The most unusual mummies (12 photos). Top most famous mummies Where are the mummies located?

Although the image of a mummy in the human imagination is invariably associated with Ancient Egypt, mummified remains can be found in ancient and modern cultures throughout the world. Some mummies survive to this day due to environmental influences, while others are the result of human intervention. From ancient animals to sad victims, here you will learn about mummies that, despite their age, are perfectly preserved to this day.

Pharaoh Ramesses II, who reigned from 1279-1213 BC, is considered one of the most influential rulers of Ancient Egypt. In ancient times, Ramesses' body was reburied 5 times due to grave robbers. In modern times, in 1974, scientists discovered that the pharaoh's mummy was deteriorating quickly. Then it was sent to France for examination and restoration. To visit another country, Ramses’ modern passport was needed, so when creating the document, “king (deceased)” was indicated in the “occupation” column. At the Paris airport, the pharaoh's mummy was greeted with all the military honors due to the visit of the head of state.

A well-preserved human body was discovered in 1952 in a peat bog in Denmark. Judging by the cut throat, he was killed and then thrown into the swamp. According to analyses, the man died around 290 BC. e. The "Man of Groboll" is considered "one of the most impressive discoveries from early Danish history" as the mummy is one of the best preserved bog bodies in the world.

An amazingly well-preserved mummy of a hunting dog that likely belonged to the pharaoh's family. When the dog died, it was buried in a specially prepared tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Buried with the dog (previous photo), the baboon keeps a little secret that helps identify it as a pet. X-rays revealed missing fangs, the absence of which may indicate human surgery to prevent the animal from biting forcefully.

A mummy human leg found in a peat bog in 1944. Often, farmers find well-preserved fragments of organic origin in such swamps, the age of which can exceed thousands of years. This is explained by the fact that the environment of peat bogs slows down the growth of bacteria, which is why bodies of organic origin immersed in such bogs are practically not destroyed.

An ancient Egyptian queen's gazelle was mummified and buried with the same lavish care as a member of the royal family. The animal was buried around 945 BC.

This mummy was found in Lima, Peru. After death, the Incas embalmed some bodies of the deceased or wrapped them in cloth. And the arid climate contributed to the mummification of bodies.

The female pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for almost 22 years. While Hatshepsut's tomb was discovered in 1903, her mummy was only identified in 2006. This discovery was declared "the most important in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb."

The mummified remains of two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo have survived to this day practically unchanged. The girl died of pneumonia in 1920 - her father was so worried about the death of his daughter that he turned to the famous embalmer, Dr. Alfredo Salafia, with a request to preserve Rosalia's body from decomposition. It was only in the 2000s that the first signs of decomposition of the mummy began to appear, so the body was moved to a drier place and enclosed in a glass container filled with nitrogen.

You've probably all watched horror films about revived mummies attacking people. These sinister dead have always captured the human imagination. However, in reality, mummies do not carry anything terrible, representing incredible archaeological value. In this issue you will find 13 real mummies that have survived to this day and are among the most significant archaeological finds of our time.

A mummy is the body of a living creature specially treated with a chemical substance, in which the process of tissue decomposition is slowed down. Mummies are stored for hundreds and even thousands of years, becoming a “window” into the ancient world. On the one hand, mummies look creepy, some people get goosebumps just looking at these wrinkled bodies, but on the other hand, they are of incredible historical value, containing interesting information about the life of the ancient world, customs, health and diet of our ancestors .

1. Screaming mummy from the Guanajuato Museum

The Guanajuato Mummies Museum in Mexico is one of the strangest and most terrible in the world, with 111 mummies collected here, which are the naturally preserved mummified bodies of people, most of whom died in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century and were buried in the local cemetery " Pantheon of St. Paula.

The museum's exhibits were exhumed between 1865 and 1958, when a law was in force requiring relatives to pay a tax to have the bodies of their loved ones in the cemetery. If the tax was not paid on time, the relatives lost the right to the burial site and the dead bodies were removed from the stone tombs. As it turned out, some of them were naturally mummified, and they were kept in a special building at the cemetery. Distorted facial expressions on some mummies indicate they were buried alive.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, these mummies began to attract tourists, and cemetery workers began to charge a fee for visiting the premises where they were kept. The official date of establishment of the Museum of Mummies in Guanajuato is 1969, when mummies were exhibited in glass shelves. Now the museum is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of tourists.

2. Mummy of a boy from Greenland (Kilakitsoq town)

Near the Greenlandic settlement of Qilakitsoq, located on the western coast of the largest island in the world, an entire family was discovered in 1972, mummified by low temperatures. Nine perfectly preserved bodies of the ancestors of the Eskimos, who died in Greenland at a time when the Middle Ages reigned in Europe, aroused keen interest of scientists, but one of them became famous throughout the world and beyond the scientific framework.

Belonging to a one-year-old child (as anthropologists found, who suffered from Down syndrome), it, more like some kind of doll, makes an indelible impression on visitors to the National Museum of Greenland in Nuuk.

3. Two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo

The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy, is an eerie place, a necropolis that attracts tourists from all over the world with many mummified bodies in varying states of preservation. But the symbol of this place is the baby face of Rosalia Lombardo, a two-year-old girl who died of pneumonia in 1920. Her father, unable to cope with grief, turned to the famous physician Alfredo Salafia with a request to preserve his daughter’s body.

Now it makes the hair on the head of all visitors to the dungeons of Palermo, without exception, move - amazingly preserved, peaceful and so alive that it seems as if Rosalia only dozed off briefly, it makes an indelible impression.

4. Juanita from the Peruvian Andes

Either still a girl, or already a girl (the age of death is said to be from 11 to 15 years), named Juanita, gained worldwide fame, being included in the ranking of the best scientific discoveries according to Time magazine due to its preservation and eerie history, which after the discovery of the mummy in the ancient scientists told about the Inca settlement in the Peruvian Andes in 1995. Sacrificed to the gods in the 15th century, it has survived to this day in almost perfect condition thanks to the ice of the Andean peaks.

As part of the exhibition of the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries in the city of Arequipa, the mummy often goes on tour, exhibited, for example, at the headquarters of the National Geographic Society in Washington or at many venues in the Land of the Rising Sun, which is generally distinguished by a strange love for mummified bodies.

5. Knight Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz, Germany

This German knight lived from 1651 to 1702. After his death, his body turned into a mummy naturally and is now on display for everyone to see.

According to legend, the knight Kalbutz was a great fan of taking advantage of the “right of the first night.” The loving Christian had 11 of his own children and about three dozen bastards. In July 1690, he declared his “right of the first night” regarding the young bride of a shepherd from the town of Bakwitz, but the girl did it to him, after which the knight killed her newly-made husband. Taken into custody, he swore before the judges that he was not guilty, otherwise “after death his body will not crumble into dust.”

Since Kalbutz was an aristocrat, his word of honor was enough to get him acquitted and released. The knight died in 1702 at the age of 52 and was buried in the von Kalbutze family tomb. In 1783, the last representative of this dynasty died, and in 1794, restoration work was started in the local church, during which the tomb was opened in order to rebury all the dead of the von Kalbutz family in a regular cemetery. It turned out that all of them, except Christian Friedrich, had decayed. The latter turned into a mummy, which proved the fact that the loving knight was still an oathbreaker.

6. Mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh - Ramses the Great

The mummy shown in the photo belongs to Pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great), who died in 1213 BC. e. and is one of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs. It is believed that he was the ruler of Egypt during the campaign of Moses. One of the distinctive features of this mummy is the presence of red hair, symbolizing the connection with the god Set, the patron of royal power.

In 1974, Egyptologists discovered that the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II was rapidly deteriorating. It was decided to immediately fly it to France for examination and restoration, for which the mummies were issued a modern Egyptian passport, and in the “occupation” column they wrote “king (deceased).” At the Paris airport, the mummy was greeted with all the military honors due to the visit of the head of state.

7. Mummy of a girl 18-19 years old from the Danish city of Skrydstrup

Mummy of a girl aged 18-19, buried in Denmark in 1300 BC. e. The deceased was a tall, slender girl with long blond hair styled in an intricate hairstyle, somewhat reminiscent of a 1960s babette. Her expensive clothes and jewelry suggest that she belonged to a family of the local elite.

The girl was buried in an oak coffin lined with herbs, so her body and clothes were surprisingly well preserved. The preservation would have been even better if the layer of soil above the grave had not been damaged several years before this mummy was discovered.

8. Iceman Ötzi

Similaun Man, who was about 5,300 years old at the time of his discovery, making him the oldest European mummy, was nicknamed Ötzi by scientists. Discovered on September 19, 1991 by a couple of German tourists while walking in the Tyrolean Alps, who came across the perfectly preserved remains of an inhabitant of the Chalcolithic era thanks to natural ice mummification, it created a real sensation in the scientific world - nowhere in Europe have the bodies of our distant people been found perfectly preserved to this day ancestors

Now this tattooed mummy can be seen in the archaeological museum of Bolzano, Italy. Like many other mummies, Ötzi is allegedly shrouded in a curse: over the course of several years, under various circumstances, several people died, one way or another connected with the study of the Iceman.

9. Girl from Ide

The Girl from Yde (Dutch: Meisje van Yde) is the name given to the well-preserved body of a teenage girl discovered in a peat bog near the village of Yde in the Netherlands. This mummy was found on May 12, 1897. The body was wrapped in a woolen cape.

A woven wool noose was tied around the girl’s neck, indicating that she had been executed for some crime or had been sacrificed. There is a trace of a wound in the collarbone area. The skin was not affected by decomposition, which is typical for swamp bodies.

The results of radiocarbon dating carried out in 1992 showed that she died at about 16 years of age between 54 BC. e. and 128 AD e. The corpse's head was half shaved shortly before death. The preserved hair is long and has a reddish tint. But it should be noted that the hair of all corpses that fall into a swampy environment acquires a reddish color as a result of denaturalization of the coloring pigment under the influence of acids found in the swampy soil.

A computed tomography scan determined that during her lifetime she had a curvature of the spine. Further research led to the conclusion that the cause of this was most likely damage to the vertebrae by bone tuberculosis.

10. The Man from the Rendsvüren Mire

Rendswühren Man, who also belongs to the so-called “swamp people,” was found near the German city of Kiel in 1871. At the time of death, the man was between 40 and 50 years old, and examinations of the body showed that he died due to a blow to the head.

11. Seti I - Egyptian pharaoh in the tomb

The superbly preserved mummy of Seti I and the remains of the original wooden coffin were discovered in the Deir el-Bahri cache in 1881. Seti I ruled Egypt from 1290 to 1279. BC e. The mummy of this pharaoh was buried in a specially prepared tomb.

Seti is a minor character in the science fiction films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, where he is depicted as a pharaoh who falls victim to a plot by his high priest, Imhotep.

12. Mummy of Princess Ukok

The mummy of this woman, nicknamed the “Altai Princess,” was found by archaeologists in 1993 on the Ukok plateau and is one of the most significant discoveries in archeology of the late 20th century. Researchers believe that the burial was made in the 5th-3rd centuries BC and dates back to the period of the Pazyryk culture of Altai.

During the excavations, archaeologists discovered that the deck in which the body of the buried woman was placed was filled with ice. That is why the woman’s mummy is well preserved. The burial was walled up in a layer of ice. This aroused great interest among archaeologists, since very ancient things could be well preserved in such conditions. In the chamber they found six horses with saddles and harnesses, as well as a wooden larch block nailed with bronze nails. The contents of the burial clearly indicated the nobility of the buried person.

The mummy lay on its side with its legs slightly pulled up. She had numerous tattoos on her arms. The mummies were wearing a silk shirt, a woolen skirt, felt socks, a fur coat and a wig. All these clothes were made of very high quality and indicate the high status of the buried. She died at a young age (about 25 years old) and belonged to the elite of Pazyryk society.

13. Ice maiden from the Inca tribe

This is the famous mummy of a 14-15 year old girl who was sacrificed by the Incas more than 500 years ago. It was discovered in 1999 on the slope of the Nevado Sabancaya volcano. Next to this mummy, several more children's bodies were discovered, also mummified. Researchers suggest that these children were chosen among others due to their beauty, after which they walked many hundreds of kilometers across the country, were specially prepared and sacrificed to the gods at the top of the volcano.

Particularly exciting is the impeccable art of mummification, which was mastered by admirers of the cult of the sacred Amon Ra. The ancient Egyptians were radically different from other peoples in their worship of death and its elevation to a cult. Archaeologists are constantly finding new burial sites of mummies, trying to study them with the help of computer equipment, because fragile remains turn to dust from contact with the sun's rays. Although no matter how much research is carried out, the mysteries of antiquity become more and more numerous.

Preparing for the afterlife

According to the laws of modernity, people try to live here and now, to take only the best for themselves. For the ancient Egyptians, all life was considered preparation for the main sacrament - death. Even weddings were not celebrated as grandly as funerals. The better the mummification is carried out, the more complete the deceased will be able to appear before the gods. If earthly existence is only a moment, then one should prepare for eternal life with the utmost care. The mummy had to be accompanied to the burial place with high-quality dishes, amulets, jewelry and figurines of gods. And so that the dead man would not forget his good deeds committed during his life, papyri were additionally placed in the funeral chamber, where all his good deeds were set out in detail. The walls of the chamber were also decorated with reliefs and paintings, although they were executed according to the strict rules of painting that existed in Egypt. A mask with wide open painted eyes, located in place of the mummy’s face, looked at all this splendor.

Mummification methods

Millennia succeeded each other, but under optimal conditions, the imperishable mummies of the pharaohs of Egypt and the nobility rested in huge tombs. Although even ordinary Egyptians could afford to preserve the remains with dignity. But only the priests reserved the honorable right to carry out embalming. This is associated with the legend of the god Anubis, who made a mummy from the body of the god Osiris to prepare him for eternal life in the afterlife.

The nobility paid for expensive mummification

Relatives of the deceased Egyptian turned to the embalmers, who offered a choice of one of the mummification methods based on the financial capabilities of the applicants. After completing the formalities, the priests began to work. Mummification in Ancient Egypt was an expensive pleasure. Therefore, the process took place differently for different segments of society.

How were Egyptian mummies made? First of all, the brain was removed with iron devices through the nostrils, and its remains were dissolved with special drugs that were injected into the skull. In Ancient Egypt, they did not know about the function of the brain, so they simply threw it away, although they tried to carefully preserve all other organs. After examining the left side of the deceased's abdomen, the chief scribe indicated the location for the incision. Using a sharp stone, the paraschist (or ripper) made an incision in the abdominal cavity in the designated area. One of the priests penetrated the cut with his hand to remove all the organs, while leaving the lungs and heart in place. It was believed that through the food organs contamination of the flesh, and subsequently the human soul, occurs. The removed entrails were washed with balsam and palm wine. The organs were under no circumstances thrown away, but were carefully immersed in vessels filled with special balms. Such vessels were called canopies; each mummy had four of them. The heads of the sons of Horus were depicted on the lids of the vessels.

Secrets of embalming

It was time for embalming. After washing the internal cavities of the deceased with wine, they carefully rubbed the inside with cinnamon, cedar oil, myrrh and similar embalming agents. Linen bandages were soaked in special balms, which were used to tampon the body inside and wrap it around the outside. A little later, embalmers learned to fill mummies with aromatic herbs infused with oils. After some time, the remaining oil was drained and the body began to dry to remove the liquid and avoid rotting. Drying lasted about 40 days. Now the priests filled the womb with incense and sewed up the hole, and the mummy was immersed in a concentrated solution of soda lye for 70 days. At the end of the period, the body was washed to begin the final process. They cut fine linen into long strips and wrapped it around the deceased, and the strips were fastened together with gum.

The desire for an afterlife among poor Egyptians

The poor could not afford to pay for such a labor-intensive process, so they agreed to cheaper mummification. In Ancient Egypt, cedar oil was injected into the abdominal cavity of the deceased, without making an incision to remove the entrails. After this procedure, the dead person was lowered into the lye for several days. After time, the infused oil, which has the property of dissolving the insides, was drained from the intestines. Soda lye is known to decompose meat, so subsequently the relatives of the deceased received a dried mummy consisting only of bones and skin. Although the poorest Egyptians could use an even cheaper method. It consisted of injecting radish juice into the abdominal cavity of the deceased and immersing the body in a solution of soda lye for 70 days.

The ruler in the afterlife has untold riches

In Ancient Egypt, they religiously adhered to traditions. It was believed that nobles after death should continue to live among their acquired wealth. A warrior will not be able to hunt after burial if he loses his weapon. The pharaoh will not take his high place among the gods if he appears at the court of Osiris without a supply of jewelry, delicious food and many golden figurines. Therefore, untold riches were stored in the tombs, and “black” archaeologists sought to find a secret passage to them.

To build impenetrable tombs, they came up with various traps and reliable locks that could be opened with special amulets. But all the efforts of the ancient rulers to preserve the treasures of the tombs were not crowned with success. Under the influence of human greed, many tombs were stolen, and spells and magic did not stop those who wanted to profit from the objects of ancient civilization.

Artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb

Only the tomb of the nineteen-year-old Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who reigned in 1332-1323 BC, has survived to this day almost completely intact. e. Its discoverers are two archeological enthusiasts, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, who revealed to the world the extraordinary luxury of the ancient tomb.

For several years, archaeologists tried to find the burial place of the young pharaoh, and finally, in 1923, luck smiled at them. Crowds of onlookers and journalists flocked to the small town of Luxor to convey essays and reports to all lovers of antiquity. The archaeologists carefully moved along the steps deeper into the hole in the rock, and ahead they saw a walled wall, behind which was the entrance to the tomb. After the passage was cleared, they moved along the corridor, but they had to spend some more time clearing the passage from the rubble. Time passed, and finally, again, scientists had to dismantle another walled up entrance. Carter's heart began to beat dully in his chest as he stuck his hand with the candle into the hole in the masonry. A warm stream of air escaped from the burial chamber, causing the candle flame to flutter in the draft. In the twilight, the outlines of the room gradually appeared, and the outlines of figurines of animals and statues made of gold, flickering in the dim light, were revealed to the eye.

Golden Splendor

Archaeologists experienced a real shock when they were able to enter the first room of the tomb. The pharaoh was equipped for his afterlife journey with stunning pomp, although they did not have time to build a more spacious tomb for him. There were magnificent beds decorated with gold plates, chairs richly inlaid with gems and ivory, vessels, shooting gloves, quivers for arrows, clothing and jewelry. Vessels with remains of food and dried wine were also preserved. In stone vessels, researchers discovered expensive incense that retained a strong aroma. Even after death, the royal person had to lead a full existence, continuing to anoint his body with fragrant substances.

As a sign of special respect for the deceased, their bodies were decorated with wreaths of seasonal flowers. It was in the tomb of Tutankhamun that scientists discovered a wreath of flowers that turned to dust when touched. A few leaves remained; they were dipped into lukewarm water to avoid destruction. After analysis, we were able to find out about the month of burial of the pharaoh - from mid-March to the end of April. In Egypt, at this time, cornflowers bloom and nightshade and mandrake, which served to make a wreath, ripen.

To move the pharaoh through the afterlife, several golden chariots were installed in the chamber. The first room was followed by a second, containing an equally large supply of precious objects.

Tutankhamun's mummy

Several arks were discovered in the burial chambers, stacked one inside the other like a nesting doll. It was necessary to open the sarcophagi to get to the royal mummy. The remains were in the coffin, but they were so filled with aromatic oils that they were firmly stuck to it. A golden mask covered the face and shoulders; it completely repeated the lifetime features of the young pharaoh. They also tried to remove the mask, although it was attached to the coffin under the influence of the resin. To make the pharaoh's coffin, a gold sheet up to 3.5 mm thick was used. During burial, the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh was wrapped in several shrouds, and hands with a whip and a staff were sewn onto the topmost shroud. After the mummies were unwrapped, many more jewels were found, the description of which amounted to 101 groups.

A curse or a series of coincidences?

After the grand opening of Tutankhamun's tomb, a series of unexpected deaths of members of the expedition shook the public. A year later, Lord Carnarvon dies of pneumonia in a Cairo hotel. His death immediately became overgrown with unimaginable details and fantastic guesses. Some say a mosquito bite caused the death, while others say a razor wound caused blood poisoning. One way or another, for the next few years the concept of the “curse of the pharaohs” was discussed in the press. One after another, 22 members of the expedition, who were the first to arrive at the threshold of the famous tomb, suddenly died. English newspapermen fanned the sensation, and the public was not interested in any reasonable explanations.

Unenviable fate

Only the mummies of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt have survived to this day in fairly good condition. After all, the fate of the remains of the poor Egyptians remained unenviable. During the Middle Ages, there were many recipes for healing potions made from ground mummies. There was also some barbarism: in the 19th century, the bandages of the ancient dead began to be used as paper, and the mummies themselves became fuel. But the remains of royalty remained almost untouched to become wordless witnesses to the former greatness of Ancient Egypt.

Preserved mummies of the pharaohs

One of the greatest conquerors was Pharaoh Seti I. His reign dates back to the era of the 19th dynasty. The great pharaoh pursued a tough policy and strengthened the borders of the kingdom to the territory where Syria is now located. He ruled wisely for 11 years, leaving a strong Egypt for his successor, Ramses II.

The European press was shocked by the discovery of the grave of Seti I in 1817. Now the mummy of Seti 1 is on display in the hall of the Cairo Egyptian Museum.

Diagnosing the diseases of an ancient ruler

The legendary pharaoh of antiquity was Ramses II. He lived to an old age and ruled Egypt for an estimated 67 years. His mummy was discovered in a cache among the rocks by scientists G. Maspero and E. Brugsch in 1881. In the Cairo Museum you can see the mummy of Ramses II. In 1974, museum staff sounded the alarm due to the destruction of the mummy. It was decided to urgently send her for a medical examination to Paris. I had to take care of an Egyptian passport for the dead king in order to cross the borders between states. During the research, Ramses was found to have wounds and fractures, as well as arthritis. After processing, the mummy was returned to the museum to preserve its greatness for future generations.

A mummy is a body preserved by embalming. It is subjected to a special chemical treatment, due to which the process of tissue decomposition slows down or stops altogether. Mummification is possible both natural and artificial.

There have always been many secrets around mummies; they have attracted the interest of both scientists and ordinary people. People were often frightened by the image of dead, but seemingly sleeping people. People are interested in the process of mummification, as they have always wanted to touch the hitherto unknown border between the world of the living and the dead.

But the search and excavation of ancient burials has always remained the lot of desperate daredevils. Nevertheless, today many mummies from all over the world are in museums.

With their help, you can learn a lot about ancient cults without visiting remote and exotic countries, risking your health and life. Legends, however, say that communication with mummies is unsafe, and the disturbed dead can take revenge on living people.

Mummification was especially studied in Ancient Egypt, where almost everyone could afford to preserve their body after death. During the era of the pharaohs, this became a sacred tradition. In total, about 70 million people were allegedly mummified over the past 3 thousand years.

In the 4th century, most of the Egyptians converted to Christianity; according to the new faith, mummification was no longer necessary for life after death. As a result, the ancient tradition was gradually forgotten, and most of the tombs were plundered in ancient times by vandals and thieves looking for treasures.

During the Middle Ages, the destruction of mummies continued - they were even ground into powder, creating “magic” potions. Modern treasure hunters continued the destruction of tombs. Even the relatively recent 19th century contributed to the destruction of mummies - mummies' bandages were used as paper, burning bodies as fuel.

Today, mummification is carried out on a completely scientific basis, an example of this is the mausoleums with the bodies of the leaders of socialist countries. Let's talk below about the ten most famous mummies in human history.

Tutankhamun is the most famous mummy.

Now she is in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Historians believe that this pharaoh did not stand out in any way among the succession of rulers. Having ascended the throne at the age of 10, Tutankhamun died at the age of 19. According to Egyptologists, the young man died in 1323 BC. by his death. But the most interesting events related to the personality of this pharaoh began three thousand years after his death. In 1922, the Englishmen Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, untouched by robbers. After archaeologists opened the nested wooden and stone coffins, they discovered a golden sarcophagus. Since there was no air in it, even the flowers, not to mention the jewelry, were well preserved inside. The pharaoh's face was covered with a mask made of pure gold. However, this was followed by a series of accidents, which gave rise to talk about the curse of the ancient priests. Just a year later, Carnarvon unexpectedly died of pneumonia (there were rumors about a mysterious mosquito), Carter's assistants died one after another, and suddenly death overtook Archibald Reed, a scientist who wanted to x-ray the mummy. Society was not interested in reasonable arguments, and yet most of the dead scientists were already elderly. Moreover, Carter himself was the last to die, in 1939. The newspapermen simply adjusted the facts to create a mysterious legend.

Networks I.

Among the famous mummies, another Egyptian find stands out - the remains of Seti I. He was one of the greatest pharaoh warriors in history, who also became the father of another legendary ruler - Ramesses II the Great. Seti's reign dates back to the 19th Dynasty. According to surviving records, the pharaoh successfully defended Egypt from the invading army of neighboring Libya. It was thanks to Seti I that Egypt's power extended to the borders of modern Syria. The pharaoh ruled for 11 years, having done a lot for the prosperity of his country. His grave was discovered in 1917 by accident. Heavy rain caused a collapse of the earth and opened the entrance to the tomb, but inside the researchers saw that robbers had already been here a long time ago and there were no mummies inside. The opening of the tomb itself became a resonant phenomenon, just like the opening of Tutankhamun’s grave. But in 1881, Seti’s well-preserved mummy was found in the cache of Deir el-Bahri. Today it is kept in the Cairo Egyptian Museum.

Ramesses II.

Set's son, Ramses II the Great reigned for 67 years from 1279-1212 BC. At the time of his death, the pharaoh was over 90 years old. Ramesses became one of the most famous rulers of Ancient Egypt. His mummy was discovered by G. Maspero and E. Brugsch in the already mentioned cache of Deir el-Bahri in 1881 among other royal bodies. Now it is in the Cairo Museum, providing an excellent opportunity to imagine what the great ruler looked like. Although at that time an ordinary Egyptian did not exceed 160 cm, the height of the pharaoh was about 180 cm. Scientists note that the facial features of the mummy are similar to images of the ruler in his youth. In 1974, museum Egyptologists discovered that the mummy's condition had begun to deteriorate. To conduct a medical examination, it was decided to send the valuable exhibit to Paris; for this, Ramses even received an Egyptian passport. In France, the mummy was processed and diagnosed. She testified that Ramesses had wounds and fractures from battles and also suffered from arthritis. Experts were even able to identify some types of herbs and flowers that were used for embalming, for example, chamomile oil.

Ramesses I.

The grandfather of Ramesses the Great and the founder of the Ramesses dynasty was Ramesses I. Before becoming a ruler, the pharaoh had the following official titles: “Manager of all the horses of Egypt”, “Commandant of the fortresses”, “Royal Scribe”, “Charioteer of His Majesty” and others. Before his reign, Ramesses was known as a military leader and dignitary to Parames, serving his predecessor, Pharaoh Horemheb. It was these two pharaohs who were able to restore the economy and political stability in the country, which had been shaken after Akhenaten’s religious reforms. The tomb of Ramesses I was accidentally found in Deir el-Bahri by Ahmed Abd el-Rasul while he was looking for his lost goat. The man was a well-known member of a family of tomb robbers. Ahmed began selling numerous items from the burial to tourists and collectors. When the tomb was officially discovered in 1881, the mummy of the pharaoh himself was no longer there. 40 other mummies, sarcophagi and numerous exhibits were found in the burial, including the coffin of Ramesses himself. According to studies of diaries, letters and reports of the time, it was discovered that the Canadian doctor James Douglas purchased the mummy for 7 pounds in 1860. He acquired the relic for the owner of a museum in Niagara. It was there that it was kept for the next 130 years, until it was purchased by the Michael Carlos Museum in Atlanta for $2 million. Of course, there is no doubt that this is the mummy of Ramesses, lost in the 19th century. However, the results of a computed tomography scan, x-ray and radiocarbon analysis showed the similarity of the body with other representatives of the dynasty, especially since there was also an external similarity. As a result, the pharaoh's mummy was returned to Egypt with honors in 2003.

Otzi (or Otzi).

Among the sinister mummies, Otzi (or Ötzi) has a special place. In 1991, two German tourists discovered a body frozen in ice in the Alps. At first they took it for modern, but only in the morgue of Innsbruck, Austria, was Otzi's true age discovered. Naturally mummified man was kept in ice for about 5 thousand years and dates back to the Chalcolithic era. Fragments of his clothing are perfectly preserved, although many of them were taken as souvenirs. As a result of numerous publications about the mummy, more than 500 nicknames were given to her, but the one that remained in history was that given to her by the Viennese reporter Wendel in honor of the Ötztal valley. In 1997, the official name was given to the find - Ice Man. Today the find is kept in the Archaeological Museum of South Tyrol in Bolzano. Otzi's height at the time of death was 165 cm, and his weight was 50 kg. The man was about 45 years old, his last diet was deer meat, and he belonged to a small tribe engaged in agriculture. Otzi had 57 tattoos and carried a copper axe, a bow and many objects. Scientists eventually discarded the original version that Otzi simply froze to death in the mountains. Numerous wounds, bruises and fractures, and traces of the blood of other people were found on his body. Criminologists believe that the Ice Man saved his fellow tribesmen and carried them on his shoulders, or was simply buried in the Alps. The name of this mummy also has a curse story associated with it. They say that the Ice Man found caused the death of six people. The first of them was the German tourist Helmut Simon. He received a prize of 100 thousand dollars for his find and, to celebrate, decided to visit this place again. However, there he was overtaken by death in the form of a snowstorm. The funeral had just ended when the rescuer who had now found Simon died of a heart attack. The forensic expert who examined Otzi's body also soon died in a car accident, and this happened while he was traveling on television to give an interview about the find. A professional climber who accompanied the researchers to the discovery site also died when a huge stone fell on his head during a collapse. A couple of years passed and now an Austrian journalist, who was present during the transportation of the mummy and who made a documentary about it, died of a brain tumor. The last of the mummy's victims today is considered to be an Austrian archaeologist who studied the body. But hundreds of people were involved in the study of the mummy, so such a chain could simply be an accident.

Princess of Ukok.

In 1993, a sensational discovery was made in Altai. During excavations of an ancient mound, the well-preserved body of a woman was discovered in the ice, who was named Princess Ukok. She died at the age of 25, and lived in the 5th-3rd centuries BC. In the found chamber, in addition to the mummy, they also found the remains of six horses with saddles and harnesses, which indicated the high status of the buried woman. She was also well-dressed, and had numerous tattoos on her body. Although the scientists were delighted with the discovery, local residents immediately began to say that the disturbed grave and the spirit of the princess would bring misfortune. Some Altaians argue that the mummy, now kept at the Novosibirsk Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, should be buried or returned to its native lands. The consequence of the disturbance of peace of mind was the increased frequency of earthquakes and seismological activity in Altai, and the increased number of causeless suicides. There is an opinion that all these events are the princess’s revenge. They even talk about broken instruments and crashed helicopters on which they planned to transport the mummy, but information about this has not been confirmed. Although popular rumor raised the mummy to the rank of princess - the ancestor of all Altai peoples, scientists have debunked this myth. The woman belonged to a wealthy but middle class. In addition, DNA studies showed that she belonged to the Caucasian race, which caused protest and mistrust on the part of local peoples who belonged to the Mongoloids.

Xin Zhui.

In 1971, the mummy of a wealthy Han Dynasty Chinese woman named Xin Zhui was discovered in the Chinese city of Changsha. She died in 168 BC. at the age of 50 years. The wife of a high-ranking official, a representative of the ancient Thai people, was buried in an unusual way. There were only four sarcophagi, and they were nested one inside the other, delaying the decomposition procedures. The body itself floated in 80 liters of yellowish liquid, the recipe of which remained unclear, since it immediately evaporated. The autopsy yielded amazing results - the body weighed only 35 kg, while the joints retained mobility and the muscles were still elastic. Even the skin retained its color. Many different items were discovered near the deceased, including recipes for her favorite dishes. Also found in the sarcophagus were dozens of books on medicine, which described in great detail operations to enlarge the brain and bypass the heart. The researchers also found another unusual find there. On a square meter piece of silk was a map of three Chinese provinces on a scale of 1:180,000. However, the accuracy of the drawing was amazing! It was absolutely consistent with satellite data. The mystery of the mummy was also given by the fact that one of the scientists who participated in the research died from an unknown disease. Now the mummy is located in the historical museum of Changsha.

Tarim mummies.

Tarim mummies were discovered in the desert areas of the Tarim Basin at the beginning of the 20th century. It is noteworthy that these people were Caucasians, confirming the theory that people of this race were widespread in inner Asia. The most ancient mummies date back to the 17th century BC. These people had long brown or red hair that they wore in braids. Their fabric is also well preserved - felt raincoats and leggings with a checkered pattern. One of the most famous Tarim mummies is the Loulan Beauty. This young woman was about 180 cm tall and had brown hair. She was found in 1980 in the vicinity of Loulan. The age of the find exceeds 3800 years. Today, the woman’s remains are kept in the Urumqi Museum. It is noteworthy that next to it was found the burial of a 50-year-old man with hair braided in 2 braids and a 3-month-old child with a bottle and cow horns and a pacifier from a sheep's udder. Ancient utensils were also found there - a cap, a sieve, a bag. Craniometric research data suggests that the Tarim mummies have anthropological similarities with Indo-Europeans.

Dashi Dorzho Itigelov.

In 2002, an important event took place - the opening of the sarcophagus with the body of the famous Buryat figure of the early 20th century - Dasha Dorzho Itigelov. The Buddhist ascetic became famous during his lifetime. He was born in 1852, becoming famous both as a monk and as an expert in Tibetan medicine. Information about his relatives has not been preserved, which gives Buddhists the opportunity to cherish the legend of the extraterrestrial origin of the priest. From 1911 until the Revolution, he was the head of Russian Buddhists. In 1927, the lama gathered his disciples and ordered them to visit his body 30 years later, and then, reciting prayers, he went into nirvana. The body of the deceased was placed in a cedar box and, according to his will, was opened in 1955 and 1973 to ensure its incorruption. No post-mortem changes or signs of decomposition were found on the deceased. After 2002, the deceased, without creating any special conditions, was placed in glass in the monastery for everyone to see. Although any biomedical research on the body was prohibited after 2005, analysis of hair and nails showed. That their protein structure corresponds to the state of a living person, but the bromine content exceeds the norm by 40 times. No scientific explanations for the phenomenon were ever found, but thousands of pilgrims flocked to the incorruptible body in Buryatia, the Ivolginsky datsan.

Lenin.

The name Lenin is familiar to everyone in our country. This is a Russian and Soviet political and statesman, founder of the Bolshevik Party, one of the organizers and leaders of the October Revolution of 1917. Vladimir Ilyich was the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, first of Russia, and then of the USSR. In 1924, the leader died, and they decided to preserve his body. For this purpose, Professor Abrikosov was called in, who embalmed the deceased with a special compound. Already on the day of the funeral, a wooden mausoleum was built. Initially, embalming was designed for a short period of time in order to have time for a funeral. Abrikosov himself considered the struggle to preserve the body pointless, since science simply does not know how to do this, especially since cadaveric spots and pigmentation appeared on the body. The debate about mummification methods went on for quite a long time - about 2 months! The low temperature method with the installation of a refrigeration chamber was rejected; on March 26, work began on the body using a quickly developed unique method, similar to Egyptian mummifications. By that time, the body had already acquired dramatic changes. Dark spots were removed with acetic acid, soft tissues were soaked in a solution of formaldehyde and embalming agents. On August 1, 1924, the Mausoleum was opened to the public; almost 120 million people have passed by the sarcophagus throughout its history. The mummy is periodically subjected to biochemical treatment, and experts believe that with proper care, the remains can be preserved indefinitely. There is currently controversy over the very fact of the leader's mummification. His role in history has already been revised, and the fact of preserving the body was not of a personal nature (with the permission and request of relatives), but of a political nature. Calls for Lenin’s burial in the ground are increasingly heard.

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

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 one day he even blurted out in his hearts: “It would be better if I had not found this tomb at all!”

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 reality, this was because by 1923, scary tales of vengeful mummies and ancient Egyptian curses had 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 called “Description de l’Égypte” was published, from which many Europeans first learned about the great history of 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 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, in 1875, British Prime Minister Disraeli made the “purchase of the century” with the money of the London Rothschilds - a 47% stake in 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 prescribed 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 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 she fell ill and died mother, 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 released the short story “The Ring of Thoth”, in which an Egyptologist, who fell asleep while working in the Louvre, discovers 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

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