Season 1 Episode 3: #Mummymania

How much do you think you know about mummies? Do you think they are tasty? Ooo yummy mummy *wink wink*? Or scary? Or a conspiracy theory made up by the government? This podcast busts open the biases people have accumulated about ancient Egypt by discussing changes in how people have perceived mummies throughout time.

Introduction: 0:00- 1:10

Diana: Hey everyone! This is Diana, accompanied by my colleagues Lysol, Albert, and Lily. And we are here to talk to you all about mummies!

You may be wondering who we are and how we are qualified to talk about this topic. The four of us are students at UCLA, currently taking a class on Egyptology, and have been invited to publicize information we have learned throughout the quarter with the intention of increasing public knowledge about Egypt.

Albert: Hi everyone, this is Albert. I’m here to talk to you about the purpose. The intent of this podcast is to evaluate how the perception of mummies has changed throughout time, including how information about mummies has been misappropriated, specifically, how a lot of cultural information is either outdated or has been altered in some way. We want to stress the importance of pointing out the biases in our sources, but also within our ways of thinking.

Special Collections: 1:11- 8:42

Albert: Hey guys, we’re here at UCLA’s Special Collections department to look at “Unwrap the Mummy” by David Hawcock and Ian Dicks.¹ Basically, it’s a 4 foot long pop-up book with a bunch of cool facts. And we are going to quiz our friends with a “Do you know-?” style quiz to see if they have any misconceptions or misappropriations, or even stereotypes about Egypt.

So, Lysol and Diana. What do you think?

Lysol: I’m not sure how accurate this interpretation is. Right now it seems kind of cartoon-ish?

Diana: Yeah, I agree with you. Definitely.

Lysol: It’s hard to tell because we haven’t actually delved into any of the little text boxes and these illustrations. I would like to know how accurate this is because so far, the illustrations don’t seem to resemble the Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings.

Albert: Okay guys, let’s get started on our quiz. Lily, why don’t you start us off with the first question?

Lily: Alright. So, during the 1700s, what did many Europeans use mummies for?

Diana: They probably used them for their “medical” properties..?

Lily: Yes!

Albert: That’s actually very interesting. During the 1700s, at least in Europe, using them for medicinal purposes was not as popular anymore. And they began using them as fertilizer.

Lysol: Oh! Now, I didn’t know that! I actually didn’t, that’s interesting.

Albert: Yeah! Okay, let’s do question number two. Why was the Eye of Horus painted on the side of the coffin. I’m looking at you, Lysol. That’s your part!

Lysol: I have no idea! Maybe because it was meant to see the true identity of the mummy? Right?

Lily: That’s pretty close.

Albert: Pretty close!

Lily: But it’s so the mummies can see outside of the coffin.

Lysol: Oh, that’s interesting!

Diana: That’s crazy!

Lily: Okay, next question! Name some of the steps that are involved in the mummification process.

Lysol: (Talking to Diana.) I’ll do two, and you have to do the rest! [Laughs.]

Okay, the first would be to wash the body, right? And cleanse the body. And then they would have to treat it with the natron salt.

Diana: And then, I guess, they would have to get out all of the insides? Including the brain. And then they would probably finish up by wrapping the mummy with the..–

Lysol: Linen. With the linen.

Diana: Linen. Yes!

Albert: Okay, so there’s actually quite a few steps to the process, so let’s look at the book to see the answers. So, it says: first, to make a mummy the brain was first scooped out through the nose with a brain hook.

Lily: Then, the internal organs were removed through a cut in the side of the body.

Albert: The body was covered and in natron, a salty substance, and left for forty days to dry out. You got it!

Lily: When the body was embalmed, or dried, it looked limp and lifeless.

Albert: So, the body was packed with sawdust to make it look more life-like.

Lily: The body was then bathed in wine and spices, wrapped in linen bandages, and left for thirty days.

Albert: A life-like mask was placed over the mummies face.

Lily: Finally, the mummy was returned to the relatives for burial.

Diana: Wow!

Lysol: I’m impressed! So, the use of this hook…what exactly-does it actually remove the entire brain from the mummy?! Is that what I’m getting from this?

Lily: No, it removes most of the brain and then they used a spoon to remove the pieces inside that are left.

[Diana and Lysol react]

Albert: Okay, last question everybody. [Asking Lily] Do you want to do this one?

Lily: No, you can do it!

Albert: Okay! Why was the Book of the Dead buried with the dead?

Lysol: Because they’re dead!

Lily: Good answer!

Albert: So then, like everything else, objects buried with the mummy have a purpose, and in this case it was to guide the dead to the afterlife. Now, we’re just going to have a look through the book.

Lysol: What’s under the wrappings of the head?

[Lily opening mummy book]

Lily: Alright then, there we go!

[Diana and Lysol react to seeing inside the book.]

Ects

Reactions?

Diana: Is that a skeleton?

Lysol: Yeah, I don’t know, for some reason I don’t picture mummies with the actual skeleton inside. It’s just–

Diana: Yeah, you know sometimes in movies they are portrayed as evil characters.

Albert: It’s interesting that you brought up movies, Diana. Do you have any misconceptions that might have led you to perceive mummies in a certain way?

Diana: Yeah, Albert, actually I’ve always loved the Mummy Saga and I feel like often in the movies mummies are portrayed in this evil way. So, I feel like that cultural misinterpretation has resulted in a lot of disrespect towards the mummies. I know a lot of children like to dress up for Halloween and they pick a mummy costume, and I’ve heard modern Egyptians find this disrespectful to their culture.

Albert: So basically, what you’re saying is that modern media has created bias within all age groups and particularly you’ve felt like its led people to become disrespectful towards the cultural aspects [of mummies].

Diana: Definitely, I feel like that’s the idea nowadays.

Lysol: I agree with you, Diana. From the research that I was doing on the origins of mummies and how it all started, definitely this new modern way of looking at mummies is way too different from what they intended it to be. These burials were usually very differentiated in the wealth of the mummy but at the end of the day, they were all intended for the purpose of helping these individuals succeed in the afterlife. And that seems to be left out in these Hollywood movies of mummies.

Albert: Okay, everybody thank you for joining us at Special Collections. As we wrap up, we just want you to think about the popular misconceptions and biases that we’ve been talking about and how it relates to our podcast’s theme!

Transition:

Albert: Now let’s head over to the TA interview to continue our conversation about mummies.

TA Interview: 8:43- 21:00

*For images please see links below.

Lysol: Hi everyone, it’s Lysol here with my friends Diana and Albert. My colleagues will be working a little more behind the scenes for this segment, but they are very much here and you might hear their reactions in our audio. Today we also have the pleasure to have one more person with us! Jordan, would you like to introduce yourself?

Jordan: Thank you guys for having me today. So, I’m a third year PhD student here at UCLA in the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department, focusing on Egyptology. Right now I’m kind of in pre-dissertation stuff, but I’ll probably be doing that this summer. My research focuses on elite competition, evidenced through dress, so I do a lot of stuff through textiles. Looking at how the sociopolitical climate changed with fashion, and other stuff like this.

What else about me? Originally, I did my Bachelor’s in Philadelphia at Temple University, and then I got my Master’s from the University of Chicago. So I’ve been hopping my way across the country!

Lysol: Do you have a specific area or time period that you focus on as an Egyptologist?

Jordan: I’m kind of more focusing on Middle Kingdom through the end of the New Kingdom.

Lysol: Okay.

Jordan: Right now, because I’m trying to chart changes, you need to get a large expanse of time just to chart changes, you know?

Lysol: Right.

Jordan: So I keep it kind of broad, but not too broad. It has too keep me bounded somehow.

Lysol: Has pursuing it changed you as an individual?

Jordan: For sure!

Lysol: How?

Jordan: I mean, it’s a really tough process. So, it makes you very resilient, right? Because there’s a lot of setbacks along the way, it’s a hard process out of struggles. You don’t get into a lot of programs they’re very competitive, things like this. Long hours, not a lot of time off for like, fun. A lot of times you question yourself “Why am I doing this?” Putting myself through all this torture. But then, it’s you know, your passion, your interest.

Lysol: Exactly.

Jordan: It comes back to you.

Lysol: In the classroom we have talked about Orientalism, cultural relativism, among other topics, and it has definitely enlightened us significantly. We’re wondering if any of those have touched you in similar ways.

Jordan: Oh, for sure. I remember when I was an undergrad, I took a class on Orientalism, and I didn’t know anything about it back then. I remember I was like “Wow that’s interesting!” because I didn’t know that concept existed at all! I think everyone should know about it especially when you work on studying the past in cultures in non-western cultures. I think it’s important to know all the biases we have, and especially reading literature from scholars in the past, they are very biased.

I’m currently writing an article about how Orientalism affected- so there’s a bunch of depections and actual bodies of women who wear tattoos, there are figurines with tattoos in nudes. And all these excavators were like, these must be concubines, prostitutes, or something ridiculous. So my article is pushing back against this because they were biased, they had Victorian European views of how they viewed tattooing, how they viewed nudity. We should put this into the past and look at the actual evidence.

Lysol: Okay, so now we’ll move on to some questions about Ancient Egypt, if that’s okay.

Jordan: Sure.

Lysol: Our first question would be, if you have any more evidence/input on it about how the Ancient Egyptians used to bury their dead before the process of mummification began.

Jordan: So, before mummification, the Ancient Egyptians would’ve just buried the dead in a simple dug out tomb- a tomb or just a hole in the ground. The body perhaps wrapped in a piece of cloth, or in like elite matting. Something like this (points at picture), or just nothing, just placed in the ground, and then it would’ve naturally mummified by the dry air and sand. I pulled this one (points at picture), this one’s kind of in a fetal position with some grave goods around it.

Lysol: What type of materials would they be buried with?

Jordan: Ceramics or some pottery, maybe some basic jewelry. This guy looks like he has some weapons and hunting implements. He has sandals, these are from a later date though they were put in there by accident. But it’s so great, you know. Things that perhaps you’d want in the afterlife. And depending on how rich you are, you’d have more grave goods versus someone of lower status.

Lysol: Did, for example, statues have anything to do with the introduction of linens and resins into the process? We have read, I think it was Christina Riggs’ Unwrapping Ancient Egypt. She had mentioned something about statues, and we were just wondering what was the relevancy, like why did she mention them in her book?

Jordan: So, her book, it’s a great book, she was mainly focusing on the act of wrapping. And her argument was that basically by wrapping something, you’re imbuing it with something sacred. So the act of wrapping makes something sacred. So she was connecting that with something like mummifying a body, that by wrapping the body you’re making it something sacred to turn into an Osiris in the afterlife. And then they would also wrap statues, so all the statues that would be in the temples in the, you know, back in the holy-of-holies in the back of the temple, they would’ve every morning went through a ritual where the priest would bathe the statue and then clothe it. And then they would be wrapped like a mummy, and imbue it with this kind of sacred power.

And you can even see here, this is King Tut’s tomb, and all the stuff in his tomb is wrapped. But when archeologists find it, they unwrap it because they’re like, ‘ew a gross piece of linen, we want to see the gold underneath.’ But actually, everything would’ve been draped and wrapped, because an average person shouldn’t be seeing a god. It’s keeping this liminal space between the god and the observer. Even Tut’s sarcophagus was draped in like a shroud and stuff like this.

Lysol: Those are things we hadn’t heard of, actually.

Jordan: I think the linen being a marking off, a boundary almost, between the living and the dead, the sacred and the profane, these types of things. And making whatever it’s wrapping more sacred.

Lysol: So now that we’ve covered some basic information, we wanted to get to the purpose of our podcast. We’ve found that there are a lot of misconceptions incorporated in Egyptian culture through time. Would you be able to elaborate on that specifically about mummies?

Jordan: Sure, yeah. I think in the media we watch a lot of movies about mummies where they are shown as the monster rising from the dead. There’s a pharaoh’s curse that is coming to hold the people that opened the tomb and all this type of stuff is mystifying the Ancient Egyptian culture. But if you go back to why the Ancient Egyptian’s mummified their dead, it’s that they wanted to preserve their bodies for the afterlife because of their belief that you need the body to be preserved so your soul could find it in the afterlife. So, I think it just touches upon the fact of what we all want nowadays, a peaceful afterlife if you believe in that, and the best way to combat these sort of ideas from the media I think is doing things like these. Teaching undergrads, having classes, and getting involved with social media type stuff. To show how normal and everyday the Ancient Egyptians were, too. And making this more accessible to everyone, like you read an academic paper and it’s super wordy, as all these big words, and it’s super inaccessible to people [because] they use Egyptian language and words that no one else can read. It’s things like this that are more accessible to everyone, and kind of pushing back against T.V. shows with the ancient aliens-

Lysol: Sorry, would you say that there are any accuracies, though? In your time as an Egyptologist and how you can view these things, do you find that you can dissect them and perhaps find some truth in there?

Jordan: Well, I love all of the old Brendan Fraser mummy movies. Totally still very much enjoy them. I think they’re great. I remember watching them as a kid and that being part of why I was interested, so I think it’s important to get people interested. I very much encourage it. But then, you know, take that interest and then go to the library and find a book and learn more. Like, I have students all the time email me questions like, ‘I was watching The Mummy last night, is this real? Is this accurate?’ , and I’m more than happy to answer that question. Reach out to an expert or a book. I think there’s definitely a place for this stuff in the popular media, it gets people interested. So, I guess, you need a little bit of sensationalism to make it sexy. But then, take that interest and go look at scholarly sources and verify this stuff.

Lysol: And recent stuff?

Jordan: And recent stuff, yeah, don’t go look at those from the 1800s because they’ll be racist.

Lysol: So if you had one big takeaway from this conversation, or just any dialogue regarding Ancient Egypt, what would it be?

Jordan: I think my biggest piece of advice for doing any type of research on ancient history in general, and specifically for Ancient Egypt, is for doing what you guys are doing. You know, be inquisitive, interrogate the past, interrogate our sources. Be judgmental and critical, and don’t just take things as they are. Look at who was writing it, when, what culture they came from, what biases they have. All these types of things are super important, and we always need to be pushing back against these to actually get to the truth, to get at what the ancient people were actually thinking. And basing-or skewed by our current interpretations or current climate, and all this type of stuff. And try to not do these kinds of things. And be more inclusive of other cultures, and maybe focus more on women and people of color. All these types of stuff that aren’t usually discussed in ancient history.

Lysol: Okay, well, thank you so much Jordan!

Jordan: Yeah, thank you for having me!

Lysol: This is where we’ll close our interview with you, but we’re really happy that we got the chance to have you come in to talk to us.

Jordan: It was great!

Early Egyptians: 21:01-24:45

Albert: Special thanks again to Jordan as we transition into the next part of our podcast where we talk about how the Ancient Egyptians may have wanted us to perceive their culture.

In order to talk about mummies through time, we must first cover what the early Egyptians intended to achieve with this process.

When we think about mummies, we think of the dead, sarcophagi, and riches, but let’s start with one of the most obvious parts, linen wrappings. Many of us, including myself, have the misconception that linen wrappings were used only for preservation. But what if I told you that this is a misconception shattered by content found in predynastic tombs. You may be wondering, what does “predynastic” even mean? And what does this have to do with our modern-day perceptions about mummies?

The term predynastic refers to the time before the ruling families of Ancient Egypt took possession of power. And dynastic Egypt refers to the time from 2950 BCE to 322 AD (mistake in audio) when the last of these ruling families, or dynasties, ruled.²

Keeping these terms in mind, there are similarities in predynastic and dynastic tombs in that they both show a focus on of wealth and status. As most of us know, the pyramids and tombs we associate with Ancient Egypt were the final resting places of some of the most wealthy and powerful nobles and the pharaohs, of course. Similarly, archaeological evidence from one of the religious and political capitals of prehistoric Egypt, Hierakonpolis, highlights how wealth and social class influenced the size of the burial pits and the goods found within them. For reference, this was around in the 5th and 4th millennia BCE.³

In Christina Rigg’s “Unwrapping Ancient Egypt,” she fights the claim that linen wrappings were used for the sake of preservation, and we totally agree.⁴ As our interviewee Jordan confirmed, the primary preservation of predynastic mummies was not due to the linens, but actually because of the hot climate of the desert.⁵ Basically, the whole idea is that the use of linens around this time can be argued to have purposes other than just preservation.⁶

When the first bodies began to be treated with resin soaked linen in predynastic times, they were wrapped specifically around the hands and head. Let’s remember that these examples predate the mummies from the first dynasties by as much as 3000 years, so these partial wrappings are believed to be the first of their kind. In her book, Rigg’s also stresses that different wrapping techniques have existed throughout the history of Egypt, so the use of these textiles has not been static or continuous. But of course, this fact goes unknown and is not portrayed in modern literature or film at all. All we know are the fully wrapped mummies that will curse whoever disturbs them.

Thanks for sticking with us so far! I know we’ve been throwing around a lot of dates and vocabulary, but the one thing from this section that we want you to remember is how the Ancient Egyptians perceived mummies. As we discussed, the burial of mummies portrayed their wealth and importance, while the process of mummification had practical and religious values. So it’s not wrong to show elaborate tombs and reproductions of pyramids when talking about mummies. But we often don’t remember to include that there were precursors to this practice which set the stage for mummification. We should not neglect the goal of trying to understand the original purpose of the process of mummification.

Topic: On Early Travelers 24:46-29:03

Lily: Speaking of linens, one of the primary reasons as to why they were not addressed was that the people who broke into ancient Egyptian tombs didn’t care enough about the linens to preserve them, and why would they? One of the most fascinating and revolting cases of mummies in relation to the Western world was the case of mummy cannibalism. Now, people have been traveling to Egypt throughout its history. Traces of wares from foreign countries like Nubia, Yemen, and Libya were found in ancient Egypt. However, Egypt first began to truly open up itself for trade around the 12th dynasty in the Middle Kingdom,⁷ after which time acclaimed travelers like Herodotus and Hecataeus made their trips to Egypt and generated some of the few eye-witness accounts (or they claimed) of the customs and culture of the ancient Egyptians during the 27th dynasty.⁸ During this entire time, tombs of royals and nobles were looted by both the Egyptians themselves and by foreigner.⁹ In regards to the drive for looting, none was more revolting and inhumane than for the purpose of using the bodies of mummies for medicine. In medieval Europe, and peaking during the 16th and 17th centuries, first the noble Europeans and later the masses used mummy parts for cures to illnesses and pains. Mummy parts would be lined on the shelves of apothecaries, and the parts of the mummies themselves would be ground up into tinctures to treat anything from internal injuries to headaches. Merchants looted Egyptian tombs in order to meet the high demand for the panacea.¹⁰ During the 18th century, though, the use of mummies for medical purposes died down, and again, Western looters of Egyptian tombs trampled the bodies for which the tombs were built without a care. However, that all changed when public dissection of mummies became a popular form of entertainment. Now instead of being ground up into powder, mummies were (sold as) “objects of science.” People were willing to pay for the live display of “scientists” dissecting mummies, and whoever paid more would get a seat closer to the mummy (and some were willing to pay a lot).¹¹ This hideous part of European history remains hidden, along with the entire history of Westerners fetishizing Egypt.

Speaking of which, did you know that the last line of rulers of Egypt were not Egyptian? They were Macedonian Greeks from the line of Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s most well known generals. And Speaking of Alexander the Great, did you know that he was mummified after his death and that his mausoleum was in Egypt (or, actually, is still somewhere there)? Well, when Alexander the Great died, his general Ptolemy managed to secure Alexander’s body, had him mummified, and placed within a mausoleum inside the city of Alexandria. Celebrities from all over the ancient world came to Alexandria to pay their respects to their idol, with the hopes and dreams that they’ll be as great as Alexander the Great someday. You see, most admirers would just visit Alexander’s mausoleum, and with admiration and respect showing in their eyes, take off their cloaks and strip bare their jewelry (or show respect other ways) and lay them on Alexander the Great’s tomb to pay their respects to one of history’s most glorified murd- (ahem) conquerors. But there was this one dude, this Roman Emperor called Caracalla (I’m probably butchering his name), who, according to Fritze, began to believe that he was the incarnation of Alexander the Great and started parading all over the place, telling people to refer to him using “Alexander” and “great.” Gotta admit though, this guy was pretty amusing; that was what the people of Alexandria thought too…before he massacred their young men and ordered his soldiers to loot and pillage the city. Anyway, after that, the tomb and corpse of Alexander the Great began to fade from documented history as Caracalla marks the last mention of the mausoleum of Alexander.¹² I went off on a tangent there, but you get the point. In the ancient world, the attitudes of foreigners and travelers toward ancient Egypt could have ranged from respecting and adopting Egypt’s culture to not having not a care about it and view cultural remnants of the ancient Egyptian world as nothing but lucrative commodities that have the potential to make millions (or whatever number that screams rich in the ancient world), or they could have landed anywhere in between.

Topic: Modern — From Herodotus to Hollywood 29:04-34:47

Diana: The perception of mummies has undoubtedly changed over time. Mummies have excited considerable interest among all foreign visitors to Egypt. The earliest writings referring to them come from the fifth-century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, who provided detailed accounts, describing mummies as manifestations of an ancient culture. Of course there were claims that Herodotus had never even gone to Egypt and, primarily, based his knowledge off of what he had learned from previous travelers, like Hecataeus himself. Hecataeus was a predecessor of Herodotus, who, according to surviving fragments, made important contributions in ethnology, demography and history. Herodotus might have simply come up with his own tale about the ancient Egyptian culture, misleading historians and archaeologists, who relied heavily on the way Greeks saw Egyptians at the time. Yet, again, nothing is definite. In his writings, Herodotus purports to have talked to Egyptian priests extensively and all over Egypt, yet, he retained the belief that in Egypt everything is backwards: women buy and sell while men stay at home and take care of the children, Egyptians relieve themselves at home and eat in the streets. How could Herodotus travel the length of Egypt and talk to the most educated men all over the country and still go on talking like this without explaining himself?¹³ Unfortunately, we cannot simply go back in time in search of answers for our most unsettled questions. And, as we all know, cultural misinterpretation can lead to inevitable consequences, especially, if the country that misinterprets the culture holds some sort of authority in the world, but we will talk about this in a minute.

Moving on to a more recent history, mummies were so popular in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that they are frequently referred to in literature. Shakespeare’s apothecary in Romeo and Juliet stocks mummy, while in Othello mummy was part of a magic potion. The earliest Western interest was not in the cultural value of the mummies, but rather in their medical feature, but that idea was forgotten by the end of the Renaissance era. The turning point of increased popular interest and investigation of Ancient Egypt was Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt in 1798. The Emperor-to-be took with him a commission of historians and archaeologists to record all geographical and monumental findings. Almost all of the material collected was passed into the hands of the British and their museums. This fact might gross you guys out, but can you imagine, that Napoleon commanded to detach respectively the heads from a male and female corpse and present it to his wife, Josephine? That is just not the present one would hope to receive for a Valentine’s Day today. Other complete mummies collected during the expedition were taken to the Louvre. At the time, the French were collecting the corpses primarily as decorative objects, since the popularity of mummies was growing rapidly.¹⁴

As the nineteenth century progressed, Egypt opened up more and more to tourism and affluent visitors. This was also the beginning of Orientalism. Since the publication of Edward Said’s Orientalism in 1978, much academic institutions have begun to use the term “Orientalism” to refer to a general condescending Western attitude towards Middle Eastern societies. In Said’s analysis, the West characterizes these societies as static and undeveloped, forging a view of Oriental culture that can be studied and reproduced. Behind this terrible fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is rational and superior. Such representation of the Middle East expresses a will to, sometimes, control the perception of a given culture around the world by the West. The West has taken advantage of Egypt and its great possessions, including the mummies, crediting found materials to itself. Disrespect to cultural values and falsely-made assumptions about Egypt and its civilians have led the majority to believe that the Egyptians are uneducated savages that cannot make use of the dynasty that was left to them.¹⁵ Well, that is just absurd. Instead of making accusations, it is more rational to try and get to know the culture through the eyes of the nation itself. Don’t you guys agree? This way one’s knowledge will be less biased and will be based on actual facts.

All these inaccurate beliefs gave birth to the famous Hollywood movies that we enjoy today. The Mummy saga has turned the mummies into one of the greatest reflections of evil in film and around the world. Children dress up for Halloween as mummies to scare their neighbours and receive treats for it. Many, who study Egyptian culture and, especially those who live in it, consider this behavior disrespectful.¹⁶ Ahmed Elgazar, who lives in Egypt, expresses his opinion on Quora and writes, “as an Egyptian, I think Hollywood has no idea about Egypt and never did. Every representation of Egypt modern, old or ancient in every American movie has been nothing short of pathetic, insulting and stupid. They get everything wrong, every single time.”¹⁷ Media, today, plays a fundamental role in shaping our perceptions about the world. It is a very powerful weapon a dominant power can possess. Media stereotypes promote criticism of mummies, which can invalidate demands for their removal from display. Some examples include the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, that shows no images of human remains other than wrapped mummies online, and the Egypt gallery at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery that displays a body curved into a fetal position in a dark case; visitors have to press a button to reveal the body; some mummies are displayed with their coffin lids half closed.¹⁸ We have been told that mummies are scary and evil; we have been shown a lot of movies that promote unkind stereotypes, which further lead to a false understanding of how important it is to respect and study our past.

Conclusion: 34:48-36:17

Round table discussion

Lily: Thank you, Diana. Those words carry over perfectly to our concluding segment.

First, we would like to thank everyone that has made it this far into our podcast about mummies.

The perception of mummies throughout time, whether through the eyes of Ancient Egyptians, philosophers of the classical period, or the modern film industry has been the focus of this podcast. But let’s not forget that the sources we use to study these perspectives may have biases that interfere with the truth.

Diana: We hope that our podcast introduces or reinforces the importance of studying our past without letting our own biases cloud our judgment.

Not only that, we should also check the biases of others, as well. This work begins in our conversations with friends, in the classroom, or even with professionals. As Jordan said, “be inquisitive, be judgmental, and always seek the truth!”

Albert: And we’d like to remind all of you that our colleagues have also created podcasts for your enjoyment, so please give them a listen! Special thanks to Robyn Price, Courtney Jacobs, Simon Lee, Deidre Whitmore, Jordan Galczynski, and Tom Garbelotti. These are the amazing people who made all this happen. Thanks again!

Works Cited

Armayor, O.K. “Did Herodotus Ever Go to Egypt.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 1978, 59–73.

Brandt, J. Rasmus. “Death and Changing Rituals.” Oxbow Books, United States. 2015.

Crouch, Chad. “Rainbow.” Motion. Chad Crouch, track 6. Free Music Archive, 2019.https://freemusicarchive.org.

Crouch, Chad. “Very.” Motion. Chad Crouch, track 7. Free Music Archive, 2019. https://freemusicarchive.org.

Day, Jasmine. The Mummy’s Curse: Mummymania in the English-Speaking World. 1st ed., Routledge, 2006.

Dolan, Maria. “The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine.” Smithsonian, 2012. https://www.smithsonianmag.com.

Elgazar, Ahmed. “What Do Egyptians Think of the Representation of Ancient Egyptian Culture in ‘American Gods?” Quora, 2018. www.quora.com.

Fritze, R. H. Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession, and Fantasy. 2017.

Ikram, Salima, and Aidan Dodson. The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity. Thames & Hudson, 1998.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.

Kennedy, Maev. “Museums Avoid Displaying Human Remains ‘Out of Respect.’” The Guardian, 21 Oct. 2010, www.theguardian.com.

Peet, T. Erick. “The Abbott Papyrus. The Great Tomb-Robberies of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: being a critical study, with translations and commentaries, of the papyri in which these are recorded.” Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1930, 1-49. http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk.

Riggs, Christina. Unwrapping Ancient Egypt, London and New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2014.

Stevenson, Alice. “Predynastic Burials.” In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. 2009. https://uee.cdh.ucla.edu.

Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program. “Timeline of Egyptian History and Culture.” Egypt: Timeline of History & Culture, Colorado State University, www.cemml.colostate.edu.

Wengrow, David. “Predynastic Art.” In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. 2009. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu

Crouch, Chad. “Rainbow.” Motion. Chad Crouch, 2019, track 6. Free Music Archive, https://freemusicarchive.org.

Crouch, Chad. “Very.” Motion. Chad Crouch, 2019, track 7. Free Music Archive, https://freemusicarchive.org.

Images:

Daley, Jason. “A photograph of Fred, the mummy: mummification and embalming of bodies before pharaonic Egypt.” Smithsonianmag. 16 Aug., 2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/egyptians-created-mummies-thousand-years-earlier-thought-180970052/

Burton, Harry. “Photos of the treasures found in the tomb of Tutankhamen. No. 616, 1169, 1165.” Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, colourised by Dynamichrome, 1926. http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/discoveringTut/burton5/burtoncolour.html

“Photo of Adult Cat Mummy.” Britishmuseum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=1018277001&objectid=109938.

“Photo of dog mummy.” Sharm-club. https://www.sharm-club.com/en-us/egypt/history/animal-mummies-in-egypt.

“Photo of Apis Bull Sarcophagus.” Tripadvisor.. https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g730107-d469559-i140928098-Serapeum-Saqqara_Giza_Governorate.html

Thomson, Aidan McRae. “Photo of catacombs of the ancient city of Hermopolis.” Flickr. 7 Oct., 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/40419493434

Wilson, John. “Photo of sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian cat Ta-Mit, pet of Prince Thutmose (brother of Akhenaten).” Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/ab/23/6dab2344d66bd3bdd476a3fafee0415b.jpg

Medina, Manuel. “Photo of Egyptian official with dog under his chair.” Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.es/pin/435864070171233908/

Special collections:

Dicks, Ian and David Hawcock. Unwrap the mummy : a four-foot-long, fact-filled, pop-up mummy to explore. 1st American ed. New York, NY : Random House, 1995. UCLA Special Collections, call no. Z1033.T689 D54u 1995.

1 thought on “Season 1 Episode 3: #Mummymania”

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