Memories From Egypt: The Tale of Two Mummies
Today's trip was to the Egyptian Museum, where Sal, our archaeologist guide was to show us around.
(Unfortunately, none of my photos on this post, as photos of the museum are amongst the lost ones)
The Egyptian Museum is huge and if you were to spend one minute looking at each thing, you would be there for three months. And there are still thousands of pieces in the vaults below.
A Frenchman had the museum built as a house because they did not want a museum, but looking around the inside, it sure seemed like it was built to be a museum. (I believe the location of the museum has moved since we visited.)
Sal showed us all the best pieces and exhibits and our favorite exhibit was two mummies that Sal told us interesting tales about. They were called Princess Tia and Ming.
Ming was a very wealthy man, but a very nasty one, so when he was mummified they broke his neck after he died, took away his heart, so he could not enter the afterlife. They used poor quality linen and did not cross his hands over his heart.
After years of being left in the vault, they decided to take a closer look at him and do tests and CT Scans on him. Tests show that he had leukemia, however, he did not die from it and he appears to be the only human ever to be immune from this disease.
Ming will soon be going to Germany because they have located the gene for leukemia and they are hoping that could mean finding a cure for this disease in the very near future.
Ming's wife Princess Tia is the best preserved Mummy and most well done they have ever seen. She was well-liked and left her husband a short while after marrying him. She gave to the poor and treated them with respect.
She got all Ming's money when she died and she used that to pay for the best mummification seen so far.
Her spinal cord was replaced with an ivory stick after she died (it is still a mystery how the ancient Egyptians worked out the dimensions to do this perfectly, like so many Egyptian mysteries we will probably never know).
Sal showed us a video clip on his phone of the archaeological dig when these two mummies were found, as he was there.
After talking about these mummies, we had some free time to wander around the museum. We looked at Tutankhamun's treasures, particularly his mask and one of his sarcophaguses.
His actual mummy and another of his sarcophaguses have been put back in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
So much gold...
In fact the smallest piece of gold in the museum just one inch and it worth $7.2 million
Lines to Live by
I love my life.
I am beautiful.
I am powerful.
I am free.
I love my life
I am wonderful.
I am magical.
I am me.
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Nice fantastic post Happy 2018 Contribution comment#
I have always been interested in the history of Egypt ever since I was a school boy. We got to visit the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) and witness the sarcophagus of Tutenkamen (spelling?) when it was making its rounds across the globe. There is something so interesting about the ancient Egyptian culture. Like you said, there are just so many mysteries that we may never find the answers to, amazingly interesting.
Yes, I was truly blessed to be able to visit and experience this amazing place. I have always felt drawn towards the mysteries also, especially dimensions and healing properties etc of pyramids.
So intrigued by Egypt. Definitely on my bucket list
Wow that's really cool to think about something preserved for so long will now be used for further genetic research.
Also sounds like that little gold piece is a great store of value.
Yep the mummies are still teaching us stuff. I tried to look up on Google any updates on this story, but couldn't find anything on these specific mummies, but there has been a lot found out about cancer, with the CT scans of other mummies. It is amazing what they can do. Now they just need to share their findings, so good use could be made of it.
Thank you for this historical article, I love this period !!
The ancient Egyptians were awesome
Wonderful to read that thanks for sharing this :) wish you a happy, healthy prosperous New Year :)
And you Happy New Year. It was an interesting story for sure.
There is a theory out there in the Internet that bodies of those who practice good deeds decay slower than those who lead wicked lives.
Interesting stuff.
Cheers!
I think Princess Tia had a helping hand in this case. That makes for an interesting story plot idea though. ..
Thanks for bringing the memories flooding back 😊 I was lucky enough to have 3 weeks in Egypt about 20 years ago now. Spending time in Cairo, Hurghada, Luxor and exploring the sites in-between these locations. I may have to write my own post about it 👍🏻
They are wonderful memories I'm sure for you too. I loved Cairo and Luxor. Have yet to write about the Karnak temple and I do have stacks of photos of there. I will have to make a slideshow video or two I think. Let me know if you do write something about Egypt though, I'd love to read it.
I did a search on Google to see if I could find more information about a mummy being used for leukaemia, but all I could find was your post. Do you think Sal might have been pulling your leg?
Possibly, but it was a good story and he was very convincing and my ex-husband was a trained lie detector, at least that is what he did in his army days. Leukaemia is a type of cancer and there is quite a lot Google mentions about CT scans on mummies for this subject.
Awesome, I could spend three months there for sure I bet! Did you see the incredible stone vases?
We don't know how they made them with only access to copper tools. The stones are harder than steel files. We would struggle to make these today. They are hollow like they had been made of clay on a potters wheel! :)
I don't recall seeing them, but they were so advanced in many ways that we will never understand or comprehend now.