10 misconceptions about ancient Egypt that educated people are ashamed to believe

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We tell interesting facts and debunk myths about the land of the pharaohs.

1. Scientists who entered the pyramid certainly die of the curse

When a whole necropolis with 59 sarcophagi was found the other day in Egypt, the Internet was filled with comments like: “Don't touch! Bury it back!”Because in popular culture, mummies are associated with terrible curses that kill all the pharaohs who disturbed sleep, diseases and other punishments straight from the underworld.

The Egyptian mummies received such a reputation after the British, Egyptologist Howard Carter and collector George Carnarvon, on November 6, 1922, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun after six years of searching. After the opening of the mausoleum, the members of the expedition - according to various estimates from 13 to 22 people, including Lord Carnarvon - died one after another. Newspapers trumpeted this to the whole world: the curse of the pharaoh punished the impudent people who defiled his last refuge!

True, if you look at the list of the deceased, you will notice that many of them were of a very old age: their average life expectancy was 74.4 years. Moreover, Howard Carter, who led the excavation, died last, in 1939 at the age of 64, from lymphoma - no mysterious insect bites, no ancient viruses, nothing like that.

And yes, the Egyptians did not send curses on the heads of those who dare to disturb the mummies of the pharaohs. They simply did not have the very concept of "curse".

In an extreme case, things were written on the walls of the tombs in the spirit: "Let the god Hemen not accept any gifts from any ruler who will harm or harm this coffin, and let his descendants not inherit anything from him." Or “All people who enter my grave will be judged, and they will be finished. I will grab the thief by the neck like a bird. I will instill in him fear of me. " Doesn't help much against burglars, does it?

2. "Book of the Dead" - a guide to Egyptian necromancy

Unlike the ominous version of the Necronomicon featured in The Mummy (the volume is so terrible it can be locked), the real Book of the Dead is a collection of funerary chants and mummy making guides.

It also indicates how the deceased should behave in the world of the dead, so that the gods Anubis, Osiris and Maat are supportive of him, and how to reach the judgment of the gods safe and sound, avoiding otherworldly dangers. Therefore, this collection of papyri is also called "The Book of the Coming Day" or "The Book of Publication."

The Book of the Dead also contained moral instructions on how to behave in order for the gods to be happy. So it's also a list of moral precepts. But, unfortunately, there are no spells for reviving mummies and sending curses.

3. Only pharaohs and nobles were mummified

It is believed that the honor of becoming a mummy, walled up in a sarcophagus, was awarded only to the Egyptian kings, at most to their entourage. But this is not at all the case.

In Ancient Egypt, it was believed that mummifying a person means ensuring him eternal life in the Fields of Ialu (something like an Egyptian paradise), where he can use everything that was put in his tomb during his burial. That is why the pharaohs have so much expensive junk next to the sarcophagi - they wanted to live there on a grand scale.

But not only kings and nobles were mummified, but in general everyone who at least somehow hoped for rebirth. Unless the poor, instead of building a pyramid and stone sarcophagi, chose simple burials and wooden boxes.

There were three ways of mummification - they were described by Herodotus. The first is called "the most perfect" - it was intended for respectable masters like the pharaohs. All organs were removed and put into special vessels (canopes), the brain was pulled out through the nose with hooks, and the body was treated with palm wine, an infusion of crushed aromatic herbs and spices, including myrrh and cassia, and placed in salt for 70 days. Expensive entertainment for the rich.

The second way is cheaper, for the middle class. The oil obtained from the cedar tree was injected with a syringe into the abdominal cavity of the future mummy. To prevent leakage, a rectal plug was used. The organs did not have to be removed: the oil led to their liquefaction without outside interference, and at the same time disinfected the abdominal cavity. When the body matured, the plug was removed, and the insides flowed out through the anus. Then the deceased was also put in salt for 70 days.

And the third way is budgetary. A special solution was injected into the intestines to kill the bacteria there and stop decomposition. And they immediately sent the body to salt - cheap and angry.

In addition, Herodotus mentions that it was not customary to immediately give the deceased to the embalmers. In order to avoid various incidents.

The bodies of the wives of noble people are not given to be embalmed immediately after their death, just like the bodies of beautiful and generally respected women. They are only transmitted after three or four days. This is done so that the embalmers do not copulate with them.

Herodotus "History", 2:89

For the company with the deceased, his beloved cat, dog, bird or a whole crocodile could be embalmed.

4. Typical pharaohs and priests - tanned half-naked athletes

If you watch any film about Ancient Egypt, you will notice how the pharaohs and their nobles are portrayed in modern culture. Everything is as on selection: beautiful, muscular and fit young people with dark skin, shiny with oil. And the queens match them - dark-skinned black-haired and dark-eyed beauties.

But in fact, the Egyptian kings and their entourage - at least many of them - were not all that attractive.

The pharaohs' diet consisted mainly of beer, wine, meat, bread and honey and was very rich in sugar. Studies on mummies show that many Egyptian rulers were overweight, had diabetes, and were generally not the healthiest people. However, obesity was a matter of pride, not shyness.

Sometimes high-ranking dignitaries of Egypt were depicted with folds of fat: this was considered a sign of success, because such people could eat a lot and not engage in physical labor.

Teresa Moore Orientalist at the University of California, Berkeley

Take, for example, the famous Queen Hatshepsut. The statues depict her as a graceful and slender young beauty. However, she died as a woman of about 50 years old, suffering from hair loss, severe obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. But with a gothic black manicure.

5. Egyptians smoked tobacco before the discovery of America

As you know, until the 16th century tobacco grew only in North and South America, just like coca. Nevertheless, you can find a couple of interesting facts on the Internet.

In 1976, paleobotanist Michel Lescaut discovered particles of nicotine in the abdominal cavity of a Ramses II mummy. And in 1992, toxicologist Svetlana Balabanova allegedly found traces of cocaine, hashish and nicotine on the hair of the mummy of the priestess Henuttaui, as well as several other mummies from the same museum.

Apparently, the Egyptians literally discovered America about 2,800 years before the voyage of Columbus. Or not?

The Egyptians really were engaged in shipping, but they had not been to America - they sailed more and more along the Nile and off the coast of Africa. Repeated research, Henuttaui's mummies did not find any cocaine or hashish in it, so this "find" was either a mistake or a hoax.

But there is indeed nicotine in mummies. Apparently, he got into them during embalming. The Egyptians knew and used plants such as Indian ginseng and aromatic celery - they also contain nicotine, although not in such quantities as tobacco.

So no, the Egyptians didn't smoke. But they drank a lot, a lot of beer. And they held religious ceremonies and festivals in honor of Bastet, Hator and Sekhmet, thoroughly drunk. And they did not hesitate to document this fact.

So, on a fresco in one of the Egyptian tombs, a woman was depicted vomiting from too abundant libations. At the same time, judging by the accompanying inscriptions, she asked for another 18 cups of wine, because her throat became "dry as straw."

Scientists even managed to find ancient Egyptian brewer's yeast buried in another tomb. They have survived, even though millennia have passed since they were placed in the jug. They managed to cultivate and brew beer according to a recipe carefully written down by the Egyptians. The result is a light-colored, effervescent drink that looks almost like wine and tastes quite good.

6. Scarabs are incredibly dangerous

In ancient Egypt, the scarab beetle was sacred. He symbolized life after death and resurrection and was associated with the Sun. The scarab god Khepri, according to the Egyptians, rolled the Sun across the sky, as his earthly brothers roll balls of dung.

In The Mummy, scarabs served as guardians of ancient tombs. It was with them that the main villain was buried alive. Insects in hordes pounced on people and devoured them in seconds, and in one particularly unpleasant scene, the beetle crawled under the hero's skin and had to be cut out with a knife.

But in fact, scarabs feed on manure from cattle and horses, and people, with all their desire, cannot eat and even bite. So these beetles will definitely not peel your skin off.

7. The pyramids are filled with clever traps

Here's another detail about the pyramids, which is often seen in the movies - they are full of traps. A treasure hunter like Lara Croft is in for all sorts of unpleasant surprises in the tombs of the pharaohs. For example, pressurized sulfuric acid sprayed onto skin, a collapsing ceiling or floor, chambers flooded with water, or hidden crossbows firing spears in the walls.

True, in reality, no matter how many archaeologists excavated the tombs, they did not find anything like that there.

No traps, no pits with snakes, spiders, crocodiles and man-eating scarabs (as if they survived in a tomb for thousands of years), no bursting stakes and flying arrows (crossbows had not yet been invented), or other Hollywood gizmos.

The Egyptians simply bricked up the pyramid with stones, and that's it. And sometimes they made another, fake, next to the real burial chamber, which looks like it had already been ransacked. The unlucky robber thought that someone had carried the pyramid up to him, and left incessantly. That's the whole security system.

8. The nose of the sphinx was shot by the soldiers of Napoleon

If you look at the Sphinx, a stone statue with the body of a lion and a human head, you will notice that it lacks a significant portion of its nose. There is a popular legend that Napoleon's soldiers during the French campaign in Egypt used the monument as a target for fire training training and shot off his nose. Another version: the nose was beaten off with a cannonball during a shootout with the Turks.

However, this is nothing more than a bike: the nose fell off much earlier. It is impossible to say exactly when, but in the drawings of Norden, 1755 by the Danish traveler Louis Norden, made in 1755, the Sphinx is already captured without him. Napoleon was born in 1769, so he is definitely out of business.

9. Queen Cleopatra was a beautiful Egyptian

If you ask someone who is the most famous Egyptian woman in the world, the name of Cleopatra will surely be named. She was the last queen of Egypt, famous for her beauty, and her image can be easily imagined by anyone who has seen the film about Asterix and Obelix.

But this is not quite the correct image.

Cleopatra was not an Egyptian - she was a Greek from the Ptolemaic dynasty and ruled Egypt at the end of its Hellenistic era.

As a dazzling beauty, Cleopatra was painted by Plutarch, who saw her only in portraits. The busts that were sculpted from her showed that she had a very ordinary appearance and a crooked nose typical of the Ptolemaic family. But she spoke many languages and was quite charming.

And yes, this bust, which is often decorated with articles about Cleopatra's life on the Internet, does not depict her. This is Queen Nefertiti, and they are separated by more than a thousand years.

10. The pyramids were built by aliens

The Egyptians did not use any alien technologies that did not correspond to their time. To build these hulks, they had enough limestone quarries, chisels and picks made of copper and flint, as well as quartz sand for polishing finished blocks.

The weight of the stones from which the pyramids are composed is on average 1, 5-2, 5 tons, and transporting them from the quarry to the construction sites is quite a feasible task. The Egyptians had good roads and wooden drags for this. So they didn't need flying saucers.

A couple more interesting facts about the pyramids: they were built not by slaves, but by free citizens for a fee. If they did not receive it, then they went on strikes, and the pharaoh had to fork out. And the newly built pyramids were not as yellowish with sand as they are now. They were white or cream, as we have already written about.