Beginning in the 12th century, Arab physicians began to prescribe their patients a most unorthodox remedy: the ground remains of mummies procured from Egyptian tombs.
Mummy powder proved so profitable that soon after its introduction, Egyptian tombs were ransacked not only for the riches they might contain, but also for bodies that might be processed into the expensive folk medicine. It wasn’t long before the practice of applying mummy powder was incorporated into medieval Europe’s catalog of dubious medical practices. By the 16th century, the product had become so commonplace in both Europe and the Middle East that the once seemingly endless supply of authentic, mummified Egyptian cadavers quite literally dried up.
Mummy powder, however, was not the only everyday use of the Egyptian dead that arose before the dawn of modern archaeological preservation. In the 16th and 17th centuries, pulverized mummy was the key ingredient in a popular shade of brown artist’s pigment, and preserved human and animal remains of Egyptian origin were used in the production of this “mummy brown” paint until the early 20th century.
Whether this statement was merely jest on the part of the American literary icon, well known for his sense of humor, has been the subject of debate ever since it was published. What is known, however, is that the supply of authentic Egyptian corpses by the beginning of the 1800s was so small only that upper crust Europeans could afford to purchase one whole. In the wake of Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, it became vogue amongst the aristocracy to hold “unwrapping parties,” where carefully preserved corpses would be haphazardly stripped of their bandages, so that revelers could gaze upon the millennia-old face concealed beneath them. Small burial ornaments concealed in the linens would then be dispensed to partygoers as souvenirs, while exposure to air caused the delicate bodies to crumble into dust, never to be seen again.
Built on the bank of the Nile along the northern edge of the city of Luxor, the Temple of Karnak was dedicated to the worship of one of Egypt’s oldest and most storied deities: Amun-Re. Though initially worshipped as the primeval god of the wind and air, Amun-Re increased in favor from the 11th Dynasty onwards, eventually ascending to the forefront of the Egyptian pantheon and becoming endowed with the attributes of an all-powerful sun god.
It was this incarnation of Amun-Re – envisioned initially by a powerful cult in ancient Thebes - that led Egypt’s masterful builders to construct the Temple of Karnak sometime between 1500 and 1350 BC - though, in essence, construction never truly ended on the ominous complex. Every ruler from the New Kingdom on saw fit to add their own embellishments, until the temple grew to cover the five acres that we associate it with today.
Access to the temple is granted through a sequence of six monumental gateways, each of which was eventually taken on a pet project by many a particular pharaoh during their respective reigns. For instance, the second gateway, started by Rameses I, leads to the so-called “hypostyle hall” - a secretive enclave that only the pharaoh and temple priests were allowed to enter. The meeting space of hall is surrounded on all sides by 122 columns divided into seven, symbolically meaningfully rows. An earlier pharaoh, Amenhotep III, chose a different tact by inlaying his third gateway with gold and silver, though all of his decorative addition has been lost to looters in the interceding centuries.
The six gateways eventually led onto Karnak’s inner temple – the highest and darkest point in the entire complex. Even today, it is remains clad in the pink granite grafted onto the original structure around 330 BC by Philip Arridaeus, brother of Alexander the Great. The inner sanctum was focused on a stone dais that once bore ceremonial boat dedicated to Amun-Re, as well a large statue of the god – the latter of which occupied the center of temple life for the high priest of the temple and the Egyptian king alike. On feast days, the statue be hoisted onto the ceremonial boat, and then carried around the temple perimeter. Natives of the surrounding towns and encampments, believing the statue to be gifted with powers of prophecy, would shout questions at the procession as it passed. As the boat rounded the temple, it would rock from side to side; a tilt to one side or another was seen by temple devotees as being indicative as a yes or no answer to their queries.
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The Karnak complex also included smaller outcroppings devoted to the worship of Montu, war god and son of Amun-Re and an installation by the monotheistic pharaoh, Akenaten (Amenhotep IV) that was subsequently dismantled, along with the rest of the king’s works, following his death in 1334 BC. Worship of Amun-Re and use of his temple at Karnak eventually subsided as the influence of Thebes waned; his cult was later driven south and went on to thrive in Ethiopia. | |||||||||||
Tags: 1350 BCE, 1500 BCE, 330 BCE, Alexander the Great, Amun-Ra, Amun-Ra Statue, Amun-Re, ancient egypt, Ancient Egypt Store, Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom, Bust of King Akhenaton, Egypt master builders, Egyptian 11th Dynasty, Egyptian god of air, Egyptian god of wind, Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian sun god, hypostyle hall, Isis Protecting Osiris Statue, King Akhenaton Standing with Crook and Flail Statue, Luxor, Nile River, Pharaoh, Philip Arridaeus, Rameses I, temple of karnak, temple priests, Thebes
When we face occasions of hardship or uncertainty we may rely on internal sources of strength but often we also seek comfort in external representations of what may fortify us. Throughout the history of human experience, attention has been given to tokens, amulets, or charms that could offer some kind of consolation or protection by the power inherent in them. In ancient Egypt amulets were worn on jewelry to symbolize certain attributes that the wearer, by holding them close to him/her, could attain.
In the case of the scarab, (the beetle that emerges from its egg stage in animal dung, seemingly self-generating) the scarab amulet was an object of renewal and regeneration to the Egyptian culture so enthralled by the after-life. Wearers would hold the scarab dear as a protective charm that could ensure their ability to successfully pass into the afterlife. Other symbols such as the Ankh of Life, representing the force of life, or the Eye of Horus, which protected in life and in the afterlife, were also preferred talismans.
Where the word ‘amulet’ entered Western vocabulary is disputed but it has a long history. One etymology claims for it a Latin origin, ‘amuletum’, and is first documented by Pliny in the first century C.E. Another hypothesis of derivation is that it came from the Arabic word ‘hamalet’, meaning ‘pendant’ or the Arabic ‘hamala’, meaning to ‘carry away, remove, or destroy’. Whatever the origins of the word, the existence of charms and amulets persists even though societies continually evolve the objects in which they invest power, status, and protection. 
For over two thousand years, the secrets of the ancient Egyptians were lost to history. All the tombs, trinkets, statues and cenotaphs were pretty but indecipherable, covered as they were in a pictographic script that had no meaning. It wasn’t decades of research, the intricate technologies of archaeology or the explanation of some ancient king risen from the dead that unlocked the lost language of the ancient Egyptians. In fact, it was the accidental discovery of some half buried rock that came to be known as the Rosetta stone, by a French soldier that would change the face of Egyptology and provide a much needed window into the language and belief systems of the most celebrated ancient culture.
