If we go back just a few centuries, we can see that Egyptomania pushed some frontiers unthinkable in modern times — in addition to Victorian festivals where mummies were unwrapped from their bandages, some Europeans simply ate the preserved, mummified ones Remains and supposedly helped cure certain diseases or even relieve simple headaches.
While it’s bizarre to think that our ancestors really believed that cannibalism could help against disease, we must remember that prior to modern medicine, treatments were precarious and quite experimental. The belief that mummy powder had healing properties dates back to the Middle Ages and led people to consume horribletasting preparations.
Both rich and poor used the product known as “mumia,” available from apothecaries (healers of the past) and made from Egyptian mummies brought to Europe, at least until Egypt banned such imports in the 16th century. From the 12th century, the prescription of the powder followed for about 500 years, but other cruel practices accompanied it.
In a world before antibiotics, skulls, bones, and ground meat have been used to treat headaches, swelling, and even bubonic plague. Not every medical doctor believed this, including Guy de la Fontaine, the royal physician, who did not consider mummies to be valid medicine and noted that the dissected remains were forged in Alexandria in 1564 from the corpses of recently deceased peasants. There was a demand and it would stay that way until the 18th century.
From medicine to parties
Some doctors dismissed mummies with a crueler twist, saying that fresh blood and flesh had healthier and better vitality than older remains. This reached its highest level when the English King Charles II (1630 1685) consumed medicines made from human skulls after a stroke and doctors continued to prescribe the substance for neurological diseases until 1909.
But royalty and the upper classes continued to believe in the healing powers of mummies, with many doctors claiming that they were all made by deceased pharaohs, i.e., by kings of the past—which seemed appropriate for nobles. In the 19th century, people stopped consuming mummies, but they remained a fascinating attraction this time for entertainment at private parties.
Napoleon’s first expedition to Egypt in 1789 piqued the curiosity of Europeans and enabled 19thcentury travelers to bring the surviving remains back to their continent, this time by buying mummies direct from street vendors.
The first “unfolding” events still wore a medical tinge, like that of surgeon Thomas Pettigrew at the Royal College of Surgeons in England in 1834. Autopsies and operations were then performed publicly, so opening a mummy seemed like another medical curiosity .
The opportunity to research was soon abandoned as the wealthiest began entertaining their guests with a mummy relaxing a way of showing how wealthy they were, enough to buy an item like this. The thrill of seeing dry skin and bones peeking out from under bandages drove Victorians insane until the early 20th century when the activity was frowned upon in the shadow of the destruction of archaeological artifacts.
mummies in modern times
After the unraveling of the mummies subsided, a different kind of Egyptomania emerged — the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 even inspired Art Deco, the architectural and visual style of the early part of the century. In 1923, the sudden death of Lord Carnarvon, sponsor of the expedition to Tutankhamen’s tomb, led to superstition of the “curse of the mummy”, although the Briton died of natural causes. From then on, staying away from mummies became preferable.
The first mummy decoding since 1908 took place in 2016 by Egyptologist John J. Johnston. A mix of science and show, the show was an immersion in imagining what it would be like to be at a Victorian event, but was still considered tasteless it took place at St Barts in London and the soundtrack included ‘Walk like an Egyptian” (Walk like an Egyptian, in free translation), music by the band The Bracelets and an offer of gin for the participants. The mummy was nothing more than an actor wrapped in bandages.
Seriously, the black market for antiques still exists and currently moves an estimated US$3 billion (about R$14.40 billion), including mummies and Egyptian artifacts. Today, no serious archaeologist would open a mummy publicly, and no doctor would recommend consuming preserved human remains. However, that does not prevent greed from using preserved prehistoric humans as a commodity a problem that mankind has not yet solved.
Source: The Conversation