• From alien theories to the rights of Egyptian women, we count 15 of the surprising and myth-breaking
facts about Ancient Egypt only discovered these last few decades
15 - A lot of Pharaohs were fat • Art and statues of the ancient pharaohs
we find today depict them as thin and fit • In reality though?
Most were unhealthy, overweight, some even with diabetes
• This mostly comes from their luxurious lifestyle, their diet of bread, beer and wine
• Queen Hatshepsut was even morbidly obese and balding, whereas her sarcophagus tried
to suggest she was thin and fit 14 - Egyptians used anti-biotics and didn't
even know it • This one is pure, blind luck born from
pattern recognition over the ages • The Egyptians found that when mouldy bread
or soil were placed on wounds, it actually made them heal faster
• Whereas today we know now that anti-biotics born from this mould is what can cure you
of potentially fatal illnesses, and they come in convenient little pills
13 - Brains were scooped out with a tiny hook • The mummification process has changed
over the centuries, but back in the glory days of Egypt it was a battle against decaying
internal body parts • Their solution was to cut out the lungs,
stomach, liver and intenstines - but instead of making an incision to remove the brain,
they used a wire hook to scoop it out piece by piece
• This didn't always happen though - there've been plenty of examples where Egyptians instead
elected to keep their brain intact; though, inevitably, it turned to mush
12 - Egyptians were never in contact with aliens
• It's a common myth that, due to how much the ancient Egyptians accomplished; the pyramids,
the architecture and their unwavering faith in a complex afterlife that they must've been
in contact with advanced lifeforms - as shown in some hieroglyphics
• Some people even use said stone engravings as prove they MUST have, but all signs point
to logical, scientific explanations • The pyramids for instance; it wasn't beyond
the realm of possibility that scholars and architects could've built them at the time
11 - (speaking of pyramids) Pyramids were NOT in fact, built by slaves
• Most media depict Egyptians toiling tons of rocks at the whip of their pharaoh masters
- but evidence disproves this in a number of ways
• For instance, villages were set up for the workers and their family - they were provided
good pay and their corpse chambers left untouched for thousands of years revealed they were
quite well off with luxurious perfumes, golden rewards from the pharaohs and all manner of
food • The slave rumour was started around 400
B.C but the reality is, like the Death Star, contractors were hired to do the job despite
the risks involved - the difference being Luke Skywalker did not blow up the Pyramids
10 - Who cracked off the Sphinx's nose?
• You would think it might've been during a World War, or when Napoleon reached Egypt
• But all of these events took place 60 years after the first known drawings of the
Sphinx without a nose in the 1730s • At this point there are no documented
leads, though an Islamic cleric Sa'im al-dahr DID vandalise the Sphinx in the 1370s but
he was punished for it • The nose thief remains anonymous to this
day 9 - All of Ancient Egypt hasn't been discovered
yet • Most would believe that Egyptology was
dead - how could we be in 2014 and still making new discoveries?
• Easy, everything's buried over hundreds of miles of sand - the Egyptians ruled for
thousands of years so naturally there'd still be quite a bit
• In fact, as recently as the start of this year we discovered a new Pharaoh Woseribre
Senebkay from 3,600 years ago • It was buried near the tomb of King Sobekhotep
from the 13th Dynasty, and it came with a whole slew of coloured illustrations
8 - Egyptian Women were equal to men • And in every way this was true - unlike
in Greece where women were basically owned by their husbands, Egyptian women were legally
and financially independent, they had the right to divorce and remarry and negotiate
ancient prenuptial agreements • While women were typically assigned to
home duties, they still received the same payments as men and were entitled to compensation
in the event of divorce • It was a society of tolerance, respect
and equal rights without question 7 - Their fashion protected against head-lice
• For the more well-off Egyptians, they wore full wigs - the middle or lower class
would wear long hair often in pig tails • But for children aged 12 and under, their
heads were shaved except for one plaited lock • Not only was this a sort of "coming of
age" fashion statement, but it was to prevent fleas and lice attacking children's heads
- and like the anti-biotic bread, it worked quite well
6 - Were Egyptians obsessed with death?
• The firm answer is no; however, it's easy to jump to the conclusion they were due to
building pyramid tombs, mummifying bodies and preserving them
• In reality though, they saw death as simply another chapter in life - where they could
continue working for their pharaoh without being held back by their biological forms
• We've seen old pottery from families of the deceased, demanding they get back to work
as if they hadn't died at all, they were just being lazy in the afterlife
• And they built the pyramids to allow their beloved pharaohs and, by proxy, the Egyptian
people to live on in the glorious afterlife • They didn't see death as you and I see
death 5 - Pepi II and his honey-fly trick
• During the sixth dynasty of Egypt's "Old Kingdom" we find a 6 year old Pharaoh named
Pepi II, who managed to live for at least 60 years
• Allegedly he hated flies constantly buzzing around him, so he ordered two naked slaves
to smear themselves in honey and stand next to him at all times - a way to keep the flies
interested in THEM, and off him • Suffice to say, he became known to some
as the "Fly King" 4 - Ancient Egyptians loved board games
• They had a bunch back in the day; who could forget such classics as "Mehen" and
"Dogs and Jackals"?
• But it was the game of Senet workers and Pharaohs alike loved - rules are still debated
among historians, but the gist is: you had a set of pieces along a board of 30 painted
squares, each player had a set of pieces moved along based on dice rolls or throwing sticks
• Heaps of paintings depict famous pharaohs playing this game, and Tutankhamen was even
buried with a game of Senet 3 - King Tut - killed by a hippopotamus?
• All signs point to Tutankhamen dying young and instantly, around 19 years of age
• Scans reveal he'd been embalmed without his heart of chest wall
• And Egyptologists agree there's a high chance it might've been because of a hippopotamus
since they hunted the beast for sports, as shown on statues inside his tomb
• As ridiculous as it sounds today, it very well might've been the sharp blow that put
this Pharaoh out of commission 2 - Curse of the Pharaohs
• Created purely from media hype and our often types faulted ability to recognise patterns
• When 8 of 58 people died following the excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb, it was believed
dangerous fungi and gasses might've been responsible "the curse"
• In reality though, it was a string of coincidences, and the man purely responsible
for uncovering the tomb went on to live a healthy life
1 - Was Cleopatra truly beautiful?
• All media depicts her as a breathtaking display of beauty, just as she would want
to be remembered • But Roman coins reveal masculine features
like a big nose, chin and snarling lips • Was this the TRUE depiction of Cleopatra,
or propaganda attempting to soil her image?
There's no way to know for sure