Ancient Egypt and even Egypt of today have been known to have very rich culture and practices synonymous to them. They are also known to have collectively worshiped many gods during the ancient times. One of the most powerful of those gods is the center of this episode – a high priest, versed in wisdom, writing, and magic. He was highly revered and worshiped in his time. He sat and presided over cases like a judge of today’s world. He decided who lived or died, who was to be forgiven, and who was not worthy of a proper burial. His was among five revered priests of his station, so he was known as “one of the five.”
In 1927, an antiquities inspector received a tip that a sarcophagus was hiding in the desert and it probably belonged to one of the high priests – one of the five. This meant that one of the most powerful beings in ancient Egypt was buried somewhere in the deserts of Al-Ghorifa. The antiquities inspector crawled down the tomb shaft to investigate and found something outstanding – a sarcophagus; first ever that was seen in that time and it belonged to one of the five. However, the sarcophagus was empty and the whole tomb looted.
Today, the sarcophagus is placed in the Egyptian museum in Cairo, home to over two thousand relics backed up by rich history. There among them, Josh finds the hallowed sarcophagus belonging to the high priest. It was huge and decorated with writings that told of how important he was and incantations to guide him in the afterlife. Even though there was no mummy in it, the sarcophagus itself was a major find. Now, Josh gets word that somewhere still in the desert of Al-Ghorifa, there are other tombs and mummies, one of which was believed to belong to another high priest.
In the early hours of the morning, Josh arrives at al-Ghorifa to meet with leading archeologist, Zahi Hawass. Zahi has spent most of his life investigating mummies and Egypt’s ancient history and would serve as a tour guide leading Josh through different tombs to see some mummified corpses and ancient history buried in the sands. The hopes and adventures ahead is very thrilling, but there is a small worry about the ‘”Mummy Curse.” What is the mummy curse? To answer that, we must go back in history.
Earlier in history, British archeologists discovered a mummy of the famous boy priest, Tut. They dug out all the precious materials and took everything. Four months later, the leading archeologist died of a very strange sickness, so did the rest of the workers associated with the excavation. At the death of the archeologist, all the power was said to have gone out in Cairo – complete darkness. Was this the mummy’s curse? Some contend that it is, others debunk it with rational reasons, but its best to take no chances.
To begin their expedition, Josh follows Dr. Hawass to a lot of tombs and he sees a lot of mummies. Unfortunately, most of these mummies are victims of robberies and are incomplete. A mummy of an influential woman for instance was missing half of her mask; some precious artifacts were missing in some other tombs.
However, before opening the sarcophagus believed to contain the great priest, there is a need to understand how powerful he really was. Josh visits a tomb filled with little mummies. They are little because they are dead mummified animals offered to the priest of Toth for appeasement. The priest is represented by a bird’s head and sometimes a baboon because baboons were believed to depict wisdom. So in this tomb, birds and baboons were mummified to appease the priest. If you didn’t have the money to buy a bird of baboon, you could offer a jar, and thousands of jars still lay there till today.
Back to the mummy discoveries, Josh and Hawass are ready to discover the great priest’s sarcophagus. Hopefully, it has not been looted by robbers. They walk a little to the tomb, climb narrow shafts, and crawl in the sands until they find the most spectacular sarcophagus the eyes had ever seen. It was obviously owned by someone of means, and the writings and descriptions on the sarcophagus speak of the priest’s title and position.
Enough seen, they proceed to open the lid and the sight is simply outstanding! A perfectly wrapped mummy covered in gold and other precious stones. It was the great priest, Toth – one of the five. The discovery was outstanding.
Even after then, archeologists are still digging up hundreds of sarcophagi, and precious artifacts are being taken to the museum – proof that history leaves a trail.
However, the question remains, is the Mummy’s curse real? If so, aren’t these archeologists in grave danger? Should these artifacts be collected at all or just left there in the tombs. The ancient Egyptians believed that if you mummify a corpse, they’ll live in the afterlife – are these tampering affecting the corpses’ afterlife or at least the rich beliefs of the ancient ones?
