O as well as being one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, Tutankhamun’s tomb also happens to be Pandora’s box, the opening of which has inspired countless myths, films and pseudo-archaeological theories. In particular, the so-called “curse of the pharaoh” became a world-renowned phenomenon when Lord Carnarvon – who sponsored the expedition to find King Tut – died only a few months after entering the tomb.
Despite this suspicious coincidence, there is little evidence to suggest any connection between the discovery of the pharaoh and the untimely death. Expedition leader Howard Carter, for example, lived another 17 years after disturbing the Boy King in his resting place.
Carnarvon had been on the brink of death for many years before his final demise as he suffered from recurring lung infections after being badly injured in a car accident in 1903. Far from being cursed, it could be said that he lived a charmed life life until finally dying in May 1923 of blood poisoning from a mosquito-borne infection.
However, it is possible that Carnarvon brought the curse upon himself through his business dealings. To finance the famous expedition, he sold the exclusive rights to all information about the tomb to The Times of London, effectively giving him a monopoly on all facts related to Tutankhamun and his discovery.
With the whole world captivated by the story published in The Times, other media outlets were desperate to come up with something to publish and resorted to fabrications. Since Carnarvon’s death, journalists around the world have been “amusing” by printing all kinds of speculative stories about how he came to be.
According to David Silverman, curator of the world-renowned Penn Museum exhibit, who wrote in 1987 that many reporters at the time deliberately misinterpreted the inscriptions found in the tomb to suggest a curse. One media outlet, for example, claimed that the passage read:
“I will kill all who cross this threshold into the holy precincts of the king who lives forever”, while in reality no such message was found.
Another copied a portion of the Egyptian Book of the Dead that was inscribed on the tomb, mistranslating it as: “Those who enter this sacred tomb will quickly be visited by the wings of death”
However, while no curse was found near King Tut’s body, other ancient Egyptian tombs were sometimes inscribed with such. One of the famous examples warns that “those who break this tomb will meet death by a disease no physician knows”although it is not clear whose grave this threat is written on.
In general, however, curses were only engraved on the tombs of private individuals, as Egyptian royalty was already protected by a series of incantations known as the Pyramid Texts, and therefore needed no additional protection.
Yet, despite the complete lack of actual pharaonic curses, overzealous observers have repeatedly sought reasons to believe that the ancient king’s anxiety could have deadly consequences. One article – published in a journal that one philosopher of science described as “an attempt to institutionalize pseudoscience” – even suggested that the Egyptians buried nuclear waste in “repositories” under some tombs, which has led to fatal health complications among archaeologists.
Ridiculous speculation aside, some legitimate studies reveal that the ancient tombs may contain potentially harmful fungi, molds, or other microbes that may endanger researchers who inhale them. So far, however, there is no evidence that any Egyptologist has been struck by such a pathogen, and all this is another nail in the coffin of the pharaoh’s curse.
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Source: iflscience
