Mummies in News and Popular Culture
The Naked Scientists’ writer, Chris Smith, interviewed Dr. Nate Dominy (Dartmouth College) about examining the DNA of baboon mummies to locate Punt, an ancient Egyptian trading partner. Baboon were not a native species of Egypt and in fact, Egypt was an exception of Subsaharan Africa, because baboons were deified. Dr. Dominy studied baboon mummies in the Petrie Museum and British Museum, and in the latter, there was one baboon with a DNA signature not like the others. The chemical signature of the oxygen stable isotopes in the water the animal drank, resulted in narrowing the geographic location potentially to Eritrea and Somalia. Research continues.
English online Egyptian news website, ahramonline, reported that Egyptian film director, Shadi Abdel-Salam’s classic 1969 film, The Night of Counting the Years (also known as The Mummy), would be screened at Cairo’s Cinema Cultural Centre. Based on the true story about the Abd el-Rasuls, a family of Egyptians who found a cache of 21st Dynasty artifacts, this film was the only feature length film from the director. It was selected for the 43rd Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category. It was produced by Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini (Germany, Year Zero) as well as Merchant Ivory Productions. In 2007, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina listed The Night of Counting the Years in the top 100 important films in its history.
I just came across this article and I am thinking of watching through both franchises in the order recommended. Late last year Looper’s Shane O’Neill posted the best order to watch The Mummy and the Scorpion King films. Most fans probably watch the first two mummy films and the first Scorpion King film however, O’Neill shares Reddit user SilentDues’ chronological order:
- The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
- The Scorpion King (2002)
- The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012) – watch the pre-title sequence only
- The Scorpion King 5: Book of Souls (2018)
- The Scorpion King 4: The Quest for Power (2015)
- The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012) – now watch the rest of the film
- The Mummy (1999)
- The Mummy Returns (2001)
- The Mummy: The Animated Series (2001 – 2003)
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)