"The curse would pityingly strike anyone who dares to desecrate the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun... "
Unless you are scholars of Egyptology, or at least lovers of this subject, few know exactly the events of history of Pharaohs' Egypt. The knowledge learned at school is reduced to a few names and rather confusing facts.
Perhaps you remember some Egyptian pantheon Gods, certainly you know the pyramids (at least three of the plain of Giza) and other important monuments.
But surely all of you have in mind one of the most famous pharaohs in the public: Tutankhamun, whose life, death and consequent curses are the subject of various legends.
Let's go back in 1340 bC, in Ancient Egypt....
Tutankhamon, the young king, the twelfth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, obtained the throne at the age of nine years but died prematurely before twenty. He lived between about 1341 and 1323 bC.
Maybe he was killed by his trusted advisers, because of a plot, organized without his knowledge.
Instead, a recent scan (March 2005) revealed a fracture in a femur that could have led to a tetanus infection. So, his death could also have been caused by an accidental fall.
After his death, he was subjected to the process of embalming necessary, according to the beliefs of the time, so that the sovereign could reach the afterlife.
After mummification, the body was placed in the multiple sarcophagus placed in the tomb, and there it remained kept with its funeral equipment for almost 3250 years.
Apart from a couple of visits by thieves, pharaoh and his tomb memory was lost until November 1922.
For experts, the discovery of his tomb was undoubtedly one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the past century. The English archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, on November 26th 1922, discovered together, the entrance of the tomb, located in the Valley of the Kings, bringing to light the treasure remained practically intact, not worrying much about the inscription at the entrance of the tomb.
"Death will come upon agile wings for him who will profane the tomb of Pharaoh"
In the various antechambers and in the funeral room itself, thousands of pieces of every kind were found: weapons, carts, clothing, jewellery, ship models, cosmetics, musical instruments and so on, any object that according to the beliefs of the time could have comforted the Pharaoh in his eternal stay in the afterlife.
The discovery of the mummy itself was very important. Unfortunately, because of the embalming process, it was freed from the bandages with difficulty. It took several months to examine it and a first autopsy was not conducted until 1925.
It is said that in the years to come, all those who participated in the expedition and research of the tomb of Pharaoh died. It seemed almost a punishment to anyone who violated the burial place of the Sovereign. Immediately, among the people it was assumed that the tomb of the pharaoh was protected from unknown forces and that the curse of Tutankhamun was formulated by Egyptian priests, to protect his tomb from profanation.
It seemed that anyone connected to the tomb or Carnarvon could be struck by the curse: the death in 1923 of Carnarvon 's brother, who had not visited the tomb, and of the Egyptologist Georges Bénédite, who died after a fall after visiting it, were attributed to the curse.
Carnarvon himself died from the infected bite of a mosquito a few weeks after the opening of the tomb (on April 5, 1923.
In reality, the curse seems to be just a journalistic find... all the others present at the opening of the tomb survived, some even over 60 years. Of the 26 people present at the opening of the tomb, only six died within the next ten years; of the 22 present at the opening of the sarcophagus only two died in the next ten years while of the 10 people present at the clearing of the mummy, no one died in the ten years following this operation.
This story, however, does not want to know that it is disappearing. In 1970, 48 years later, when the exhibition of objects from the tomb was touring the whole West, a policeman in San Francisco who was guarding it complained of a slight heart attack due to the "curse of the mummy".
