Curse of the pharaohs : Fact or Fiction

What is the curse of the pharaohs?

• It is the belief that a curse would cast upon any person, whether an archaeologist who came to discover, or a thief who came to steal, disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh, causing illness or death.

When was it discovered?

• It was discovered in 1922, when the tomb of “Tutankhamun” was opened for the first time in thirty-three centuries, at that time they found inscriptions on the walls of the tomb, including inscriptions saying (Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King), following this important event, many accidents and tragedies occurred, and many of the workers who drilled and excavated died, and other scholars as well. Hence the myth that the ancient priests of Egypt had cast a curse that afflicts anyone who approaches a cemetery or a mummy.

Myths about the curse of the pharaohs:

• Curse of Tutankhamun: A myth appeared when the tomb of Tutankhamun was opened, where it was said that a strong sandstorm blew up and a falcon was seen flapping its wings over the tomb, and it is known that the falcon is one of the sacred symbols of the Pharaohs.

• It was followed by the death of many workers and others, including the death of “Lord Carnarvon” the first to enter the cemetery, who was financially supporting the excavation team, as a result of his infection after being bitten by a mosquito, so they linked his death to the inscriptions inside the cemetery and interpreted it as a curse, the death of the radiologist who conducted an X-ray examination of the mummy of Tutankhamun as a result of arsenic poisoning, and he was the half-brother of Carnarvon, and others who excavated died for incomprehensible reasons, all of which they interpreted as the result of the curse.

Curse of the Pharaohs: Fact or Fiction?

• Despite all these repeated incidents, it has been proven that this curse is just an illusion, and archaeologists have inferred that “Howard Carter” did not suffer any harm, although he was the discoverer of the Tomb and the first to reveal the mask of the king’s face.

• And that the cause of the deaths that occurred was that these tombs remained closed for thousands of years, so naturally the air inside them is corrupted and bacteria killed everyone who inhaled them, and it was said that some of the walls were covered with some types of bacteria that attack the respiratory system, and bat droppings were also found inside those tombs and those droppings carry a fungus that leads to respiratory diseases. Therefore, scientifically, those death cases were natural as a result of exposure to these factors, and also these factors can kill those who were exposed to them or not, depending on the case, so the (curse of the pharaohs) is false, and those inscriptions that were written inside the tombs were phrases only for intimidation to scare away thieves and robbers.