10 Reasons Why Egypt SCARES Scientists
Ancient Egypt was one of the world’s most advanced ancient civilizations,
but beneath all the glitz and glamour of the pyramids and the royal tombs were some
unsolved mysteries, some horrifying facts, and some truly crazy cultural practices.
In this video, we’ll be going through some of the scariest things about ancient Egypt, let’s begin:
10. Cleopatra’s Tomb
Before we get to the truly scary part, let’s delve into one of ancient Egypt’s most iconic mysteries.
Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Egyptian empire and is often considered one of the
most powerful women in history. She led Egypt through some troubling times, made diplomatic
(and romantic) alliances with some of the most powerful men in the Mediterranean, namely Julius
Caesar and Mark Antony. Despite eventually consolidating power after a troubled start,
more troubles headed towards Cleopatra’s way after Octavian of the Roman Empire declared war upon her
and Mark Antony, his fiercest rival. Octavian’s forces soundly defeated those of Cleopatra’s,
and she was forced to commit suicide after being captured.
However, to this day, we don’t know the exact circumstances surrounding Cleopatra’s death,
despite all the myths that have been created since then. Cleopatra’s tomb still hasn’t been
discovered, and if it was, we would probably know a lot more about her beyond the myths.
9. Curse of The Mummy
The mummy’s curse is something that is so scary that it actually scared professional archeologists
at one point. It’s believed that in ancient Egyptian mythology, a mummy's coffin is one
of the most forbidden objects in the universe and that opening a mummy’s coffin will lay a
curse upon those who were in its vicinity, if not the entire world. The thing is, most tombs
were actually opened and looted way before modern archeologists could get to them, until in 1922,
archeologists working in the Valley of The Kings came across the tomb of Tutankhamun. This tomb
was unique as it had never been looted or opened before then, which was almost unheard of. There
was a large group of people including investors, scientists, historians, and archeologists that
were present when the tomb was finally opened, and up to 8 people who were most directly responsible
for the opening died within just a few years after the opening, mainly from mysterious circumstances.
8. The Pyramids
The most iconic part of ancient Egypt also happens to be one of the most mysterious. The Great
Pyramid of Giza is the symbol of ancient Egypt, and at over 150 meters tall, it was the tallest
structure ever built during its time. In fact, the Great Pyramid remained the tallest man-made
structure on earth for thousands of years after it was built in around 2500 BC, and it wasn’t
even until the late 19th century that a skyscraper taller than the Great Pyramid was finally built.
Scientists and historians are baffled that the ancient Egyptians, without access to any modern
technology or engineering methods, were able to construct something that wasn’t just tall,
but it was built to last thousands of years. 4500 years later, the pyramids still stand,
while many other buildings have fallen. Some attribute this not to the ancient Egyptians,
but to extraterrestrial creatures, we’ll let you be the judge on that one.
7. Mummies Causing Cholera
During the height of Egyptomania, people wanted everything related to Egypt,
and Egyptian-themed packaging also became popular. In the early 1900s, an American businessman
thought it would be a good idea to wrap food in actual Egyptian mummy bandages. Apparently,
it was cheaper for him to use mummy paper than to use actual paper that was meant to package food,
and so he did it. What he didn’t know it would do is give all of his customers cholera.
While the idea may have already been dumb, a deadly disease outbreak was sure to prove it.
Mummy paper was eventually banned for import in the US due to this very incident.
6. Egyptian Justice System
Ancient Egypt is thought to have one of the first justice systems in the world.
In the sense that there was a judge who conducted a trial of any crime that happened on the land,
and the accused always had a chance to defend themselves from the accusation. It was actually
quite advanced for its time, and historians have always been quite curious about it. However, as
they looked further into it, it seemed like less of a “justice” system and more like a kangaroo
court that gave legitimacy to the corrupt elite of ancient Egypt. Unlike the modern practice of
“innocent unless proven guilty”, ancient Egyptians literally practiced the opposite of that.
Every accused was automatically presumed guilty, and they had to prove their innocence and not the
other way around. Usually, the accused were beaten and tortured so they would confess to a crime,
and if the case wasn’t going anywhere, the accused would always be punished.
5. True Age of The Sphinx
Here’s one crazy fact about the Sphinx, we actually don’t have a clue
how old it is. Most historians used to think that the Sphinx is around 4500 years old,
the same age as the pyramids, but more evidence shows that the Sphinx is way older than that,
maybe by a thousand years. The water damage that the Sphinx has suffered around its head
indicates that it existed during a time of intense rainfall in Egypt, which isn’t
possible within the past 4500 years, but is possible if it were built, say, 9000 years ago,
when Egypt resembled more of a rainforest than a desert. This is simply one of those mysteries
that will probably never be solved, since there are no records of the Sphinx’s construction.
4. Servant Sacrifice
One of the most ominous cultural practices of ancient Egypt would have to be servant sacrifice.
Every ruler and royal always had a “top” servant, this was the servant that never
left their side, was always loyal to them regardless of what’s happening,
and was involved in pretty much all matters of that royal’s life.
Pharaohs couldn’t live without their servants, and allegedly, they couldn’t die without them either.
The “top” servant was bound to a pharaoh for life, and that includes the afterlife. In some cases,
according to legend, when a pharaoh died, their top servant was also killed and buried
alongside them so they would be there to serve them in the afterlife as well.
3. Disproven Myths
Throughout history, even some of the top “Egyptologists” are guilty of making up
“facts” about ancient Egypt that later turned out to be nothing more than a myth. One of the
most common myths about ancient Egypt is that the people who built the pyramids were slaves who were
chained up and forced to carry massive stones that weighed over 2 tons, but this is false.
As it turned out, the workers actually lived in entire towns that were built especially for them,
these towns had all the latest amenities and there was ample space to support an entire family.
The workers were also fed a king’s diet, with the equivalent of prime steak being a regular meal for
them. There were also no signs of abuse on their bodies, and they were all generally very healthy.
2. Egyptian Birth Control
The world today would be very different without birth control,
there would be a lot more people, a lot more diseases, and a lot more chaos.
Birth control methods have existed since the very beginnings of the ancient Egyptian civilization,
but the birth control methods in Egypt were very different from the methods we have today.
Instead of clean, highly sanitized products, ancient Egyptians were taught to use a sort of
mixture between honey and crocodile dung to create a “shield” between the couple. Apparently, this
was actually an effective form of birth control, and while it may have been effective, most people
today would be horrified at the thought of using something so disgusting as a “protective layer”.
1. There’s Still So Much More To Uncover
And finally, the thing that scared scientists, historians,
and archeologists most about ancient Egypt is also the thing that excites them the most.
Ancient Egypt isn’t even close to being fully uncovered as of yet.
There is so much more that modern humans can still learn about this ancient civilization.
Some Egyptologists believe that the majority of the structures and artifacts from ancient Egypt
are still buried in the sand, just waiting to be rediscovered. Take the discovery of the ancient
city of Aten this year, for example, no one knew there would be a massive city buried underneath
one of Egypt’s most popular archeological sites, but there was. There are probably dozens,
if not hundreds of other cities like this that we still haven’t managed to rediscover.
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