Eternal Rest? - Disturbing the Dead

By the 19th century AD, 2,800 years after your death, you may think you have found eternal peace at last. Wrong! It becomes fashionable amongst the wealthy to travel to Egypt and tourists buy mummies as souvenirs. Unfortunately for you, it also becomes fashionable to publicly unwrap mummies. No one is interested in you, however – only the magic amulets tucked in your wrappings. If you are lucky, you may be re-wrapped and put in a museum.

Other uses were also found for mummies and their remains. It's enough to make you turn in your grave — assuming you still have one!

PAINT
An artist, who found that the paint he was using was made from ground down mummy remains, gave the paint tubes a decent burial.

FERTILIZER
Mummified cats shipped from Egypt to Europe were used for fertilizer until a public outcry stopped the practice.

FIREWOOD
Mummies' arms and legs were sometimes used as torches for exploring tombs.

OFF TO THE MOVIES
The mummy of pharaoh Ramesses III was the model for many of the mummies featured in horror films. In fact, getting into the movies is a good way to attain immortality — recently discovered mummies are always popular on television and in film.

Earlier mummy discoveries also retain their interest. The tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922 and since then millions of people have visited the Cairo museum and other exhibits to see 'King Tut's' mummy and his fabulous tomb goods.

Will your mummy attract this much interest in a few thousand years?

Based on the book You Wouldn't Want To Be An Egyptian Mummy!
Copyright 2002 - the Salariya Book Company