Now We Know What Killed King Tutankhamun. Or Do We?
I’ve just returned from the International Conference on Ancient Studies in Dubai. By the time I left I was almost deliriously tired, enough perhaps to find a passionate and fiery exchange between two wonderful speakers from the conference, Ahmed Osman and Andrew Collins, debating who or what killed Egypt’s King Tut as we drove to the airport, highly comical. I can already hear in my mind Mr. Osman’s contempt for this report in the New York Times (he firmly believes that the boy king was murdered):
King Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh, was frail, crippled and suffered “multiple disorders” when he died at age 19 in about 1324 B.C., but scientists have now determined the most likely agents of death: a severe bout of malaria combined with a degenerative bone condition.
The mummified feet of King…
Egypt Announces Find of Ancient Cat Goddess Temple
HAMZA HENDAWI writes in the AP via Yahoo News:
CAIRO — Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000-year-old temple that may have been dedicated to the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bastet, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said Tuesday. The ruins of the Ptolemaic-era temple were discovered by Egyptian archaeologists in the heart of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C.
The city was the seat of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled over Egypt for 300 years until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra. The statement said the temple was thought to belong to Queen Berenice, wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C.
Mohammed Abdel-Maqsood, the Egyptian archaeologist who led the excavation team, said the discovery may be the first trace of…
Qutb: Between Terror and Tragedy
Sayyid Qutb grew up in a very trundled time in Egyptian history. It was a time of demagogues and revolutionaries. At the age of thirteen in his village he participated in the 1919 uprising, by preaching to crowds and reading to them his own prose on freedom and imperialism. In the mosques after prayers he would stand in front of congregations, and speak of liberty and justice for the Egyptians to a crowd of shopkeepers and illiterate peasants. Egypt was demanding its independence from its British protector, and the spokesperson for the insurrection, S’ad Zaghlul, was being turned away like a schoolboy from the Paris Peace Conference. Sa’d returned to Egypt only to later be put into exile to the Seychelles. He later returned to Egypt and became Prime Minister…
Egypt’s Chief Archaeologist Says Pyramids Were Not Built by Slaves
Egypt’s irrepressible and media-hungry chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass has taken the rare step of changing the official version of who built the pyramids. The establishment Egyptologists may take years to recover … what’s next, Zahi endorsing Robert Bauval’s Star Correlation Theory?!? From ABC News/Reuters:
New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt’s chief archaeologist said on Sunday.
Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.
“These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves,” Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in…
The Secrets Of Tutankhamun’s Decaying Tomb
From The Independent:
Given the peace and quiet Tutankhamun enjoyed for three millennia, it has been a rough 87 years for him since he was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. He was immediately relieved of his treasures; his tomb became one of the world’s best-known tourist attractions, and finally, in 2005, his mummified corpse was hoiked out of its final resting-place to be studied by scientists.
The “boy king’s” fame did not just cost him his privacy. His underground tomb, in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, is now suffering from the wear and tear caused by tens of thousands of sweaty visitors who each year make a pilgrimage to the underground chamber where he once lay sheathed in the solid gold death-mask that has become his trademark.
Most day-trippers come to soak…
The Mummies’ Curse: Heart Disease
Amanda Gardner reports for U.S. News & World Report:
Hardening of the arteries may have more of a family history — the human family tree — than was once thought.
Modern-day imaging techniques have unearthed hardening of the arteries — or atherosclerosis, which causes heart attacks and stroke — in mummies up to 3,500 years old.
Experts have long believed that atherosclerosis is a scourge of modern society, caused by meals snatched at fast-food restaurants and eaten in front of high-definition TVs.
“Perhaps atherosclerosis has been around a lot longer than we think. It might have been a malady affecting man long-term,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. “It doesn’t necessarily change anything we know or do now, but perhaps some of the accoutrements of civilization are not only unhealthy…
Egyptian Official at the Great Pyramid: Beyonce Is A “Stupid Person”
Bikya Masr reports on the rude behavior of Zahi Hawass, a man who has often tangled with anyone daring to challenge his “official” opinions on the Giza Pyramids or any other aspect of ancient Egypt:
CAIRO: In a shocking display of poor diplomacy, Egypt’s chief Egyptologist Zahi Hawass allegedly called American pop-star Beyonce a “stupid person” during her brief tour of the Giza pyramids earlier this week. Writing in al-Shorouk newspaper, Summer al-Gamal said that Hawass became fed up with the pop star’s attitude after she did not show the interest Hawass felt was deserved of the pyramids.
According to Gamal, during Hawass’ self-guided tour, he said “I showed her the Sphinx and I gave her a book on King Tutankhamen,” but then his anger and frustration made its way to the forefront.
“Then…
Vanished Persian Army Finally Found?
From Rossella Lorenzi at MSNBC:
“The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology’s biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.”
The Egypt Code – Disinformation: The Podcast
Disinformation: The Podcast – The Egypt Code
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In the inaugural episode of Disinformation: The Podcast, Raymond and Joe speak with author Robert Bauval about his new book The Egypt Code. Robert Bauval is the author of The Orion Mystery and co-author, with Graham Hancock, of Talisman. His new book, The Egypt Code, explores the relationship between ancient Egyptian myth, ritual, architecture and astronomy. Mr. Bauval joins us from Spain to discuss his life, his work and his philosophy.
Disinformation Podcast T-shirts available here!
