Written by: Om Thapa - 23052, Grade XI
Posted on: 20 September, 2021
Pharaoh is the common title now used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE. The curse of pharaohs is a curse which is supposed to be casted upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of ancient Egyptians. These curse rumors started from 7th February, 1923 when an archeologist named Howard Carter and his patron, Lord Carnarvon finally discovered the burial chamber of the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamun. And people who were involved in the excavation met untimely deaths from a range of causes, ranging from heart failure to madness.
When discovering the buildings of pyramids of Giza an archeologist named Zahi Hawass found the curse in the tomb saying, “All people who enter this tomb will make evil against this tomb and destroy it. May the crocodile be against them in water, and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in water, the scorpion on land”. The recent rumors about this curse were formed about the ship which was stuck in the Suez Canal and train had an accident in Cairo when people were preparing to transfer mummies from tomb to the museum in Cairo, Egypt.
In the end, it is believed that it wasn't these particular situations that fed the rumor of the curse, but rather the world's newspapers, who found they sold more papers saying that a terrible curse was unleashed the moment King Tut's tomb was opened.
Reference: Wikipedia, National geographic.