The mummified face of Pharaoh Seti I hailed for its superior preservation

The mummified face of Menmaatre Seti I known as Sety I of the New Kingdom’s Nineteenth Dynasty pleasantly surprised Egyptologists with its superior preservation. His face is regarded as one of the best preserved in the world as well as in Ancient Egypt’s annals.

Dying about 3,298 years ago, Seti I is reckoned to have ruled when Egypt was at one of its most affluent peaks from 1290 to 1279 BCE. He was the father to perhaps ancient Egypt’s most beloved pharaoh Ramesses II. His father, Ramses I, reigned for only two years.

The tomb of this extremely powerful and handsome ruler was brought to the world’s attention by the rebellious researcher Giovanni Battista Belzoni on October 16, 1817.

The tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, known as KV17, is the longest tomb in the entire necropolis. It’s about 137 meters (449 ft.).

Seti’s mummified body was neatly prepared and covered with a yellow shroud. However, tomb looters had messed with his bandages and smashed his abdomen. Worse still, Seti’s head was separated from the rest of his battered body.

Fortunately, his face remained untouched. Now, the remains of Seti I rest among other royal mummies in the Cairo museum.

In the early years of his reign, Seti led his army northward to restore Egyptian prestige, which had been partly lost during the troubled years of the late 18th dynasty under Akhenaton.

He battled in northern Palestine and Syria and fought at least one battle with the Hittite king Muwatallis; he subsequently concluded a peace treaty that may have established the frontier at Kadesh on the Orontes River between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains.

Seti in his 11 or 15-year rule did much to promote the prosperity of Egypt. He fortified the frontier, opened mines and quarries, dug wells, and rebuilt temples and shrines that had fallen into decay or been damaged; and he continued the work begun by his father on the construction of the great hypostyle hall at Karnak, which is one of the most impressive monuments of Egyptian architecture.

Another important work is his memorial temple at Abydos, which he dedicated to Osiris and six other deities of which much of the original colour remains.

Seti’s tomb is the finest in the Valley of the Kings in western Thebes.

Although his son Ramses II is more famous, Seti is thought by many scholars to have been the greatest king of the 19th dynasty.

Temple Dedicated to the Sun God Unearthed in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a 4,500-year-old temple dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Ra at the site of Abu Ghurab, about 12 miles (20 kilometres) south of Cairo. 

The temple was built sometime during ancient Egypt’s fifth dynasty (circa 2465 B.C. to 2323 B.C.) — a “period in which the cult of the sun reached its apex with the construction of a new type of monument specifically devoted to the sun god, commonly known as ‘Sun Temple,'” said Massimiliano Nuzzolo, co-director of the archaeological dig and a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. He co-directs it with Rosanna Pirelli of the University of Naples “L’Orientale” in Italy. 

The sun cult was a powerful cult in ancient Egyptian religion. In later times, Ra merged with Amun — the chief god of Thebes (Luxor) — to form Amun-Ra who was regarded, at least by some Egyptians, as being the most powerful of the Egyptian gods.

He was worshipped until around 1,500 years ago when Egyptian polytheism became extinct.

The newly uncovered sun temple was made from mud bricks and measured at least 197 feet long and 66 feet wide (60 meters by 20 m). It contained an L-shaped entrance portico, a courtyard, storage rooms and rooms that may have been used for cultic purposes, Nuzzolo told Live Science in an email.

“The walls of this building were all plastered in black and white and often also show traces of painting in red and blue,” Nuzzolo said.

The entrance portico was partially made of white limestone and had two limestone columns. 

The temple was ritually demolished, possibly before it was even finished, so a new sun temple could be made from stone at the site for a pharaoh named Niuserre (reign circa. 2420 B.C. to 2389 B.C.). Niuserre “reused part of the structure as a platform or sub-foundation for his new temple,” Nuzzolo said.

The archaeologists found two deposits of artefacts, one of which has dozens of intact beer jars and a few finely made and red-slipped vessels, while the other contains seal impressions, including the seals of pharaohs who ruled during the fifth and sixth dynasties.

One of the earliest seals belongs to Shepseskare, an “enigmatic” pharaoh who ruled Egypt before Niuserre, Nuzzolo said.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art(opens in new tab) in New York City lists Shepseskare as reigning from circa 2438 B.C to 2431 B.C., and Raneferef (also known as Neferefre) ruling from circa 2431 B.C. to 2420 B.C.

Archaeologists aren’t sure which pharaoh began construction of the mud brick sun temple, but it was likely either Shepseskare or Raneferef, Nuzzolo said. 

Continue reading Temple Dedicated to the Sun God Unearthed in Egypt →

The Legendary Emerald Tablet and its Secrets of the Universe

The origins of Western alchemy can be traced back to Hellenistic Egypt, in particular to the city of Alexandria. One of the most important characters in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Great). The name of this figure is derived from the Egyptian god of wisdom, Thoth, and his Greek counterpart, Hermes.

The Hermetica, which is said to be written by Hermes Trismegistus, is generally regarded as the basis of Western alchemical philosophy and practice. In addition, Hermes Trismegistus is also believed to be the author of the Emerald Tablet.

Legends of the Emerald Tablet

The Emerald Tablet is said to be a tablet of emerald or green stone inscribed with the secrets of the universe. The source of the original Emerald Tablet is unclear; hence it is surrounded by legends.

The most common story claims that the tablet was found in a caved tomb under the statue of Hermes in Tyana, clutched in the hands of the corpse of Hermes Trismegistus himself.

And the creator of the Emerald Tablet has been provided in myth as the Egyptian god Thoth, who Armando Mei writes “divided his knowledge into 42 plates of emerald, codifying the great scientific principles ruling the Universe.

The legend tells that after the gods’ fall, the Hermetic tablets were cleverly hidden so that no human being might find them. Only Thoth, on his return to that dimension, was able to recover the mysterious book.

Another legend suggests that it was the third son of Adam and Eve, Seth, who originally wrote it. Others believed that the tablet was once held within the Ark of the Covenant. Some even claim that the original source of the Emerald Tablet is none other than the fabled city of Atlantis.

Spreading Stories of the Emerald Tablet

While various claims have been made regarding the origins of the Emerald Tablet, as yet no verifiable evidence has been found to support them.

The oldest documentable source of the Emerald Tablet’s text is the Kitab sirr al-haliqi (Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature), which was itself a composite of earlier works.

This was an Arabic work written in the 8th century AD and attributed to ‘Balinas’ or Pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana. It is Balinas who provides us with the story of how he discovered the Emerald Tablet in the caved tomb. Based on this Arabic work, some believe that the Emerald Tablet was also an Arabic text and written between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, rather than a piece of work from Antiquity, as many have claimed.

While Balinas claimed that the Emerald Tablet was written originally in Greek, the original document that he purportedly possessed no longer exists, if indeed it existed at all. Some say the text burned up in the Library of Alexandria. Nevertheless, Balinas’ version of the text itself quickly became well-known and has been translated by various people over the centuries.

For instance, an early version of the Emerald Tablet also appeared in a work called the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of the Foundation), which is attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan. It would, however, take several more centuries before the text was accessible to Europeans. In the 12th century AD, the Emerald Tablet was translated into Latin by Hugo von Santalla.

What’s Written on the Emerald Tablet?

The Emerald Tablet would become one of the pillars of Western alchemy. It was a highly influential text in medieval and Renaissance alchemy, and probably still is today. In addition to translations of the Emerald Tablet, numerous commentaries have also been written regarding its contents.

For instance, a translation by Isaac Newton was discovered among his alchemical papers. This translation is currently being held in King’s College Library in Cambridge University. Other notable researchers of the Emerald Tablet include Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, John Dee, and Aleister Crowley. And today knowledge of the legendary Emerald Tablet (at least one interpretation of it ) is reaching new audiences with its presence in the surreal German-language series Dark.

The interpretation of the Emerald Text is not a straightforward matter, as it is after all a piece of esoteric text. One interpretation, for instance, suggests that the text describes seven stages of alchemical transformation – calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation and coagulation. Yet, despite the various interpretations available, it seems that none of their authors claims to possess knowledge of the whole truth. Furthermore, readers are encouraged to read the text and try to interpret and find the hidden truths themselves.

2,700-year-old ancient Egyptian stroke victim discovered

The recent medical inspection of the mummy in Egyptian led to a novel discovery believed to be one of, if not the earliest examples of a stroke in an Egyptian mummy.

Upon examination, a research team from the Spanish National Program for Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation concluded that the mummy,  a woman between 25 and 40 years of age who died about 2,700 years ago, suffered a right cerebral stroke.

The mummy was studied both macroscopically and radiographically.

The findings, published last month in World Neurosurgery, explain that the position of the female mummy’s shoulders, head, flexed arm and inward turning of the left foot indicate she endured a stroke on the right side of her brain.

The researchers also note that a stick or a crutch remained with her in the mummification process, which they speculate she used in life following the stroke.

The earliest example of a stroke 

The researchers believe the woman lived with the aftermath of the stroke for several years. Strokes, which occur when blood supply to the brain is disrupted, are the second highest leading cause of death and disability globally.

The typical stroke patient today is at least 60 years old, decades older than the mummy is believed to have been.

Ancient mummies can advance modern medicine

In another study this month that analyzed the remains of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy and found that she may have suffered from nasopharyngeal cancer, Polish researchers said that investigating mummy illnesses can significantly contribute to modern medicine.

Researchers Have Just Reconstructed a 2,300-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy’s Face

Australian researchers have reconstructed the face of an ancient Egyptian mummy, using a 3D printer to create a replica skull and forensic sculpting techniques to bring it to life.

While the sculpture is awesome in its own right and allows us to get a glimpse into an ancient culture, the team says the reconstruction will also teach students about diagnosing pathologies in former populations.

“The idea of the project is to take this relic and, in a sense, bring her back to life by using all the new technology,” said team member Varsha Pilbrow, from the University of Melbourne.

“This way she can become much more than a fascinating object to be put on display. Through her, students will be able to learn how to diagnose pathology marked on our anatomy, and learn how whole population groups can be affected by the environments in which they live.”

The funny thing is that the mummy – which is just a wrapped head with no body – was found by accident inside the university’s collections area where a curator was performing an audit.

The team suspects the head might have been brought to the university by Frederic Wood Jones, an archaeologist turned anatomy professor, who taught there in the early 1900s.

“Her face is kept upright because it is more respectful that way,” said museum curator Ryan Jefferies. “She was once a living person, just like all the human specimens we have preserved here, and we can’t forget that.”

The decision to reconstruct the face was prompted when Jefferies grew concerned that the skull was starting to rot from the inside. This is a unique problem, because the team can’t unwrap the mummy to check if everything is okay, and risk further damaging the specimen.

Instead, they used a CT scan to see what was going on inside. “The CT scan opened up a whole lot of questions and avenues of enquiry and we realised it was a great forensic and teaching opportunity in collaborative research,” Jefferies said.

To help reconstruct the face based on what they now knew of the skull, the researchers called in a team of forensic experts from Monash University.

Based on the CT scans of the skull, the Monash team estimated that the head once belonged to a woman – who the team has named Meritamun – who likely lived around 300 BC.

There’s still a lot to learn about the exact timeframe through radiocarbon dating, though, which will hopefully get underway soon.

With the CT scans, imaging specialist Gavan Mitchell was able to use a 3D printer to create an exact replica of the skull:

With that, the team turned the skull over to Jennifer Mann, a forensic sculptor, who painstakingly reconstructed the mummy’s face using clay and all of the data gathered by the forensic team.

“It is incredible that her skull is in such good condition after all this time, and the model that Gavan produced was beautiful in its details,” Mann said. “It is really poignant work and extremely important for finally identifying these people who would otherwise have remained unknown.”

The end result was a completely reconstructed face that offers a unique way to see an ancient Egyptian:

The team’s work has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, so the technique awaits proper scrutiny, though publication will likely be forthcoming after more analysis is done on the head using radiocarbon dating techniques.

Check out the video below to see the reconstruction in action:

Computer Scans Reveal King Tut’s Appearance And New Possible Cause Of Death

The name “King Tut” gives birth to images of powerful royal families of Egypt, of course, it does. Tutankhamun was the last great king of his lineage before the military rule took over the land, and one of the youngest rulers at that. However, the way we visualize this young king is quite different from the way he really looked.

It has also been found that his cause of death is incorrect as well.

So, who was “King Tut”? How did this young king meet his demise? The truth may surprise you!

The truth

Tutankhamun took the throne at the age of 9 years old. This child-man ruled Egypt until the age of 19, receiving respect above all in the land.

The popular consensus about his death, says that King Tut was killed in a chariot accident while riding out with his officials. This sounds like a normal incident for that day and age, but unfortunately, it is not true.

The truth is, Tutankhamun had a club foot. Within his tomb, there were countless walking sticks and even a pair of orthopaedic sandals, it is true!

Albert Zink, head of the Institute of Mummies and Icemen in Italy, had a strong opinion on this theory. He believed there was no way a child king could have stood upon that chariot and driven his horses.

It is also said that the leg on the same side had been broken previously as well. It would have been terribly uncomfortable, if not impossible, for Tutankhamun to be upon that chariot at all. It is quite apparent that death took him in some other way.

Zink told this opinion to the U.K. daily, the Independent, and was followed by other researchers who felt the same way.

“Apparently, King Tut had Koehler’s disease, ‘Death of the bones’, and Malaria”, said Ashraf Selim, an Egyptian radiologist. 

These are probably the culprits that took the young king from the throne.

More tests

The club foot was found by virtual autopsy. This same procedure of using over 2000 computerized tomography scans of the king’s face and body, also discovered that Tutankhamun wasn’t all that attractive either.

According to the evidence, King Tut had a pronounced overbite and lips like a woman. Wow! It seems that we were way off in our idea of Egyptian royalty. It seems that they were no less flawed than we are today.

One more fact

To top it off, Tutankhamun’s parents were siblings. Although this may not have been frowned upon at that time, it did contribute to the young king’s birth defects and obvious shortcomings.

Because his parents were siblings, “King Tut” was born with two doses of the royal lineage of flaws. Yes, the blood was pure, but the result was a young and weakening child to rule the land.

The rule of Tutankhamun ended in the 18th dynasty and gave way to military rule. Although there have been many facts discovered about this ruler, it is clear that his royal lineage was the greatest among Egypt’s royal families throughout history, despite its shortcomings.

Military Officer’s Tomb Discovered in Egypt

A Czech archaeological mission working near the Giza plateau has uncovered the tomb of an ancient Egyptian military official who commanded battalions made up of foreign soldiers, according to a statement from the Egyptian antiquities ministry.

The find has led experts to conclude that ancient Egypt was much more globalised than they once thought, the ministry said. The tomb is believed to have belonged to Wahibre merry Neith, who lived between the late 26th dynasty and early 27th around 500 BC.

His tomb was found about 12km south-east of the Pyramids of Giza, very close to an embalming cache discovered in February, which also belonged to Wahibre-merry-Neith.

The tomb was found by a mission from the Egyptology Department at Prague’s Charles University, one of the oldest in Europe.

The tomb is divided into separate parts by narrow bridges cut into the natural rock.

Measuring 14 metres square, its main well was about 6 metres deep. However, as is the custom in ancient burial sites from the time, there was a smaller and deeper shaft in the middle of the main well that led to the double sarcophagus where Wahibre-merry-Neith was buried.

At the bottom of the deeper well, which measures 6.5 x 3.3 metres, at a depth of about 16 metres, the mission found two sarcophagi, one inside the other.

The outer sarcophagus is made of two large slabs of white limestone, said the ministry’s statement, while the inner coffin is made out of basalt rock and fashioned in the shape of the human body.

The upper part of the basalt sarcophagus was inscribed with excerpts from the 72nd chapter of the Egyptian Book of Dead, according to a statement from mission head Dr Marslav Barta.

The texts depict the resurrection of the deceased and his journey to the afterlife.

The basalt sarcophagus measures 2.30 metres long and 1.98 metres wide.

The sarcophagus did not contain a mummy, leading the mission to conclude that the tomb had been raided around the 4th or 5th centuries AD, Barta confirmed in a statement.

He said his team was able to approximately date the theft because of two ceramic vessels that were left behind in the main well. The upper part of the basalt sarcophagus was found smashed, said the ministry’s statement, suggesting that this was where the graverobbers entered the tomb.

Though the tomb was markedly light on artefacts, the mission was able to extract an intricately carved scarab, around 400 ushabti statues made of faience (a sintered-quartz ceramic material prevalent in ancient Egypt) and two alabaster canopic jars (containers that held the eviscerated organs of the deceased which were an important part of ancient burial customs).

Dr Muhammad Mujahid, deputy head of the Czech Mission, said that “although the archaeological excavations of the cemetery of Wa-ip-Ra Meri Nate did not provide us with many important archaeological finds or elaborate funerary items, this cemetery is considered unique and important”.

He explained that it provides new insight into the turbulent period that marked the beginning of Persian domination over ancient Egypt.

On his part, Dr Waziri said: “The design of this well-tomb has no identical counterpart in ancient Egypt.”

Ancient Egyptian Mummy Shows Evidence of Nose Cancer

Scientists have been busy trying to find the cause of death of the “Mysterious Lady,” a 2,000-year-old ancient Egyptian mummy whose womb contained an extremely well-preserved unborn fetus. By closely studying her skull, they suspect that this ancient soon-to-be mommy likely died of cancer — a discovery that’s blown the minds of oncologists and Egyptologists alike.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, this mummy was assumed to belong to a male priest. However, ground-breaking work by the Warsaw Mummy Project revealed it was, in fact, female. More surprises arose when they discovered she was also the first known example of a pregnant mummy. 

Earlier this year, the Warsaw Mummy Project was astounded when CT scans of the “Mysterious Lady” revealed further evidence that the body’s pelvis cavity contained a fetus. Most remarkably, their study showed that the fetus had effectively been “pickled” by the highly acidic and low oxygen environment of the mummified womb, leaving it in remarkably good condition.

The researchers on the project told IFLScience that they often found themselves being asked how this young woman died, so they decided to find out. Further scans of the pregnant mummy’s skull revealed unusual signatures in the bone that suggest she was suffering from cancer. 

In particular, markings on the skull shows signs that modern doctors see in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare type of cancer that impacts the part of the throat that runs between the back of the nose to the back of the mouth.

“A small pathological change, about 7 millimetres in diameter, a round lesion surrounding an empty space, can be seen on the CT scans, in the bone behind the left orbit. This is most likely a change made by a tumour, possibly a metastatic site,” Wojciech Ejsmond and Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, co-directors of the Warsaw Mummy Project, told IFLScience.

“This type of metastatic change on the bones of the skull occurs, among others, after adenoma, but if it was this type of tumour, histopathological tests will give us a definitive answer. In addition, there are large cavities in the bones of the face, including the nasal cavity, maxillary sinuses, and the palatal part of the maxillary bones,” Ejsmond and Ozarek-Szilke explained. 

“The changes in the craniofacial bones are corresponding with nasopharyngeal cancer in modern patients.”

To verify the cancer diagnosis, the researchers need to properly examine the mummy’s tissues. Identifying cancer within the actual tissues could also raise some other possibilities that scientists have excited about. 

The team from the Warsaw Mummy Project says that oncologists could determine the “molecular signature” of cancer found in the mummy and then compare it with current cancers. This, they say, could provide some valuable insights into the evolution of cancer. 

A bunch of ancient mummies have been discovered with possible signs of cancer in their bodies before. In 2017, scientists discovered the world’s oldest known cases of breast cancer and multiple myeloma in two ancient Egyptian mummies.

The two bodies, dating 2000 BCE and 1,800 BCE, were found buried at the pharaonic necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan and likely belonged to the elite classes of the governing Egyptian families of Elephantine. 

Despite their riches and fame, nothing could save them from an untimely death.