Juan Peron. And even more, Eva Peron, who died of cancer, was so skillfully embalmed that the result was later even called the “art of death”!
But indeed, there was even more life in the dead body... You won’t believe it, but the process of preserving the deceased took specialists almost a year. It is known that after the arrival of the new government, Evita’s body was stolen and hidden in Italy, where the caretaker fell in love with it and could not curb his sexual fantasies!
3. Rosalia Lombardo (1918 – 1920, Italy)
Deep in the catacombs of the Capuchin friars in Sicily, inside a small glass casket lies the body of little Rosalia Lombardo. When the girl died of pneumonia in 1920, her father, General Lombardo, could not cope with the loss. He found embalming specialist Alfredo Salafia, and was ready to give all the money so that only his daughter’s body could be preserved. And thanks to a mixture of chemicals, including formaldehyde, zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid and glycerin, a phenomenal result was achieved! After a while, the body was given the name “Sleeping Beauty” and there was even a buyer who bought it!
Look how innocence is preserved on Rosalia's face. And today this mummy is not only the best preserved in the world, but also the most visited in the catacombs.
Well, this x-ray of Rosalia shows that her brain and internal organs are intact, although they have shrunk over time.
4. Lady Xin Zhui (died 163 BC, China)
This deceased woman's name was Xin Zhui, and she was the wife of the imperial viceroy of Changsha County, Marquis Dai, during the Han Dynasty.
Perhaps the woman’s name would have sunk into oblivion if she had not been mummified after death. The body of the Chinese woman was fantastically preserved 2,100 years after her death, and today scientists are scratching their heads over the mystery of the mummy, better known as “Lady Dai.”
Believe it or not, Xin Zhui's skin is still soft, her arms and legs can bend, her internal organs remain intact, and her veins still contain blood. Somehow, the mummy even had eyelashes and hair...Today it has been precisely established that during her lifetime, Xin Zhui was overweight, she suffered from lower back pain, clogged arteries and heart disease.
5. “Virgin” or 500-year-old mummy girl
And you definitely haven’t forgotten this 15-year-old, which has lain in the ice for almost 500 years!
6. Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov (1852-1927, Russia)
If you still don’t believe in miracles, then it’s time to visit Buryatia and look at the incorruptible body of the head of the Buddhists Eastern Siberia monk Dashi-Dorzhi Titgelov, who sits in the lotus position.
But, the most amazing thing is that the body is in the open air, and not only does not decompose, but also exudes a fragrance!
7. Man of Tollund (390 BC - 350 BC, Denmark)
Another amazing discovery of the “living” dead is a human body that has lain in the peat bogs of Tollund (Denmark) since the 4th century BC!
The "Man from Tollund" was found in 1950. Then archaeologists determined that the deceased was most likely hanged - he had a swollen tongue, and in his stomach there was a portion of eaten vegetables and seeds!
Alas, time and the swamp preserved the body, but people could not - today only the head, legs and thumb hands.
8. Tattooed Princess Ukok (lived around the 5th century AD in Siberia)
Another creepy greeting from the past - Altai princess Ukok.
They found the mummy lying on its side with its legs drawn up.
The princess had numerous tattoos on her arms! But the find was dressed even more interestingly - in a white silk shirt, a burgundy woolen skirt, felt socks and a fur coat. The complex hairstyle of the deceased is also unique - it is made of wool, felt and her own hair and was 90 cm in height. The princess died at a young age (about 25 years old) from breast cancer (during the study, a tumor in the breast and metastases were discovered) .
9. Imperishable Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879, France)
The daughter of a miller, Maria Bernadette was born in Lourdes in 1844.
It is known that during her short life (the girl lived for 35 years and died of tuberculosis), the Virgin Mary (the white lady) appeared to her 17 times, during which she indicated where to find a spring with healing water and where to build a temple.
After death and burial, Bernadette Soubirous was canonized, and therefore the body had to be exhumed and embalmed. Since then, it has been buried and exhumed two more times, before finally being placed in a golden reliquary in the chapel and covered in wax.
10. John Torrington (1825 – 1846, UK)
Sometimes nature can preserve a body much better than embalming experts. Here's how, for example, the body of John Torrington, senior officer of the legendary Franklin expedition to the Arctic Circle. The researcher died of lead poisoning at the age of 22 and was buried in the tundra along with three others at a campsite. In the 1980s, Torring's grave was exhumed by scientists in order to find out the reason for the failure of the expedition.
When the coffins were opened and the ice thawed, the archaeologists were amazed and frightened by what they saw - John Torrington was literally looking at them!
11. Beauty Xiaohe (Lived 3800 years ago, China)
In 2003, at the excavations of the ancient cemetery of Xiaohe Mudi, archaeologists discovered a well-preserved mummy, named after the location - Beauty Xiaohe.
You won’t believe it, but this beauty in a felt hat, after 4 thousand years of being underground in a coffin-boat with bags of herbs, had intact skin, hair and even eyelashes!
12. Cherchensky man (died about 1000 BC, China)
In 1978, a mummified “Cherchen man” dating back to 1000 BC was found in the Taklamakan desert. e. The Cherchenets was blond with light skin, 2 m tall, dressed in clothes made of European wool. He died at the age of 50.
The discovery of this mummy forced historians to rethink everything they knew about the interaction of Eastern and Western civilizations!
13. George Mallory (1886-1924, UK)
In 1924, climber George Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine could have been the first to reach the summit of Everest, but, alas... For 75 years, the fate of the dead climbers remained a mystery, and in 1999, the NOVA-BBC expedition managed to discover the well-preserved body of J. . Mallory in clothes torn by the wind!
Researchers found that the two climbers were connected, but Irwin lost his grip and fell.
14. Ramesses II the Great (1303 BC - 1213 BC, Egypt)
The mummy of one of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Ramesses II the Great, is one of the most unique finds of our time. For more than 100 years, scientists have been engaged in a fierce battle to find out the cause of death of a personality of such magnitude. And the answer was found after a computed tomography scan. It turned out that a penetrating cut (7 cm) was found on the pharaoh’s throat all the way to the spine, which affected not only the blood vessels, but also the trachea and esophagus!
15. Wet mummy (lived 700 years ago, China)
In 2011, construction workers were digging the foundation for a new road when they unearthed the mummy of a woman who lived 700 years ago during the Ming Dynasty.
Thanks to the moist soil, the woman’s body was remarkably preserved. Moreover, her skin, eyebrows and hair are not damaged!
But the most impressive thing is the jewelry found on the “wet mummy” - a silver hairpin, a jade ring on a finger and a silver medallion for exorcism.
16. Otzi or ice man from Tyrol (3300 BC -3255 BC, Italy)
Ötzi Iceman (Otzi the Iceman) is the best surviving natural human mummy from around 3300 BC (53 centuries ago). The discovery was made in September 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabhoch, on the border between Austria and Italy.
It got its name due to the place where it was discovered. Scientists have found that the cause of death of the “ice man” was most likely a blow to the head. Today his body and belongings are on display at the Museum of Archeology of South Tyrol in Bolzano, northern Italy.
17. Man from Groboll (late 3rd century BC, Denmark)
In the mid-20th century, several perfectly preserved bodies were discovered in a peat bog in Denmark. The most attractive of them, so to speak, turned out to be the “man from Groball.” You won't believe it, but he still had nails on his hands and hair on his head!
Radiocarbon dating of his intact (!) liver showed that he lived more than 2,000 years ago, and died when he was about 30 years old, probably from a deep cut in the neck.
18. Tutankhamun (1341 BC - 1323 BC, Egypt)
Remember, just recently we remembered, and finally found out what Tutankhamun was like during his life.
Today, the discovery of the pharaoh's mummy can be considered the most unique find of humanity - well, at least remember that the tomb of Tutankhamun was not plundered by ancient robbers and, in addition, all subsequent hoaxes associated with “curses” after the opening of the tomb by G. Carter.
Only, alas, it is worth admitting that of all the surviving “living” dead, Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not in the most “attractive” form.
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 their excellent medicinal 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 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 make breathing easier for the deceased 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 indeed copied from mummies.