The Curse of the Pharaohs has always been an interesting topic! “All who get near to, death shall perish.” Perhaps the fabled “Curse of the Pharaohs,” which obsessed many times over, is the basis for their belief in the episodes of death and devastation that impact all of their open or near-pharaonic graves.
The legend of the “Curse of the Pharaohs” is centered around the tomb of Tutankhamun. A chilling phrase was reportedly discovered carved on the tomb’s walls. It warned that death would “slay with two wings anyone who tries to allay the security and peace of the Pharaoh.” After the tomb’s opening in 1922, several deaths among the workers and archaeologists gave rise to the myth.
On the very day the tomb was opened, a powerful sandstorm is said to have erupted. Furthermore, a falcon, considered a sacred symbol of the pharaohs, was spotted soaring over the site. These events, combined with the subsequent deaths of fourteen scholars and scientists, made this tomb the primary focus of the curse.
As the story goes, death followed each person who had contact with the tomb. Remarkably, the tomb itself remained untouched by looters, surviving for thirty-three centuries.
Many believe a mysterious curse plagued those who disturbed the tomb of Tutankhamun. The tragic deaths began with Lord Carnarvon, the excavation team’s financial backer. He was present when they unveiled the tomb on February 29, 1922. A mosquito bit him, and he died from the illness on April 5, 1923, just over four months later.
The deaths continued to mount. The curse’s first victim was George Jay Gould I, who died from a fever on May 16, 1923, shortly after visiting a tomb on the French Riviera. Less than two months later, Egyptian Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy’s wife assassinated him on July 10.
The Unification Battle by King Narmer The unification battle of King Narmer is shown on...
More deaths followed in rapid succession. On September 26, 1923, Honorable Colonel Aubrey Herbert, a Member of Parliament and Lord Carnarvon’s half-brother, died from blood poisoning. A dental procedure, which he had hoped would restore his sight, caused the poisoning. Then, on November 13, blackmailer Baron Kurt von Veltheim shot and killed South African billionaire Wolf Joel, who had also visited the tomb.
The following year brought more tragedy. On January 15, 1924, Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid, the physician who x-rayed Tutankhamun’s mummy, died from an unknown illness. Later that year, on November 19, an assailant killed Sir Lee Stack, the Governor-General of Sudan, while he was driving in Cairo.
The list of tragedies kept growing. Arthur Cruttenden Mace, a member of Howard Carter’s excavation team, died from arsenic poisoning in 1928. On May 25, 1929, reports claimed that another of Carnarvon’s half-brothers, Honorable Mervyn Herbert, died from “malaria pneumonia.” Just a few months later, on November 15, they found Carter’s secretary, Honorable Commander Richard Bethell, smothered in his bed. His father, Richard Lecharle Pilkington Bathall, the 3rd Baron of Westbury, tragically died on February 20, 1930, after allegedly jumping from his seventh-floor apartment.
Interestingly, Howard Carter, who first entered the tomb on February 16, 1923, lived for over a decade longer, until his death on March 2, 1939. Still, some people claim the curse also caused his death.
I had an 11 hour layover in Cairo. I wrote to them based on recent reviews for them on this site. After a few email exchanges with Hati, who I think is one of the owners, I was ready to get there. I was greeted by Hatem, a very good
On a recent trip, I had 8 hours from the time I landed in Cairo to when my next flight was scheduled to leave. Luckily, I arrived in the morning and left in the afternoon, so, not being one to sit around an airport for 8 hours, I visited the
We have just returned from a two week holiday in Cape Town. On the way out our airline schedule meant that we had a 15 hour stop in Cairo. We decided to arrange a tour of the city and after asking for quotes/itineraries we chose Egypt Fun Tours. This worked
It was one of the best decisions we made to use this company for our Full-day trip to Wadi El Hitan and El Fayoom Oasis. I give them 10 stars.
We were doing the 14-day Mediterranean cruise and were in Egypt for two days. I was searching the internet for about 4 days and finally found Egypt Fun Tours as my guide in Egypt. It ended up being the best 2 days of the entire cruise trip. Since this is
