The Mummy Thread! Contains pics:viewer discretion is advised

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Does anybody have good mummy trivia and pics? I love trivia on mummies, mummy pics, making fun of mummy pics, mummy movies (can't wait to watch the soon to be released Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.)

I'll be posting some pics of mummies that some people may consider offensive, if they are against the rules than please let me know and I'll have them promptly removed.


I've compiled some trivia, for those interested in the fascinating topic that is mummies:

King Tut's tomb...cursed?

Did you know that some people believed that there was a curse related to King Tut's tomb? The Mummy (1999) constructs its plot from a curse inscribed on the fictional Canopic chest of Anck-su-Namun. This curse, read aloud by one of the ill-fated plunderers, is actually based on "a curse" associated with King Tut's tomb.
The idea that mummies had magic power eventually appealed to the imaginations of authors. After the first ghost story about a mummy's curse was published in 1699, many more followed. But the longest lasting episode involving a mummy's curse was the discovery and opening of King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1923.

This story has been told many times, but fact and fiction are usually blended. Two recent authors who have separated the facts from the myths are Christopher Frayling and Nicholas Reeves.

First, the facts: Lord Carnarvon, who had funded the search for King Tut's tomb, and archaeologist Howard Carter entered the king's burial chamber on February 17, 1923. On or about March 6, Lord Carnarvon was bitten by a mosquito on his cheek and became ill. Reported in the media, this event caused many people to jump to the conclusion that King Tut's tomb was cursed.

Many famous people volunteered their theories to the press. For example, Marie Corelli, a popular novelist at the time, expressed her thoughts in a letter published in New York and London newspapers. In part, her letter read:

I cannot but think some risks are run by breaking into the last rest of a king in Egypt whose tomb is specially and solemnly guarded, and robbing him of his possessions. According to a rare book I possess . . . entitled The Egyptian History of the Pyramids [an ancient Arabic text], the most dire punishment follows any rash intruder into a sealed tomb. The book . . . names 'secret poisons enclosed in boxes in such wise that those who touch them shall not know how they come to suffer'. That is why I ask, Was it a mosquito bite that has so seriously infected Lord Carnarvon?

Corelli reported that the Egyptian author also warned: "Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh."

Her concerns seemed to be on target when Lord Carnarvon's condition worsened. The mosquito bite became infected, he contracted pneumonia, and on April 5, he died. The legend of the curse became fact and was enhanced by many rumors. Here are five of the most famous rumors - and the real truth behind them:

Rumor 1: On the day of the tomb opening, Carter's pet canary was eaten by a cobra (a symbol of the ancient pharaohs). The truth is that, although Carter had a pet canary, he gave it to a friend named Minnie Burton to watch, and she gave it (alive and well) to a bank manager.

Rumor 2: At the moment that Carnarvon died in Cairo Hospital, the lights across Cairo went out for five minutes. Actually, around the time that Carnarvon died, the hospital lights did go out for a few moments. Within a few weeks' time, this fact was twisted into the more interesting rumor. As Christine El Mahdy points out, the lights in Cairo are notorious for going out without warning - even today.

Rumor 3: Carnarvon's dog Susie, back in England, howled and dropped dead at exactly two o'clock in the morning, the time that Carnarvon died. No one knows whether this story is true or not, but it seems suspicious, especially since Egypt and England do not share the same time zone. The story might be a bit more believable if Susie had died at two o'clock Egyptian time.

Rumor 4: Over the door to King Tut's tomb was an inscription that read "Death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of the Pharaoh." Notice that this inscription closely matches the quotation Marie Corelli cited from the ancient Arabic text. Even today, it is easy to find books that report this inscription as fact. For example, in his recent book about mummies, author John Vornholt writes, "In an outer chamber, they [Carter and Carnarvon] found a clay tablet that read: 'Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of the Pharaoh.'" This is simply not true.

Rumor 5: Most of the people present at the opening of the tomb met untimely deaths. Again, Vornholt writes that "13 of 20 people who were present at the opening of King Tut's burial chamber died within a few years." Vornholt does not give his source for this information, but it is clearly incorrect. The truth is that the newspapers at the time had a field day with the curse. Whenever anyone related to Carnarvon or the discovery of the tomb died, the death was taken as proof that the curse was in effect.

However, Egyptologist Herbert E. Winlock examined the evidence some 12 years after the tomb's opening. Of the 26 people present at the opening of the burial chamber, only 6 had died within the next 10 years. When King Tut's sarcophagus was opened, 22 of the 26 people were present, but only 2 of them had died within 10 years afterward. Finally, only 10 of the 26 people had watched the unwrapping of the mummy. And none of them had died within the next decade! In fact, many of the people who had the most contact with the king's mummy lived long and productive lives.
Perhaps the last word about the Carnarvon curse should belong to Sir Henry Rider Haggard, who wrote at the time that the idea of the curse was simply nonsense and "dangerous because it goes to swell the rising tide of superstition which at present seems to be overflowing the world."

Last edited by SilverProteus on 31 Mar 2008, 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

I saw stories on that. They came up with logic reasons as to why these so-called curses happened but the individual stories are still pretty strange.

What about that report that the Egyptians really did put some powdered poison in the tombs, so that when they were opened, it would go up the nose of whoever disturbed it??

I've gotten into the subject of mummies recently...do you have any interesting facts to share? I would love to read it.

(I like pics too )

Mummy dust was a common ingredient in magic potions.

From wikipedia:

The Chinchorro mummies are mummified remains of individuals from the South American Chinchorro culture found in what is now northern Chile and southern Peru. They are the oldest examples of mummified human remains, dating to thousands of years before the Egyptian mummies. They are believed to have first appeared around 5000 B.C. and reaching a peak around 3000 B.C. Often Chinchorro mummies were elaborately prepared by removing the internal organs and replacing them with vegetable fibers or animal hair. In some cases an embalmer would remove the skin and flesh from the dead body and replace them with clay. Shell midden and bone chemistry suggest that 90% of their diet was seafood. Many ancient cultures of fisherfolk existed, tucked away in the arid river valleys of the Andes, but the Chinchorro made themselves unique by their dedicated preservation of the dead.

The Chinchorro mummies are significant because during the periods of these mummies, everyone who died was mummified, including children, new-borns and fetuses. This shows that it was not reserved for those of high rank or high status - mummification was not a sign of social stratification.

Radiocarbon dating reveals that the oldest, discovered Chinchorro mummy was that of a child from a site in the Camarones Valley, about 60 miles south of Arica and dates from around 5050 B.C. The mummies continued to be made until about 1800 B.C., making them contemporary with Las Vegas culture and Valdivia culture in Ecuador and the Norte Chico civilization in Peru.

The Chinchorro mummies are the earliest examples of the deliberate preservation of the dead. The mummies may have served as a means of assisting the soul in surviving, and to prevent the bodies from frightening the living.

Some say that King Tut's tomb's inner wall had bacteria, such as Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus and toxic mold on it, which killed Lord Carnarvon (discoverer) because of his already weak immune system.

It was believed to hold magic healing properties.

From Macbeth:

Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.
Harpier cries “‘Tis time, ‘tis time!”
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got
Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock, digged i’ th’ dark
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron
For th’ ingredience of our cauldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Here's a mummy battle. Looks like the humans are winning.

This is an excellent post Silver Proteus.

Cool pic!



Thanks!

Did you know. . .

1. The word "mummy" comes from the Arabic word mumiya which means "bitumen". Bitumen is also called pitch and is a black tar like substance that can be found in mountains in the Middle East. When Arabs invaded Egypt many years ago and discovered mummies, the mummies had a dark coating on them which reminded the Arabs of mumiya.

2. The men who made dead bodies into mummies were called embalmers, a profession that was passed on from father to son.

3. At first only the very rich could afford embalming. Later it became a huge industry with even the poorest hoping for it.

4. The climate of Egypt is naturally good for preserving a body. A poor peasant died 5,000 years ago and his body was covered by the dry desert sand. It is more perfectly preserved than many mummies and can be seen in the British Museum today. His nickname is Ginger.

5. The human body is made up of 75% water. Anything wet or damp rots very quickly so something was needed to soak up all the body fluids. At first the embalmers used sand, but this left the skin very tight. Later, the embalmers discovered that natron, a salty chemical found around the sides of lakes near Cairo, did a better job. It left the person looking more like they did when they were alive.

6. Sometimes the embalmers made mistakes and a body was badly mummified. It would turn dark and brittle and bits would break off! If part of a body rotted and fell off – or was snatched by a jackal taking a quick snack when no one was looking – the embalmers replaced it with a wad of linen, or a piece of wood. If the person had a limb missing when they were alive the embalmers gave them a wooden one ready for use in the next world.

7. Archaeologists have found mummies wrapped in hundreds of yards of linen, up to 20 layers thick.

8. Examination of mummies showed a lot about the bodies when they were alive. Ramses II had a lot of blackheads on his face, while Ramses III had been a very fat man. King Sequenenre II had met a pretty horrible end. There were wounds on his scalp – one wound had pierced his skull. Blood was still clotted in his hair, and his face was twisted in agony. Some think he was murdered in his sleep – others believe he was killed in battle. If so, he may have been mummified quickly, so his hair wasn't cleaned well.

9. In Victorian England people flocked to see a mummy being unwrapped! Doctor Pettigrew at the Royal College of Surgeons provided very popular unwrappings. Even on a bitterly cold January night, tickets were sold out and many important people could not get in. Refreshments were served after the "performance," just as if it were a theater show. One of Pettigrew's mummies turned out to be a fake – rags and sticks wrapped up in bandages.

10. The Duke of Hamilton was very impressed by "Mummy" Pettigrew's work. He asked to be mummified by Pettigrew after he died. After 20 years of unwrapping mummies Pettigrew finally had the chance to wrap one. This he did after the Duke died on August 18, 1852. The Duke even had an ancient Egyptian stone coffin waiting for his body. It hasn't been opened since, so we don't know if Pettigrew was as good at making mummies as the Egyptians.

11. Napoleon Bonaparte accidentally started the study of mummies when he invaded Egypt, in 1798, and took scientists with him to write down everything they could find out about the them. They wrote about buildings, statues, their religion, and even mummies. The scientists wrote a bunch of books about what they found on their journey in Egypt. Their books included information about their investigation of mummies. As people around the world started reading these books, they became so curious, they wanted to learn more about ancient Egypt.



Mummy uses:

1. As magic powder

King Charles II of England (1630 – 1685) used to collect the dust and powder that fell from collections of mummies. He would rub this powder into his skin, all over. He believed that the "ancient greatness" of the mummies would rub on to him.

2. As fuel

So many mummies were dug up in the 1800's that they became common and worthless. Some were burned as fuel for steam trains when wood and coal were short supply. Poor people in Thebes used the bandages to heat their ovens.

3. As ornaments

A display case with the hand or foot of a mummy became a very popular ornament for Victorian mantelpieces.

4. In painting

Sixteen-century artists believed that adding powdered mummy to their paint would stop it from cracking when it dried.

5. As medicine

From the early 13th century AD till well into the 17th century, Egyptian mummies were chopped up and fed to sick people as a cure. It was used for people with all sorts of diseases, as well as broken bones and as a cure for poisoning. So many mummies had left Egypt by the late 16th century that the Egytian mummy-sellers then made fake mummies out of any bodies laying around! ( A French visitor reported seeing 40 fake mummies in a mummy factory.)

6. The English scientists, Sir Marc Armand Ruffer, thought he could learn about the diseases of ancient Egypt by testing bits of mummies. He found the Egyptians suffered many of the diseases we do today.

7. In paper making

Paper made from cloth (rag paper) has always been valued as high-quality paper. A traveling Egyptian tribe called the Bedouin would steal mummies and sell them to paper-making factories. The American paper-manufacturer, Augustus Stanwood, was still importing mummies at the end of the 19th century to turn the bandages into paper. The stained bandages made poor writing paper but was fine for brown paper. It was sold to butcher and grocers as wrapping paper. An outbreak of the deadly disease, cholera, was traced to the mummy bandages, so the scheme was stopped. Several people died . . . the mummies' revenge?

King Tut: The man behind the Golden Mask.

Chinchorro mummies: The Oldest in the world.

Did you know that, since the heart was considered to be the organ associated with the individual's intelligence and life force, the brain was removed and discared? A brain hook was inserted through the left nostril, breaking bone and cartilage, and was used to remove the brain bit by bit.


Brain hook.

I don't remember the details, but for the 1933 version Boris Karloff went through another of Jack Pierce's legendary marathon make-ups. he spent something like four hours having the make-up applied, and it's only seen for moments in the movie.

A poster for this version is considered the most valuable movie poster in the world. It belongs to Steven Spielberg.