EGYPTIAN SUPERSTITION

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 254, 10 July 1926, Page 22

EGYPTIAN SUPERSTITION

FABLED CURSES. OF THE PHARAOHS

When the body of Tutankhamen was revealed to those who entered his tomb, a mark was found on his face. . The mark left by the fatal mosquito bite on the face of the late Earl of Carnarvon was in exactly the same position. This remarkable coincidence is one of the many incidents in connection with the Luxor operations that has given colour to the claims of the superstitious, who foretold all kinds of disasters for those who tampered with the tombs of the Pharaohs. The recent death of M. Bcnedite, the distinguished French archaeologist and Egyptologist attached to the Department of Antiquities at Cairo, was further encouragement to those who believed in the fabled curse.

M. Benedite, who was directly connected with the excavations cai’ried out by the late Lord Carnarvon and Mr Howard Carter at Luxor, when the tomb of Tutankhamen was first opened, was the fifth archaeologist to die whilst the work was in progress. Visitors returning from Egypt report that the country is seething with mysterious stories predicting that further misfortune will fall on the desecrators of the tomb. In conversation with a “Morning Post” representative, Mr. Arthur Wcigall, the famous Egyptologist, who has made a special study of Egyptian superstitions in general and of lutalikhamen’s reign in particular, pointed out that the object of the curses sometimes attaching to tombs was to terrify the tomb robbers of the period, who might smash up the mummy in searching for jewellery or otherwise damage the tomb in such a way that the dead man's identity would be lost. Such an event, in the opinion of the Egyptians, would injure the welfare of the spirit in the underworld. On the other hand, anv person who helped to perpetuate the name of the dead would receive the blessin" of the departed spirit. “While I cannot exactlv say that I subscribe in believing in the efficacy of

such curses I must admit that some very strange things—call them coincidences if you will—have happened in connection with the Luxor excavations,” said Mr. Weigall. “For example, there was the ease of Mr. Howard Carter's canary which he kept in his house. On the very day on which the tomb of Tutankhamen was laid bare, a cobra, than which there is no rarer snake in Egypt during the winter months, got into the bouse and swallowed the bird. Now it is a fact that the cobra was the symbol of royally in ancient Egypt. Each Pharaoh wore it on his forehead and headdress to show his power to strike down his enemies. Lovers of the mysterious naturally interpreted Hie incident as the killing of the peace of the English Home by the Royal Cobra.” Mr. Weigall then related a remarkable incident which occurred when Lord Carnarvon first went down into tiie Tomb of the Kings. “As he entered the tomb he was in a very gay mood, and uttered several jocular remarks,” said Mr. Weigall. “I turned to Mr. H. V. Morton, who was just behind me, and said, half jokingly, 'lf he goes down in that spirit, 1 give him six weeks to live.’ I thought nothing more of it at the time, but exactlv six weeks afterwards Lord Carnarvon died from the effects of a mosquito bite, and Mr. Morton reminded me of what I had said.”

Another instance of the seeming efficacy of the curse of the gods noticed by Mr. Weigall was the case of an Egyptian who smashed at Karnak, the statue of Sekhmet, a goddess with the head of a lioness, supposed by the ancient Egyptians to have been employed by the Sun God, Ra, to destroy mankind.

“On the day the statue was smashed, I made inquiries in the village with a view to finding out whether any native had lost a child,” lie said. “I eventually found that a man’s son had died, anil that the man in question was he who had smashed the statue of Sekhmet.”