Few of us really expect a Hollywood movie to be historically accurate. This is why it’s
so surprising that there are real grains of truth in "The Mummy." Let's give credit where
it's due. These are the things that "The Mummy" actually gets right about history.
The villain at the center of "The Mummy" certainly seems fake. After all, he is a half-mummified
shambling corpse for most of the film and a pretty devious guy overall. That pretty
firmly places Imhotep in the world of Hollywood fantasy, right? Not so fast — there really
was a famous ancient Egyptian named Imhotep.
The real Imhotep hails from the time of the pharaoh Djoser, according to the American
Research Center in Egypt. Djoser sat on the throne during the Third Dynasty in the Old
Kingdom, which took place from 2686 to 2613 B.C. He directed that a pyramid be made for
him, and the resulting stepped tomb pretty well secured the king's name in history.
As for Imhotep, he's often pinned as the architect who designed the stepped pyramid, though there's
no direct evidence of this. His name shows up on multiple monuments, often with honors
like "royal seal bearer" and "great of seers," and he was known to be involved with design
and sculpture. Imhotep's reputation continued long after his death. In fact, only a century
after Imhotep's life, he was even venerated as a god in some circles. It's a strong indication
that the real Imhotep was a big deal.
In "The Mummy," the "Book of the Dead" is an evil-looking book that is inadvertently
used to resurrect an undead villain. There's also a counterpoint to the "Book of the Dead,"
the "Book of Amun-Ra," which ultimately sends the big bad villain back to the underworld.
While there is no such book, there really was a set of ancient Egyptian texts called
the "Book of the Dead." The American Research Center in Egypt reports that this "book" is
actually a collection of papyrus texts that were written by a number of different authors.
Also known as the "Book of Going Forth By Day," these texts were intended to help newly
dead souls make their way safely through the trials of the afterlife and into paradise.
It wasn't until 1842 that Karl Richard Lepsius, an early Egyptologist, first assembled these
disparate texts as a single document, according to National Geographic. Lepsius' organization
of the texts gave the impression that they were all from a single, cohesive document,
leading some to the idea that there was a definitive "Book of the Dead" as seen in the
film.
The Hollywood version of Anck-Su-Namun is an ancient femme fatale. Yet, there's a grain
of truth to her presence on screen, starting with her name. The real Anck-Su-Namun was
the daughter of 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten, a pretty notorious and quasi-heretical king
of ancient Egypt. According to World History Encyclopedia, Anck-Su-Namun was first called
Ankhesenpaaten, meaning "she lives through Aten," in reference to her father's worship
of a single sun-centric deity, Aten. It appears that Ankhesenamun had a very close relationship
with her father, even being named one of his brides.
After Akhenaten died in 1336 B.C., the cult of Aten collapsed, and much of Egypt reverted
back to polytheistic worship. Surviving members of the royal family cut the "aten" out of
their names, including another child of Akhenaten, Tutankhaten. The boy, who was his father's
successor.
Anck-Su-Namun first appears in "The Mummy" in little more than some gold and black body
paint, along with some strategically placed strings of beads and bits of gold plating.
It is true that sometimes large harems were part of the royal household.
As for Anck-Su-Namun's attire, ancient Egyptians could be surprisingly libertine with their
clothing choices, especially when it came to high-ranking women. Her dress actually
has a historic precedent in real beaded dresses worn by ancient women. Fashion History Timeline
reports that decorative beadnet dresses were probably worn over linen shifts or worked
directly onto a fabric base. However, it also says that researchers are divided on the point,
with some suspecting that the beadnet dresses may have been worn alone. Anck-Su-Namun's
beaded ensemble remains well within the bounds of historical accuracy.
Perhaps one of the most unbelievable things in "The Mummy" is Imhotep being mummified
alive. After all, as per the Smithsonian, ancient Egyptian mummification involved the
removal of vital organs like the lungs, heart, and brains, so there's no way that anyone
was ever mummified alive. Right?
Well, yes and no. There's no evidence that any ancient Egyptian person was still alive
when the mummification process started. But the practice of becoming a mummy while alive
is a documented tradition in some Buddhist countries, where it was part of a very serious
religious ritual practiced by monks. In Japan, the now-defunct practice is called sokushinbutsu,
according to “Atlas Obscura”.
Adherents of the Shingon sect of Buddhism attempted self-mummification between 1081
and 1903 A.D. Generally, the process took at least three years, involved a diet of foraged
food, and required intensive meditation. The intention was to purify a monk's spirit and
also to winnow away any fat or water that would contribute to decomposition. As part
of the process, some monks drank tea made from a tree that was also used to make lacquer,
which was both toxic and may have had antibacterial effects. Towards the end of the process, the
emaciated-but-still-meditating monk was lowered into a pit. Other monks would seal the opening
and later check if the process was a success.
While "The Mummy" likes to make pretty quick work of Evelyn "Evy" Carnahan's nerdy persona,
turning her from a buttoned-up librarian to a somewhat sultry adventurer, her time in
the library is much closer to the truth than the movie's fictional city of Hamunaptra.
Though it may be hard to spot while the film is running, eagle-eyed viewers can spot some
accurate historical details. Evy is first seen managing a series of bound reports from
the Egypt Exploration Society, a real organization that was originally known as the Egypt Exploration
Fund before changing names in 1919. Given that the film's "modern" setting is in 1926,
that's a nice little detail.
Evy's also spotted reading some real-life books from the time period, including "The
Dwellers on the Nile," which was published in 1885. By the 1920s, there was already a
well-established academic history of Egyptology that would have kept Evy's library busy.
The man who arguably sets off the events of "The Mummy" is the ultra-jealous pharaoh Seti
I. He is soon murdered by the devious Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, but it's his actions that
set up the series of disasters that reach all the way to 1926 and beyond.
“Imhotep, my priest.”
In reality, Seti I was a 19th Dynasty pharaoh, meaning that he lived centuries after the
real Imhotep's death. He was a true empire builder, fighting the enemies of ancient Egypt,
updating the nation's infrastructure, and building a series of eye-catching structures.
Far from being a one-note plot point, the real Seti was kind of a big deal in ancient
Egyptian society.
Seti I wasn't killed by his retainers, but researchers are now pretty certain that one
of his successors really was murdered by people close to him. The "harem conspiracy" of Ramesses
III's reign was perpetrated by a group of harem women who, working with other members
of the royal household, conspired to kill the aging king and crown prince and replace
them both with a secondary heir. The conspiracy failed, and the conspirators were executed,
proving, perhaps, that "The Mummy" is right: you never really escape the consequences of
killing a pharaoh.
Surely, you may think, the sets of "The Mummy" are a Hollywood invention. They must be so
exaggerated from the original historical sites that the look of the film is far removed from
reality. Not exactly. Depending on the time period, temple architecture in ancient Egypt
could be downright gaudy and not unlike a dramatic Hollywood set.
Much of the most elaborate religious architecture was intended to both appease the gods and
impress both Egyptians and outsiders. Quite a few rulers of the New Kingdom built their
reputations on grand architecture, including Amenhotep III and Hatshepsut, a long-reigning
female pharaoh. According to “PBS,” Ramesses II was especially fond of structures packed
with inscriptions, carvings, and statues. He even went as far as "improving" earlier
structures with his energetic architectural drive. Given all of the embellishments, they
may well have nodded in approval at the excesses of Hollywood set design.
Curses are a much-discussed topic in the world of Egyptology. There is, of course, the now-infamous
King Tut's curse, which supposedly brought awful luck to the team who opened Tutankhamun's
tomb in 1922. However, a closer look at the circumstances of the so-called curse shows
some pretty inconsistent evidence, including the fact that Howard Carter, the archaeologist
who helmed the excavation, lived for 17 years after opening the tomb.
That said, while stories like King Tut's tomb curse are pretty overblown, archaeologists
have found some curse-like inscriptions in ancient Egyptian tombs. Ancient Egyptians
weren't above cursing each other via magic, according to "The Process of Cursing in Ancient
Egypt." Examples include magic spells recovered from scraps of papyrus and pottery, as well
as execration figurines meant to represent the object of a curse. The practice of destroying
someone's name to deny their immortality via memory is also documented, a ritual that is
done to Imhotep at the beginning of "The Mummy."
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more, Grunge videos about your
favorite movies are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so
you don't miss a single one.