Mummies in News and Pop Culture
Nihal Samir with the Daily News Egypt reported that the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that 22 royal mummies will be transferred from Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to Fustat’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization on April 3 in a magnificent parade.
Kahel El-Anani, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, said of the upcoming event, “We want the world to see the beauty of Egypt’s civilization, with the procession set to be dazzling, different from any other celebration, and among the most beautiful celebrations that the people of the world will see.”
Each Pharaoh and Queen will be transported in specially constructed cars, each bearing the royal’s name in Arabic, hieroglyphs, and English. The parade will take approximately 90 minutes and will be televised.
The royal mummies mentioned in the article are a who’s who from ancient Egypt: Ramses II, Seti I, Amenhotep I, Seqenenre, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, Meritamun, and Ahmose Nefertari, among others.
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This past week Elizabeth Rayne at SyFy Wire wrote about the discovery of an ancient Roman Period pet cemetery in the once port city of Berenice. Cats, dogs, and monkeys found revealed that they had been carefully buried, but had not been mummified or sacrificed. Rather, the animals had died naturally. Archezoologist Marta Osypinska explained the significance of the find: this cemetery supports that the concept of “pets” and an emotional bond that went beyond utilitarian/economic use in society.
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And, in pop culture history….
March 15, 1945, Henry Victor passed away at the age of 52. He has an interesting connection to The Mummy (1932, dir. Karl Freud) because he was cast as the Saxon Warrior in one of the past life flashbacks, but his scene was ultimately deleted from the film. His credit however remains.
March 15, 1967 saw the U.S. release of The Mummy’s Shroud directed by Englishman John Gilling and produced by Hammer Film Productions. This was the third of the four mummy films Hammer produced.
March 20, 1962, marks the birth of Stephen Sommers, director/writer of The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). He wrote and produced The Scorpion King (2002, dir. Chuck Russell). Although he stepped from directing in The Mummy and The Scorpion King IP, Sommers has kept involved behind the scenes as a producer for a number of the subsequent films and The Mummy television series.