The elegant and mysterious design of hieroglyphics have captured our imagination for thousands of years. They remained undeciphered and silent for centuries until the Rosetta Stone was discovered in the 18th century, and we could finally hear the voices of the ancient Egyptians. This list includes interesting facts about Egyptian hieroglyphs covering everything from their early origin to the present day.

10Rock Art And Hieroglyphs

Many scholars have argued that hieroglyphs they are linked to pictures found in the Western Desert produced by early hunter-gatherer and cattle herder communities around 5000 BC. For these communities, the ability to remember information about their land—such as the location of water holes, grazing areas and routes across the dry land—was key for their subsistence.

We know that the function of rock art in general is complex and diverse, and this rock art in particular is not all about passing information. However, it seems that these communities were familiar with the idea of conveying information through visual imagery.

This idea is further supported by some of the images found on pottery vessels produced by subsequent cultures in Egypt, which resemble some of the rock art motifs. This tendency is particularly marked during the 3500-3000 BC period.

9Earliest Evidence Of Writing In Egypt

Around 3100 BC, a wealthy man (probably a ruler) died somewhere in or around Abydos, Upper Egypt. His body was buried with many funerary objects in tomb “J,” in a cemetery in Abydos known to archaeologists as cemetery “U.” Many of these objects were looted, and all that remains from them are about 150 labels that were attached to them and discarded by the thieves. These labels display the earliest recognizable writing in Egypt.

The labels display about 50 identifiable signs. The information they convey is diverse. Some are numerical signs, some indicate specific locations (possibly the place of origin of the goods), and some relate to administrative activity.

8Mesopotamian Influence

In Mesopotamia, somewhere around Modern Iraq, the Sumerians developed a writing system a little earlier than the Egyptians. There is evidence of contact between Mesopotamia and Egypt prior to the time when hieroglyphs were developed.

Both Sumerians and Egyptians had a pictorial form, although the more simplified Cuneiform script quickly replaced traditional writing in Mesopotamia. It is likely that the Mesopotamians showed the Egyptians the idea of writing. Many scholars believe that as more archaeology and research is carried in Egypt, we may find earlier writing examples.

7Development Of Egyptian Hieroglyphs

The complex design of hieroglyphs was not suitable for the writing speed required by everyday use, so their pictorial look became gradually stylized. By 2800 BC, this tendency formed a new script known as “hieratic,” a simplified and more user-friendly version of the traditional hieroglyphic signs.

The hieratic script did not replace the hieroglyphic script; it merely complemented it. Hieroglyphs were kept in use for monumental inscriptions, while hieratic was the main choice for manuscripts. Sometimes, hieratic is referred to as “cursive” writing.

Around 600 BC, an even more abbreviated Egyptian script lacking any pictorial trace was developed, known as “demotic.” A century or so later, demotic replaced hieratic, and it became the standard script in mostly every writing context, with the exception of religious texts, where hieratic remained in use.

6Literacy Levels

The vast majority of Egyptians were craftsmen, farmers, and herdsmen, who did not have access to the resources of the elite. Many hieroglyphs were displayed on monuments, which very few outside the elite would be able to access. Also, hieroglyphic texts are largely concerned with taxation and other data connected to economic and administrative control, commemoration of royal achievements, religion, and magical and liturgical spells. All these uses are linked exclusively to the elite.

Based on these and others facts, it is estimated that during the Old Kingdom (2686–2160 BC), the proportion of Egyptians who could read and write at all was about 1 percent. Most of these would write and read hieratic script, not actual hieroglyphs. Outside this privileged group, there would also be some people able to read and write their own names for the purpose of administration.

5A Gift Of The Gods?

Egyptian mythology claimed that the god Thoth showed the Egyptians how to write. His goal was to make the Egyptians wiser. The god Ra objected, saying writing would weaken the memory of humanity, and that instead of experiencing the past through their memories, they would rely on documents. Writing would make them lazier, not wiser.

Thoth ignored the warning of Ra and gave the Egyptians the art of writing, but he only gave it to a select group, the scribes. The Egyptians referred to the hieroglyphs as medu netjer (the gods’ words). Their elegance and pictorial look encouraged the Greeks to believe they were something sacred, so they referred to them as “holy writing.” The word “hieroglyph” comes from the Greek hiero (“holy”) and glypho (“writing”).

4Hieroglyphs And Magic

The magical tradition of Egypt was closely connected to the spoken and written word. Although the performance of spells, incantations, and other rituals required the use of religious and magical paraphernalia, none could work without the aid of words. Hieroglyphs were an essential component of magical practice. Many examples of magical texts and formulas, mostly written in hieratic on papyri, have been found in Egypt. We know of magic to aid the sick, to cure snake and scorpion bites, to curse enemies, to obtain help from the gods, and many other uses.

What follows is an example of a love spell used by a male to gain the heart his beloved. It was found on a piece of pottery dating to the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC). The spell had to be recited out loud so that the gods could hear it

“Hear me, O Ra, Falcon of Twin Horizons, father of gods!

“Grant that this girl, true child of her mother, pursue me with undying passion, follow close on my heels like a cow seeking pasture, like a nursemaid minding her charge, like a guardian after his herd! For if you will not cause her to love me, I must surely abandon the day consumed to dust in the fire of my burning.”

3Portable Writing Surfaces

In addition to the hieroglyphs carved or painted on walls, Egyptians used many other writing surfaces that could be easily transported. We have examples of hieroglyphs written on small labels carved on wood or ivory or inscribed on surfaces such as ceramic, metal, and stone. We also know of clay tablets (which were popular in Mesopotamia), bone, and even leather.

Papyrus was the chief portable writing medium in Egypt. Egyptian scribes used papyrus and other writing surfaces, including writing boards generally made of wood. Until the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 BC), these boards were covered with a layer of white plaster that could be washed and re-plastered, providing a convenient reusable surface.

2The Scribes

Scribes in Egypt were highly regarded and could potentially work in many areas. The core of their profession was writing, administration, and calculation, but depending on where they worked, they also had specialized skills. Learning to read and write was mandatory for anyone who wanted to be part of the state bureaucracy.

Egyptian scribes could be employed by the state bureaucracy in several areas: In the legal administration as legal clerks, in tax offices and storehouses as record keepers, in temples copying books, in the army recording and managing supplies, or in the pharaoh’s court serving the royal family directly. They could also work in private industry, supporting different businesses that required their skills.

1Learning Ancient Hieroglyphs

If you have been captured by their beauty and the thought of learning hieroglyphs has crossed your mind, know that today, learning hieroglyphs is easier than ever. If you research locally, you might find available courses (in libraries or educational institutions), enthusiast groups, and other options. If you have no luck with this, there are alternatives:

Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a free online resource that you can use to learn the basics. It is run by a passionate graduate student with a background in Egyptian art and archaeology. You will be surprised about how detailed and well organized these lessons are.

You can also use the excellent Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners to get inside this fascinating world.

People have lived along the Nile since the Paleolithic, or Stone Age. Tools recovered there date inhabitation as far back as 700,000 years ago. With such a storied history, the stage was set long ago for the development of a fascinating civilization.

10 The Daily Temple Ritual

To keep the universe running smoothly, a small army of holy men tended to the gods’ every whim with daily offerings across Egypt’s many temples.

Each temple housed a particular god in the form of an enshrined statue that had gone through an “opening of the mouth” ritual to imbue it with the quintessence of a deity’s spiritual entity. These gods received the rock star treatment from priests of varying rank and allegiance who made daily offerings of food, drink, and gifts. The priests also sang hymns and even washed and clothed the gods.

Ceremonies ranged in complexity. At Karnak, the daily procedure to venerate king-god Amun-Ra consisted of more than 60 formulae, or points of focus, including the application of oils, incense, and eye paint. There was also a yoga-like set of poses and strict guidelines for anointing the god-statue with kisses.

9 The Holy Colors

The Egyptians produced a variety of quality handicrafts, which found their way throughout the ancient world. Based on an unassuming blue bead found in the grave of an extravagantly buried Danish woman in Olby, some items made it to Scandinavia as early as 3400 BC.

Plasma-spectrometry is used to detect the tiniest traces of elements without damaging the source material, and such analysis credits the beads to the Egyptian glass workshop at Amarna. In Egypt, blue symbolized the primeval sea from which creation bloomed. Abroad, glass fetched a high price and accompanied elite burials.

In exchange, Nordic peoples sent back their abundant amber, another mystical substance due to its sunlike sheen. Representing the Sun’s glory, pieces of sacred amber were interred with many pharaohs. According to researchers, the intermingling of items may have even shaped spiritual beliefs in Scandinavia.

8 Workers Signed Their Creations

Egypt’s laborers and draftsmen often marked their monuments with a spot of personal graffiti, sometimes humorous, to brag about the amazing structure they had just raised.

Thanks to informal graffiti records, researchers can piece together how workers tackled Egypt’s massive, man-crushing projects. First, they were organized by the thousands and then into smaller and smaller subdivisions, each assigned to a certain task.

Each gang—they’re literally called “gangs”—of workers adopted a moniker and suffixed their signature with the name of the king. This produced whimsical team names like “The Drunkards of Menkaure.”

This graffiti adorns tombs, pyramids, and other monuments. Some items bear different gang names on opposite sides, suggesting that the workforces competed in nonviolent gang wars to outbuild their peers.

7 Egypt’s Female Physicians

The ancient Egyptians were fairly keen on gender equality. Women enjoyed many liberties that disappeared in successive cultures, such as the right to own property (including slaves) and to execute legal documents.

Furthermore, women were well respected in professions that have become much more male-centric in modern times, such as medicine. Records reveal at least 100 Egyptian female physicians, including history’s first named female doctor, chief physician Merit Ptah, who practiced nearly 5,000 years ago.

Inscriptions on tombs tell of Peseshet, another great woman of similar renown. Peseshet was not only a physician but the overseer of physicians. As supervisors or clinicians, Merit Ptah, Peseshet, and other female doctors were much esteemed and ultimately immortalized in hieroglyphics.

6 The Blue Water Lily

The blue water lily (aka Nymphaea caerulea) oozed religious significance. A creation myth asserted that a primordial water lily emerged from the unformed chaos of the pre-universe and spawned the Sun god, progenitor of all life.

The flowers unfurl their petals each morning to display their golden centers before closing again in the afternoon. This daily cycle emulates that of the Sun. So the lilies are like tiny versions of the Sun god and the perfect sacred icon to ornament monuments and temples.

Images also depict denizens holding the lilies to their faces, sniffing them, or consuming lily-laced wine. Shamans also used the lilies medicinally and ritually to attain trancelike states. More recent research shows that the lily and its brethren plants contain a vasodilating ingredient that can battle erectile dysfunction, possibly explaining its appearance in erotic art.

5 The Egyptian Diet

To find out what the Egyptians ate, French researchers analyzed the ratio of two carbon isotopes in 45 mummies from disparate time periods from 3500 BC to AD 600. Certain plants draw in the carbon isotope carbon-12, while others “prefer” the heavier carbon-13. Since animals also eat plants, the carbon variants can elucidate Egyptian meat consumption.

As evidenced by the carbon makeup of their diets, which skewed vegetarian, the Egyptians noshed mainly on plants. Even though the Nile became increasingly arid, expert irrigation techniques provided plentiful plant-based foodstuffs.

Primarily, Egyptians followed a carb-laden, wheat, and barley-heavy diet, supplementing it with a touch (less than 10 percent) of Old World starches like sorghum and millet. Despite all the textual and hieroglyphic evidence for fishing, the Egyptians surprisingly ate very little seafood.

4 Egyptian And Nubian Culture Mash-up

Discovered in former Upper Nubia, the tomb of a middle-class Nubian woman suggests that the Egyptian and Nubian cultures freely intermingled after the former conquered the latter in 1500 BC.

According to researchers, the yet-to-be-deceased enjoyed the freedom to customize the burial they’d receive. For example, the aforementioned woman chose the funerary pupu platter. She was interred in an Egyptian tomb but eschewed the sarcophagus for a bed, a Nubian practice.

Similarly, she forwent the traditional Egyptian mummification process. Instead, as per Nubian convention, she was placed on her side in a pose similar to the fetal position. Finally, she shunned the ivory death jewelry favored by her compatriots and is rocking an Egyptian amulet around her neck. The amulet is emblazoned with the image of Bes, the domestic protector-god.

3 Health Problems In The Capital

Hieroglyphs showing the Egyptian good life are lies. This was deduced from the human remains in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna, the former capital under Akhenaton. He was the pharaoh who unsuccessfully attempted a permanent switch to monotheism and successfully fathered King Tut.

The skeletons at the cemetery paint the average Egyptian capital-dwellers of more than 3,000 years ago as tinier and sicklier than expected. The collection of hobbit-sized bones revealed an average male height of 158 centimeters (5’2″) with females standing a few centimeters shorter.

The skeletons also show signs of overexertion and a clinical want of protein. Bone fractures were common, as were spinal injuries from the grueling workload. Younger populations were plagued with stunted growth and high juvenile death rates, with 74 percent of the children and teens displaying anemia, an affliction apparent in 44 percent of the adult population.

2 Marriage

Even though premarital sex was not considered taboo, a social expectation to marry existed. Egyptians did so at an early age, often before their 20th birthdays.

However, the state and religion had no influence regarding any facet of marriage. Rather, Egyptian matrimony resembled a social contract that regulated property, with each member legally entitled to their premarital possessions as well as joint ownership of anything that the couple procured while married.

Thanks to the egalitarian concept of Egyptian marriage, women could just as easily request a divorce as men—for just about any reason. In fact, women seem to have had the advantage. In female-initiated splits, the woman kept her possessions as well as up to two-thirds of the former couple’s joint property.

Divorce was common. But many people remarried afterward because neither divorce nor remarriage was considered unacceptable. As bureaucratic as it all sounds, texts and images paint the Egyptians as a romantic, compassionate, monogamous people.

1 The Aphrodisiac Lettuce

On the list of historical aphrodisiacs, lettuce looks the most like a typo. The first tomb depictions of the leafy green date to almost 5,000 years ago. Somehow around 2000 BC, it took on a sexual significance and became the calling card of Min, the god of fertility.

Supposedly, the imaginative Egyptians noted that lettuce stalks emerge from the ground straight and erect, resembling a certain part of the male anatomy. So they associated it with Min. Also, a chunk of lettuce cut at the base secretes a white, milky substance which the Egyptians likened to life-bearing liquids like mother’s milk or semen.

Odder still, the Egyptians didn’t generally eat lettuce. They disposed of the bitter leaves and pressed the seeds, wringing out a healthful oil used for medicinal purposes, cooking, and even the preparation of mummies.

Home to one of the world’s most famous civilizations, Egypt is a country filled to the brim with historical significance. However, when people explore ancient Egyptian history, they usually stop at the pyramids. But other remnants of the culture have survived, giving us new insight into how the ancient Egyptians lived.

10 Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple

We’ve already discussed Hatshepsut, one of the more interesting characters in Egyptian history. She’s the Egyptian queen who promoted herself to pharaoh because Thutmose III, her stepson and heir to the throne, was too young to assume the role. She also left behind a legacy—her mortuary temple.

Located at Deir el-Bahri, the temple is called “Djeser-djeseru,” which means “the holy of holies.” It stands proud to this day, but given the disagreements with Hatshepsut’s method of appointing a new pharaoh, both Thutmose III and Akhenaten went through the temple after her death and made some adjustments to the scenery.

On the first level was a beautiful garden filled with plants from Punt, although the garden is gone now. Behind it was a series of reliefs and monuments, most of which were destroyed by Thutmose III and Akhenaten after Hatshepsut’s death. While none of the surviving monuments depict Hatshepsut, one of them clearly shows Thutmose III dancing before the god Min.

The second level contains the birth colonnade and the Punt colonnade, the ancient Egyptian versions of a Facebook wall. The birth colonnade depicted Hatshepsut’s divine birth, which involved Amun-Ra using his breath to impregnate Queen Ahmose, Hatshepsut’s mother. The Punt colonnade featured Hatshepsut’s voyage to Punt and her return with boats filled with exotic woods, makeup, and animals.

Unfortunately, Thutmose III damaged the depictions of Hatshepsut. For his part, Akhenaten defaced the depictions of Amun-Ra because Akhenaten wanted to popularize the Aten, the god of the Sun disk, instead.

With four chapels, Senenmut’s tomb, and the sanctuary of Amun-Ra still standing, Hatshepsut’s temple offers insight into the ancient Egyptians’ way of life and their politics.

9 The Tuna El-Gebel Catacombs

The ancient Egyptian city of Hermopolis Magna was the capital of the Hare province. Known as the “City of the Eight,” the people there worshiped Thoth, the god of learning. Although the city is interesting in its own right, a fascinating discovery was made nearby.

On the west bank of Tunah al-Jabal near Hermopolis Magna, a university expedition in the 1930s unearthed a vast necropolis dedicated to Thoth. Called “Tuna el-Gebel,” this necropolis may extend all the way to Hermopolis Magna. Regardless, archaeologists have already uncovered 3 kilometers (2 mi) of this impressive site.

As expected, dead bodies lie within the catacombs, which allowed relatives and friends to visit their deceased loved ones without being affected by the weather. The tomb of Petosiris, one of the high priests of Thoth, is also contained within the necropolis. Perhaps more surprising is the large number of animals buried there.

The ancient Egyptians often dedicated animals to their favorite gods, and Thoth certainly had an entire bestiary by the time the Egyptians were done. Explorers discovered thousands of mummified animals, including baboons, ibis and ibis eggs, cats, larks, kestrels, and even pigs.

Every animal within the necropolis was deemed sacred. However, the baboons and ibis were especially exalted, given that Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis and baboons were Thoth’s trusted followers that assisted scribes with their work.

8 The Colossi Of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon are two giant statues that the locals refer to as “el-Colossat” or “es-Salamat.” Both depicting Amenhotep III, they were built to guard his mortuary temple behind them. While the colossi are still standing, the mortuary temple has vanished due to erosion caused by floods and the theft of stones by subsequent rulers.

Both statues have tiny representations of Amenhotep III’s wife and mother carved into the base as well as two Nile gods winding papyrus around the hieroglyph for “unite.” The statues are called the Colossi of Memnon because early Greek visitors believed the statues depicted the god Memnon, son of the goddess Eos.

After an earthquake in 27 BC, the northern statue suffered some structural damage that caused it to “sing” around dawn. Puzzled, the ancient Greek visitors believed that it might be Memnon, who had died at the hands of Achilles but had returned as a statue. According to their theory, Memnon cried out in anguish each morning when he saw his mother, Eos, rising in the sky at dawn.

Although we can’t reproduce this phenomenon in modern times, it’s possible that the singing was caused by dew trapped in the porous rock that evaporated from the heat of the morning Sun. The singing stopped in AD 199 after the statue was repaired.

7 Malkata Palace

When Amenhotep III ruled Egypt, he built a palace that was the ancient Egyptian version of a California mansion. He was only 12 when he inherited the throne from his father, Thutmose IV, along with one of the largest, wealthiest empires in the world. Rather than wage war, Amenhotep III was a man of diplomacy and peace, which left him the time and money to build Malkata Palace.

The site for Malkata Palace spanned about 800,000 square meters (9 million ft²). The luxurious structure contained a library, kitchens, administrative office, audience chambers, halls for festivities, and more, all of which were decorated lavishly with paint.

Its size wasn’t just for grandeur, however. Malkata Palace housed Amenhotep III’s family, servants, guests, and a large harem of princesses, all of whom had their own retinue of servants. One foreign princess visited with 300 servants of her own. Malkata Palace also housed all the visitors for the Heb Sed festivals—the jubilees of Amenhotep III’s coronation— which probably explains why he called this vast complex the “House of Joy.”

The most curious of all the discoveries made at Malkata Palace was its artificial lake. With a T-shaped area of about 3.5 square kilometers (1.5 mi²), the lake allowed Amenhotep III and his family to sail around without interruption.

6 Tanis

With its discovery rivaling that of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, the “lost city” of Tanis missed its moment of fame when current events overshadowed ancient ones. Tanis was called “Djanet” by the ancient Egyptians and “Zoan” in the Old Testament. During the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, Tanis was the capital of Egypt. But political troubles shifted the importance and influence of the city elsewhere.

In its prime, however, Tanis was a wealthy city, largely because it was one of the closest ports to the Asiatic seaboard. A large temple dedicated to the god Amun was built there. The city’s brief moment in the spotlight also meant that some of the royal tombs were quite extravagant.

In 1939, archaeologist Pierre Montet brought several years of excavations at Tanis to a satisfying end when he discovered a royal tomb complex. It had three burial chambers that were undisturbed by vandalism or theft, making this an incredibly valuable find that also included burial treasures like golden masks, silver coffins, and royal jewelry. Nobody had visited Tanis since the city was abandoned, so the tombs and other archaeological treasures were in the same state as during ancient Egyptian times.

But just as Montet announced his fantastic find, World War II erupted, shifting people’s attention away from Egyptian discoveries to current international turmoil. Although the discovery faded into history, it doesn’t change the fact that Tanis held some of the greatest archaeological finds since Tutankhamun.

5 The Temple Of Seti I

The Temple of Seti I is located in Abydos, one of ancient Egypt’s holiest sites. A burial site since the predynastic era, Abydos was originally dedicated to the god Wepwawet, who opened the way for the dead to enter the afterlife. Gradually, the worship of Osiris grew within Abydos until the entire area became dedicated to him. Abydos features the early tombs of the necropolis Umm el Qa’ab, which were thought to be the beginning of burial practices that eventually led to the building of the pyramids.

One of the remaining temples within Abydos is the Temple of Seti I, which has a strange, L-shaped layout but is like most Egyptian temples otherwise. Some of the temple’s surviving wonders include two hypostyle halls, large rooms where the builders supported the roof by placing many columns throughout the structure.

The outer hypostyle hall was finished by Ramses II after Seti I’s death. Even though the temple was supposed to be about Seti I, the pictures within the outer hypostyle hall frequently depict Ramses II. At the entrance, Ramses II is shown measuring the temple with the goddess Selket before presenting it to the god Horus. Elsewhere, Ramses II is depicted offering a box of papyrus to the deities Horus, Isis, and Osiris before being led to the temple to be blessed with holy water. However, these sunk reliefs aren’t crafted well, suggesting that Ramses II sent all of Seti I’s best workers to complete his own temple, the Ramesseum.

The more impressive sights are found in the inner hypostyle hall, which was largely completed before Seti I’s death. One relief shows Osiris and Horus pouring holy water over Seti I. Other reliefs depict Seti I being crowned by the gods and Seti I kneeling before Osiris and Horus. On the side walls, projecting piers show Seti I wearing a crown representing the combination of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Behind these halls are seven sanctuaries, each dedicated to a favorite god. There’s also the Sanctuary of Seti I, which depicts him uniting Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as inner sanctuaries of Osiris, several chapels, and a gallery of kings listing all of Seti I’s predecessors.

4 Babylon Fortress

The Babylon Fortress in Cairo (aka the “Castle of Babylon” or the “Castle of Egypt”) wasn’t built by the Egyptians. Instead, it was built by the command of two Roman emperors. The first one was Trajan, who opened a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile and refurbished an old Persian fortress in the southern part of town. The second was Arcadius, who improved upon the existing fortress. Given both of their efforts, Babylon Fortress became a port and a supply line to Alexandria.

The Babylon Fortress was a refuge for the Coptic Christians, especially after they began to suffer persecution from the Western Christians. There are several churches built into the fortress itself, including the Hanging Church, one of the most famous Coptic churches in Egypt.

The Hanging Church is built over the entrance to a passage in the fortress. Visitors enter through a decorated gate on Shar’a Mari Girgis Street and then climb 29 steps to the church (hence its nickname, the ‘”Staircase Church”). The church has an 11th-century pulpit with 13 pillars, representing Jesus and his 12 disciples. The oldest icon in the church dates to the eighth century. A lintel depicting Christ entering Jerusalem may date as far back as the fifth century.

3 Deir El-Medina

A village near the Valley of the Kings, Deir el-Medina housed all the workers who helped build and decorate the tombs for the pharaohs. According to village records, the people living in Deir el-Medina actively desired to build tombs that would one day serve their king. Many of these records also discuss personal matters, which gives us a look into the day-to-day life of Egyptian workers.

The tomb workers went on one of the first recorded strikes due to an unfair work environment. Ramses III had a huge construction program at Thebes, which heavily drained the grain supply used to pay the workers at the necropolis. The workers waited six months for payment. Then, faced with starvation, they marched on several temples and staged sit-ins until something was done.

According to the records of the strike found at Deir el-Medina: “They sat down at the rear of the temple of Baenre-meryamun. They shouted at the mayor of Thebes as he was passing by, and he sent to them the gardener Meniufer of the chief overseer of cattle to say to them: ‘See, I’ll give these 50 sacks of emmer for provisions until Pharaoh gives you (a) ration.’ ”

For researchers, interesting records from this ancient Egyptian village are available online at the Deir el-Medina database.

2 The Statue Of Meritamun

Unlike the other towns on this list, Akhmim is still active today, but it stands over the ancient Egyptian town of Ipu. When excavating the site, archaeologists discovered fragments of a statue of Ramses II and a relatively intact, 11-meter-high (36 ft) statue of Meritamun, Ramses II’s daughter.

Given that the female statue was lying prone, the workers righted it first. After that, it was decided that the statue should be left in the open, still situated several meters below ground level.

A story on looklex.com described it this way: “Akhmim is among the weirdest sites from Ancient Egypt. You drive along crowded and dusty roads in the large town of Akhmim, then suddenly, in a large hole in the ground, you see the head of a grand female statue.”

1 Aswan Granite Quarry

The Egyptians loved their granite. The pyramids were made of it. The temples used it. It was a prime building material that stood the test of time. Much of the granite used in these structures came from the Aswan granite quarry, which even supplied stone for the lintels above the king’s chamber. The Aswan quarry area spanned about 150 square kilometers (60 mi²) and included the famous granite quarries as well as lesser-known sandstone, grinding stone, and building stone quarries.

However, the most interesting aspect of the Aswan granite quarry is what lies unfinished inside: the largest ancient obelisk known to man. Had it been lifted out of the quarry to stand upright, this obelisk would have weighed 1,200 tons and sported a jaw-dropping height of 42 meters (137 ft), at least one-third taller than any other ancient Egyptian obelisk. Archaeologists believe that female pharaoh Hatshepsut commissioned its construction.

The reason for abandoning the project isn’t known. But it could be that the stone had imperfections that the ancient Egyptians hadn’t noticed before construction. Another theory is that the process of quarrying the stone relieved some of the stress keeping the stone together, causing a crack to appear on the obelisk. The project’s failure, however, has been a success for archaeologists, who can look over the work in progress to learn how the ancient Egyptians crafted such gigantic monuments.

S.E. Batt is a freelance writer and author. He enjoys a good keyboard, cats, and tea, even though the three of them never blend well together. You can follow his antics over at @Simon_Batt, or his fiction website, www.sebatt.com.

With 2019 drawing to a close, this year’s Egyptology harvest proved excellent once again. Sometimes, the finds were new. At other times, fresh facts gave more meaning to old finds and knotted mysteries a little tighter. Other artifacts had not been seen in decades. Whichever way they present themselves, the haul makes for a fascinating read. From bizarre hieroglyphics, the real taste of Egyptian bread to temples underwater, you can now enjoy the best of Egyptology’s latest season.

Recommended: Unlock the awe-inspiring scent of Ancient Egypt on Top 10 Incredible Smells.

10The Teenager And The Pyramid

In the region of Beni Suef stands a pyramid. This odd duck is called the Meidum pyramid. It was originally a step monument but the sides were later smoothed to turn the structure into a real pyramid. Nobody knows why Meidum was altered in this way. In 2019, a grave added to the site’s reputation to head-scratch for answers.

Dug next to the 4,600-year-old pyramid, the tomb held a teenage girl. When she died from unknown causes, she was about 13 years old. The time of her death is less certain but the teen was definitely an ancient Egyptian. Her body was arranged in a squatting position and there was a glaring lack of grave goods. The investigation did uncover signs of a cemetery and a pair of bovine skulls. They were likely a funerary offering but the heads could not be linked to any specific burial, including the anonymous girl’s.

The expedition also found traces of a brick wall, which may or may not have circled the cemetery. Overall, a teen buried without ceremony next to an altered pyramid surrounded by a wall is a combination that will likely keep archaeologists guessing for a while.^[1]

9 A Schoolboy’s Lesson

In 2019, the British Library took an artifact out of storage. The public last saw the tablet in the 1970s and visitors viewing the exhibition (which highlighted the history of writing), it looked downright modern. Along several lines, a child’s scrawl copied phrases written by an adult hand. Only it was not modern. The tablet was 1,800 years old.

The Egyptian student was required to copy two pearls of wisdom in Greek. Not only did he learn his letters but it was also an exercise of the mind. Instead of copying only characters, the adult’s writing warned him of bad friends and that wisdom should be sought from wise men only. The child was likely male since education among Egyptians was reserved for the boys of high-status families. This also explained why an Egyptian kid carved Greek into a tablet. Rome ruled his country during this time and all educated people in the Roman world were expected to know Greek and Latin.^[2]

8 A Worthy Woman And Her Pet

Another announcement in 2019 described the tomb of a woman. Archaeologists shoveled around the productive site of Saqqara when they unearthed a catacomb. It dated back 2,000 years ago when the Romans controlled Egypt. Indeed, the woman buried there was not an Egyptian.

Her name was Demetria. Greek inscriptions gave her closest relatives’ names and called her “worthy.” A carving inside the tomb depicted her in a beautiful dress while holding grapes. An animal, which was a pet but not clearly defined as any known animal, gazed up at Demetria with its paws on her dress. Several cat-like statues could also not be clearly identified as a particular species.

Images of Egyptian gods added to the magnificence of the underground chamber. An inscription below the deities gave the name of one Menelaos and described him as their servant. The Greek title given to describe his servitude was “Therapeutes,” something which is exceptionally rare in any Egyptian context. The term is not unknown but experts cannot agree on what a Therapeutes did for his masters or how these servants lived.^[3]

7 The Mystery of The Bird Mummies

Egyptians loved to give mummies as offerings. Everyday citizens went to their local dealer, usually a priest of some sort, and bought a small animal or bird. Indeed, birds were so popular that Egyptologists have gathered millions of preserved avians. Some even had their own tiny coffins.

However, the sheer number of bandaged birds prompted the question of supply. The most commonly used species was the African sacred ibis but where did the Egyptians get them all? Conventional thought supported the idea that Egypt had ibis farms in the way that we have chicken farms. In 2019, geneticists drew samples from 40 ibis mummies and came to a very different conclusion.

Domesticated birds of the same species show similar DNA. The petrified ibises, however, showed enough variation to suggest that they were born wild. In other words, the Egyptians seemingly corralled wild birds to wrap them up as offerings. There is a problem with this, as critics quickly pointed out. Catching millions of ibises alone would have been close to impossible and also unsustainable. The Egyptians had a steady supply but seemingly not farmed. The feathery mystery continues.^[4]

6 What Egyptian Bread Tastes Like

Seamus Blackley is known as one of the creators of Xbox. Few people know that he is also a hardcore amateur Egyptologist and baker. These two hobbies recently merged to rediscover an extinct taste. Blackley wanted to munch Egyptian bread and he set out to make some. The only problem was that he needed the yeast used during ancient times.

He managed to get his baker’s mitts on 4,500-year-old yeast. The dormant stuff was scraped from cooking pots used during the Old Kingdom. He was assisted by scientists to reawaken the yeast in their laboratories and he was allowed to carry some home. Blackley cultivated the sample for a week, nourishing it with olive oil, hand-milled barley and early wheat called einkorn. Eventually, he had a starter, which is similar to what is used to make sourdough loaves.

The next step was to mix the starter with authentic ingredients. Modern wheat was out since it was invented long after the yeast went into hibernation. Blackley used ancient grains like einkorn, barley, and kamut. While it baked, he noticed that the scent was sweeter than other bread he previously made from the same grains and modern yeast. He described the finished look as “light and airy,” and that the “aroma and flavor are incredible.”^[5]

5 The Priest Cachette

In 2019, Egyptian authorities invited journalists to a conference. At the meeting, they revealed a spectacular find – 30 pristine coffins. The caskets were crafted and painted 3,000 years ago. Despite this dusty fact, the overall condition was remarkable. The decorations were clear and kept their patterns and colors.

The corpses came from a necropolis called El-Assasif, near Luxor. The quality of the wooden coffins and clues about their identity suggested that some were priests. For this reason, the discovery soon became known as the “cachette of the priests.” Upon discovery, the group was arranged in two layers with 12 caskets stacked on top of the rest below. They were sealed and untampered with.

Perhaps for dramatic effect, two coffins were opened during the conference. The mummies appeared well-preserved with bandages intact. All told, the cachette contained 2 children, 5 women, and 23 men. Their unlooted state could help researchers find out who exactly they were and why they were buried together.^[6]

4 Pieces Of A Missing Temple

Divers have been exploring Heracleion for about two decades. This ancient Egyptian city was a busy port but for some reason, disappeared under the water. The ruins were rediscovered 45 meters (148 feet) under the Mediterranean Sea. Several artifacts and buildings were cataloged but in 2019, an international team made the most significant find thus far – massive stone columns.

The monumental chunks probably belonged to the city’s main temple, called Amun Garp. Scanning equipment made the discovery possible, beaming images back to scientists without the need to shovel through tons of silt and fish. As a bonus, the scans also found a smaller Greek temple and shipwrecks stuffed with jewelry and coins. The dive also recovered another piece of a ceremonial boat found on another occasion.

The sunken city, sometimes called “Egypt’s Atlantis,” was built sometime during the eighth century. It had already produced magnificent architecture, treasures and colossal statues. Since about 95 percent of Heracleion remains unexplored, the city is bound to deliver more surprises.^[7]

3 Seven Women With Tattoos

Around 3,000 years ago, artists lived near the Valley of the Kings necropolis. Their job was to make the royal tombs pretty with murals. When they were done for the day, the men and women returned to the village of Deir el-Medina. Their spare-time creative endeavors would not come to light until 2014.

A female mummy from Deir el-Medina sported several tattoos. Due to their abundant numbers and sacred theme, she was tagged as a probable priestess. As time went by, six more women – very much preserved and decorated with tats – were unearthed at Deir el-Dina. In 2019, researchers released their findings and it changed what we knew about ancient Egyptian tattoos.

In the past, scholarly minds had no reason to think that Egyptian tattoos were anything but a rare mark denoting a high station. But the Deir el-Medina women showed that inking was more common among the people than previously believed. While they did play a religious role, the tattoos had a modern purpose – to add to their personal and public identity in a permanent way.^[8]

2 Rare Lion Mummies

The ancient Egyptians had a quirk. The lion was among their most powerful symbols and yet, only one mummified lion had ever been found. The big cats are not a part of Egypt today, but back then, several prides lounged around the Nile. The royals even kept them as pets. So where were the bodies?

After digging through centuries and millions of mummies, the mystery endured. There had to be more than just the single lion since classical writers described the Egyptians mummifying the big cats. A break came in 2019. An excavation in Saqqara revealed a slew of domestic cat statues, cobras and crocodile mummies. Then the catacomb produced five feline-shaped mummies. To the team’s delight, they turned out to be lion cubs.

The ancient cubs died when they were eight months old. Their discovery could clarify why so few lions were embalmed despite being elite symbols. For this reason, one cannot help but wonder why the Egyptians deemed it important to put five lion mummies in the same place.^[9]

1 Hieroglyphs That Make No Sense

Egyptian tombs can get a bit old. Not just in the literal sense, either. In all honesty, most run a familiar pattern. First lost to time and then rediscovered. Elite individuals are identified and they come buried with a ton of stuff. Inscriptions and murals make a movie of their lives. Yawn. In 2019, officials announced a tomb that bucked the trend.

A year earlier, archaeologists found burials at Saqqara from 2,000 years ago. One of the modest coffins was badly decayed but curious details survived. At the level of the person’s neck, the coffin’s lid was decorated with a painted necklace. Lower down, hieroglyphs normally provided the deceased’s name.

But when experts tried to read the inscription, it made no sense. There was nothing wrong with their reading skills – the hieroglyphics were an imitation of the real thing and translated into utter nonsense. It is plausible that the artist was illiterate because none of the signs had the correct shape. The person also enigmatically painted a blue Anubis on the coffin. Normally, this jackal-headed god is depicted in black. What could this mean? Your guess is as good as ours!^[10]

Ancient Egypt is mostly recognized for its pyramids, hieroglyphs, and mummies. A rich culture that lasted for over 3,000 years before Christ, it left behind tons of relics, which provide insight into the civilization. Thanks to translations of documents and inscriptions as well as beautiful images, we know a lot about ancient Egyptian life.

Thanks to the ancient Egyptians’ practice of mummification, they learned much about the human body and seem to have developed advanced medical knowledge. Centuries ahead of their time, a lot of the practices that doctors used in ancient Egypt would not be unfamiliar to us today. Doctors may no longer use spells and amulets as the ancient Egyptians did, but in many other ways, a visit to the doctor’s office may not have been so different thousands of years ago.

10 Taking A Pulse

When we walk into a doctor’s office today, there are a few things that get checked every time, namely blood pressure, temperature, and pulse. The pulse can grant insight into the health of the circulatory system. Yet to understand it, there first needs to be an understanding that arteries and veins run throughout the body. This is common knowledge today, but for early medicine, it was a huge breakthrough.

Likely as a result of their mummification practices, ancient Egyptians had knowledge of the circulatory system. They understood its connections throughout the body and that it carried this “pulse.” They did miss one factor in that they didn’t seem to know that the heart itself is a pump. They saw it as a reservoir for the blood. Nevertheless, they knew the importance of the vascular system and were able to use it to help treat and diagnose illnesses.

The idea of measuring a pulse was far ahead of its time, and it would be centuries before it was picked up elsewhere in the world. In their knowledge of the vascular system, the Egyptians also counted the number of vessels reaching each part of the body. Their numbers were not accurate, however, as they didn’t realize how tiny arteries and veins become. But their counting may have allowed them to locate larger blood vessels, which would have been useful in case of injury or during surgery to stop bleeding.

9 Turn Your Head And Cough

Yes, men have been enduring this awkward exam for centuries, it seems. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical manual from ancient Egypt, mentions the diagnosis of a hernia, stating it is a “swelling appearing on coughing.” There are even images from ancient Egypt of figures with both umbilical hernias, which protrude from the stomach, and the all-too-graphic images of hernias in the scrotum.

Hernias happen when part of the bowel protrudes through the stomach’s muscular wall. They’re often caused by straining or lifting heavy things. Considering that the Egyptians gave us massive stone monuments like the pyramids, they were accustomed to lifting heavy things and may have been very familiar with hernias.

Their treatment for hernias, however, seems less known. The Ebers Papyrus does mention using heat on the area, but it’s not entirely clear if the heat is meant to be just a soothing treatment or if it refers to cauterizing the area to seal the muscles after minor surgery. With so many images of people living with hernias, one could wonder if they were even treated at all.

8 Tampons

Many would assume that tampons are a modern advancement that gives a woman on her period freedom. It is true that tampons were not used until recently in many Western cultures. There were even advertising campaigns as late as the 1980s touting the benefits of tampons and trying to convince American women that they were safe. These campaigns even referred to the ancient Egyptians’ use of them as proof that they are ancient and natural.

Often referred to as a tyet or an Isis knot, cloth tampons were made by using scrap fabric, often cotton, rolling it up, and tying a string around the center. The name “Isis knot” refers to the goddess Isis, who according to legend, used a tampon while pregnant with Horus to protect him while in the womb from attacks by the god Seth. Ancient Egyptians also used other cloths similar to today’s pads, which was common throughout many early cultures. Yet the benefits of the supposedly modern tampon may be something that Egyptian women knew all about.

7 Fillings

Cavities were actually rare in ancient Egypt. Since sugar wasn’t a part of the Egyptian diet, they did not have the tartar development and other issues that we do now. They did, however, wear their teeth down. Flour and grains were ground with stone, and despite their best efforts, small pieces of stone were always in the food. Living in a sandy desert likely added some grit as well. This wore down the teeth and could lead to cavities or infection. These infections could actually lead to death if the bacteria entered the bloodstream. Nefertiti’s sister, Horembheb, supposedly suffered from bad teeth and had lost all of them by the time of her death, likely due to infection.

Different fillings and ointment recipes are found in the Ebers Papyrus. One describes how to treat “an itching tooth until the opening of the flesh: cumin, 1 part; resin of incense, 1 part; dart fruit, 1 part; crush and apply to the tooth.” The idea was that this would drain the infection. Other filling recipes included honey, which has antibacterial properties, and ocher, a paint pigment heavy in iron, and ground wheat. Other times, the filling was simply cloth.

In 2012, a mummy was CT scanned, uncovering a cavity that had been filled with linen. The man was still suffering from the infection at the time of his death, however. Ancient Egyptian doctors did their best to treat cavities and to stop them from getting infected, but going to the dentist was never any fun.

6 Prostheses

Mummies in Egypt have been found with the world’s oldest known prosthetic limbs, toes, fingers, and so on. Prostheses to replace missing parts was essential to Egyptians for a couple of reasons. One was the Egyptian belief that after death, the body needs to be whole and preserved for them to be able to return to it in the afterlife. This is why mummification was so important and likely why prostheses existed. By replacing the lost limb, the body would be made whole again.

Of course, having a prosthesis would help a person maintain some functionality in life, and there is evidence that prostheses were also made for living patients. This shows how Egyptians used amputation to treat infections and injuries, and it appears that people sometimes survived the surgeries. The most famous of these patients was a lady found with a wooden big toe. The area under the prosthesis had healed, showing that she actually used the prosthetic toe in life. It likely helped her walk and balance once the old toe was lost. It is considered the oldest known prosthesis ever discovered.

5 Government-Controlled Medicine

Access to medical care was very well-controlled by the ancient Egyptian government. Doctors were educated through a specific curriculum and were members of a “house of life,” which was usually was associated with a temple. These were medical institutes that trained doctors and also functioned as medical practices where anyone could go to receive treatment.

Also, as mentioned before, there were medical manuals like the Ebers Papyrus and the Edwin Smith Papyrus, in which ailments and their treatments are outlined as well as recipes for medicines. This shows us that doctors shared cures and treatments as a part of standardized care. Doctors in ancient Egypt could be male or female and appear to have chosen specialties, much like our doctors do today. With access to well-trained doctors, Egyptian citizens had better health care than almost anyone else at the time.

Even workers’ compensation seemed to exist. There are descriptions of medical camps set up near construction projects and quarries so that injured workers could receive treatment. It appears that if the injury occurred on the job, the employer would cover the cost of care. Workers could even receive supplemental pay if they were unable to work. Thousands of years ago, this was a very complex way to approach health care and is amazingly similar to how we look at it today.

4 Prescriptions

Having to take your medicine is apparently as old as civilization itself. Thankfully, now we have a spoonful of sugar to help it go down. The ancient Egyptians weren’t so lucky. Often, medicines were trial and error. Some things ended up working really well. Others may have done more harm than good.

The Egyptians knew that honey worked well on wounds. (It’s still used today for skin ailments.) They also knew that mint could calm a stomach. Yet other items like lead and feces may not have been such great ideas. Whether they worked or not, there are dozens of recipes for medicines preserved in the medical papyri, along with instructions for their dosage and use. Patients in ancient Egypt would have been sent home with these concoctions and instructed on how to use them just as we are now.

There were medications for all sorts of issues, made from a wide variety of materials. Minerals like copper, clay, lead, and salt were used. Herbal remedies included fennel, onion, linseed, and mint. Other (lets call them “organic”) items included hair, skin, blood, feces, and more from various animals and even humans. These elements were usually combined in recipes for the fullest effect. There seem to have been many recipes for constipation. Some advise simply eating more figs (not so bad), while others prescribe castor oil, which we still use today, mixed with cold beer. A remedy for tapeworm contains equal parts lead, petroleum, ta bread, and sweet beer. It may have worked to kill the tapeworm—and hopefully not the patient.

Poultices were also a very popular treatment, with external concoctions applied for everything from baldness to stomachache. Milk was common in these, as were multiple kinds of dung, from cow to sheep to goose. Clays and lead are often included as well. Human secretions were sometimes included, from urine to milk to blood. In the case of anxiety, one cure states to rub the afflicted person down with the “milk of a woman who has born a son.” It’s not clear it if it worked.

3 Circumcision

The practice of removing a male infant’s foreskin has come in and out of vogue over the centuries, sometimes viewed as a religious practice and other times as medical. For centuries, the Jewish culture was identified with this practice, as Christians did not use it. Today, is is widely practiced by doctors in most Western countries regardless of religion.

The ancient Egyptians seem to have practiced circumcision widely. Images show doctors performing the procedure on patients. Egyptians were very interested in personal hygiene and often shaved off their body hair to stay clean and avoid parasites and conditions associated with uncleanliness. This may be what led them to start practicing circumcision throughout the culture.

Circumcision was so common that uncircumcised penises were actually a novelty. Writings describe soldiers’ fascination with the uncircumcised penises of the conquered Libyans, often collecting them from the slain to bring home and show off. Thankfully, that practice has been lost.

2 Surgery

The ancient Egyptians gained a wealth of knowledge of human anatomy and the workings of the body through their mummification practices. By operating on the dead, they were able to see issues in bodies and make associations with illnesses in life. These skills allowed them to practice surgery. Later cultures in the Middle Ages would lose this knowledge completely, as autopsies were illegal for religious reasons. Their willingness to cut into a body put the Egyptians centuries ahead medically.

Many mummies show surgeries that actually healed, from trephination to the removal of tumors. Scalpels used for surgery were either copper, ivory, or obsidian. Obsidian was particularly special, as it is a volcanic glass that keeps an edge better than most modern metal and is still used today. Patients were given alcohol and sedatives before a procedure, and since anesthesia didn’t exist, one could only hope to pass out. Mandrake root could be used as a sedative, and poppy juice, an opioid, was used for pain management.

The main issue with survival rates was that without the knowledge of blood transfusions, patients would often bleed out if the surgery was too complicated or too long. Cauterizing vessels with hot blades helped slow the bleeding. After surgery, antibiotic ointments such as honey and copper helped stave off infections. The patients who survived their ordeals may have been the first in history to have undergone medical surgery.

1 Opioids

Poppies, still grown today to produce powerful drugs, have long been known for their pain-relieving abilities. Opioids today are still the leading pain medication, especially in cases of severe pain management. Though the poppy juice used by the ancient Egyptians wasn’t quite the morphine or OxyContin of today, it was still a very useful drug at the time. In the ancient world, pain relievers were not easy to come by, and being able to treat pain was huge medical advancement.

Poppy juice, as mentioned, could be used for surgery, often mixed with beer or wine. It would provide relief to patients with nervous issues and sedate them, reliving depression and anxiety. It appears it was also used across the board as a fever reducer and painkiller. The juice, a milky substance drawn from the poppy seed pod, is not as strong as modern opioids but was still effective. The fact that it was less potent might be why ancient Egyptians don’t seem to have developed the addictive problems seen today. Poppy juice was rarely used outside medicine, but it was an effective painkiller and a very useful tool to treat and maintain the health of the ancient Egyptian people.

Nicole Gentempo is a freelance writer and certified sommelier who loves to explore natural beauty, cultures, and wines around the world. With a broad European history background, she enjoys writing well-researched, in-depth articles that delve into a locale or a wine. She has written on subjects from viticulture, regions, and history to market trends and food pairing. As a traveler, she is often found in a canoe or sailboat, her love of the outdoors and water giving her the opportunity to present places from a unique perspective, often sharing them with a glass of wine.
/>www.mywinepro.com and Instagram @my_wine_pro

If you hear “ancient Egypt,” what comes to mind? Perhaps you see the Great Pyramid of Giza with the Sphinx in the foreground, Tutankhamun’s burial mask, or some animal-headed deities. Or maybe you thought of mummies.

Mummies might certainly have come to your mind, but how much do you really know about ancient Egypt’s famously preserved denizens? They’re much more than linen-wrapped bodies with their arms crossed over their chests. Read on to see what else you may not have known about ancient Egyptian mummies.

10 The Price Of Mummification

According to the writings of a Greek traveler from 60–57 BC, it cost one talent of silver, about 30 kilograms (66 lb), for the most expensive mummification.^[1] This was during the Ptolemaic period of Egyptian history, when there was some conflict in the dynasty, which could have resulted in inflation.

The cost of the supplies of mummification today, including linen, sodium carbonate decahydrate (natron), resin, and incense, totals about $3,600. However, to be mummified today costs nearly $70,000, and various businesses actually mummify bodies of people as well as pets. Pet mummification can cost from $7,000 to over $100,000. In contrast, a funeral and burial in the United States in 2017 cost between $7,000 and $10,000 on average, and cremation cost around $1,000.

9 Medicinal Mummies

Mummies were used as medicine from AD 400 into the 19th century. The concept was based on the use of natural bitumen, which Europeans believed Egyptians were mummified with. This was entirely useless as medication, as ancient Egyptians used resin, which does mimic bitumen but has no health benefits.^[2] In fact, the resin was probably better to consume than bitumen, which has been recently found to be carcinogenic.

In the Middle Ages, the rich would buy ground-up mummies to use as medicine, and the belief in mummies being medically beneficial continued into the 1800s. When mummies were too hard to acquire, dehydrated bodies of criminals were used instead.

Human remains were also ground up and mixed with honey to create a sweet medicinal syrup. On some occasions through history, people were mummified in honey (a process known as mellification) specifically for the purpose of being turned into this medicine, claimed to be able to cure any ailment. Historically, in some regions of the world, leaders and priests were mummified in coffins of honey, but without the intention of medicinal use.

8 Animal Mummies

Egyptians raised animals to mummify them. While it’s true that Egyptians did mummify their pets, they also raised animals and killed them specifically for the purpose of mummification. These mummies were typically religious offerings, as Egyptian gods were linked to animals, and the animals were sometimes considered incarnations of the gods. For example, the goddess Bastet was related closely with cats. The animals were buried in coffins and tombs especially for the god or goddess they symbolized or were significant to.

Despite the vast amount animal mummies produced in ancient Egypt, care was taken in animal mummification, but it was not comparable to human mummification, which was incredibly elaborate and time-consuming. Most animal mummies were purchased by people making pilgrimages to temples for specific gods or goddesses. For a fee, priests would bury the animals in the graveyard of the temple as a form of homage to a god or goddess. Cats, baboons, fish, crocodiles, and bulls were among the animals that were mummified.^[3]

7 Providing For The Afterlife

Mummification was arguably the most important aspect of ancient Egyptian religious practices. Ancient Egyptians believed that mummification was necessary to gain access to the afterlife. They believed that after someone died and was properly mummified, they would have use of their physical body during their journey, which is why they preserved the bodies of the deceased.^[4]

Part of this journey was judgement by Osiris (the god of the afterlife) and 42 judges. Anubis, the god of mummification, would guide the deceased through their journey, and Thoth, the god of wisdom, weighed the soul of the deceased. The soul would also journey with Ra through the afterlife.

The religion of the ancient Egyptians was based around death and the afterlife. The increasingly elaborate practice of mummification actually became an important part of the economy of ancient Egypt, as mummies required the services of hairdressers and beauticians as well as craftsman to build sarcophagi, not to mention pyramids and less elaborate tombs.

6 Mummy Cosmetology

Mummies were heavily made up to look lifelike in addition to being preserved. During the mummification process, the bodies of mummies were colored. Men were colored red, and women were colored yellow. This began during the Third Intermediate Period. Mummies had fake eyes made of glass or stone in this period (small onions were used previously to create the illusion of eyes), and they often had wigs or yarn woven into their hair.^[5] Mummies in the Late Period were decorated with gold leaf applied directly to the skin. Some forms of modern makeup take after ancient Egyptian makeup, including kohl, a charcoal-based eyeliner.

Ancient Egyptians even painted the nails of mummies for mummification with a form of henna. Henna use as tattoos was actually an Egyptian practice, before it was explored in India. Pharaoh Ramses I was found with his nails a deep orange color, indicative of the presence of henna or another dye. Beauticians were an important aspect of Egyptian culture and were considered to be close to the goddess Hathor. Wigs were another aspect of beauty in ancient Egypt that was integral in the typical mummification process. Wigs, however, were not only for the dead, as many Egyptians shaved their heads.

5 Natural Mummies

Ancient Egyptians didn’t start using elaborate mummification procedures until after the development of their early civilization. Initially, mummies were created naturally by the desert environment of Egypt.^[6] The dead were buried in the sand, and the dry environment would preserve the bodies. Anthropologists believe that accidentally uncovered bodies which were naturally mummified in the sand, and thus recognizable years after death, encouraged the practice of mummification by demonstrating how through minimal decomposition, mummies have eternal life.

Once the Egyptians began to believe decay was unnatural, they began processes specifically to preserve the deceased, but it took 800 years for them to begin removing organs to prevent decay. In 3400 BC, Egyptians began wrapping mummies in linen, but only by 2600 BC did they consistently remove organs. It was only 5,500 years ago that mummies began being buried in tombs and sarcophagi.

Natural mummification still occurs in regions where bodies are not exposed to either air or moisture; corpses have been found preserved for hundreds and thousands of years in arid climates like the deserts of Egypt but also in tundras and submerged in bogs.

4 Arm Placement

The arm placement of mummies is actually significant. For example, arms crossed over the chest, the image most commonly associated with mummies, was very specifically used for royalty.

Predynastic mummies had their hands covering their face, with their arms bent at the elbows.^[7] The Old and Middle Kingdoms were indicated by burial with hands at the sides or occasionally crossed over the pelvis. During the period of Ramses II, mummies were preserved with arms crossed over the lower body, and arms folded with hands on the shoulders are indicative of a later period of Egyptian history. Crossed arms as typically envisioned were used only in the New Kingdom for males of royal status.

3 Cheaper Options

In ancient Egypt, lower classes could generally only afford an incomplete mummification. This wouldn’t include a coffin or sarcophagus and typically would solely involve dehydrating the body, with some or all organs remaining intact. Brains were considered the least important in ancient Egypt and were therefore the least important to remove. Early mummification and incomplete mummification frequently leaves the brain intact, which is indicated by an intact nose.^[8]

Sometimes, the very poor would only wrap the deceased in cloth and bury them in the desert sand for a few days or weeks to dry them. Then, the body cavities would be washed with solvent, and the cadaver would be buried in a cemetery. In contrast, tombs of the rich and royal were elaborately painted with inscriptions from the Book of the Dead, the Pyramid Texts, and the Coffin Texts. The divide between the rich and poor in ancient Egypt is particularly evident in burial practices.

2 Canopic Jars

Ancient Egyptians considered the lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines to be the most important in mummification. They were extracted from bodies and kept in canopic jars, which were based on four ancient Egyptian gods that were believed to guard the organs for the deceased, the four sons of Horus. Each canopic jar had a different head, one of a baboon, one of a jackal, one of a human, and one of a falcon.^[9]

It is likely that, initially, the organs were removed because their presence caused the body of the deceased to decompose more quickly. Over time, this practice religiously evolved into the belief that the organs were needed by the deceased in their journey through the afterlife.

1 The Curse Of The Mummy

The concept of cursed mummies or tombs wasn’t invented by the Egyptians but rather by sensationalist writing. The only basis of these curses are threats written on tombs of divine retribution for disrespecting the dead, for the express purpose of discouraging tomb robbers. Though some mummies did preserve ancient mold, scientists have determined the mold is not dangerous.^[10]

Written warnings against opening Egyptian tombs date back to the Middle Ages and describe the evil and supernatural qualities possessed by the mummies. The most famous purported curse is that of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, or the curse of the Pharaoh. The financier of the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb died from a mosquito-borne illness, and Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb, died 16 years later. The idea of a curse was circulated by fiction author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. On that note, Shakespeare also had a form of a curse on his grave to deter disturbance by grave robbers.

+ Non-Egyptian Mummies

The ancient Egyptians didn’t invent mummification and were not by any account the first ancient civilization to mummify their dead. Mummified bodies have been found all over the world, dating to thousands of years prior to those found in Egypt. Though stereotypically Egyptian in Hollywood, mummification became a common practice in South America starting around 6000 BC. The famous painting The Scream has been attributed to a Peruvian mummy that Edvard Munch saw in a museum.

Ice mummies are another example of South American mummification. In the Inca culture, human sacrifices left on mountaintops became essentially freeze-dried, preserving the body. In North America and Europe, accidental freezing resulted in ice mummies as well, many from the Iron Age. Though popularly considered Egyptian, mummies originate from all over the world.^[11]

Abigail Hentschke has primarily published poetry, including poems for Eber and Wein publishing company and Canvas Literary Journal.