For about 30 centuries, the mummy of the Egyptian King Amenhotep I remained in its charming form; Wrapped in linen and covered from head to toe in wreaths of red, yellow and blue colors, while the head was covered with a mask made of painted wood and cardboard.
In this case, the mummy of Amenhotep I has moved through a number of stations since its discovery in 1881 in the cache of the royal monastery in Luxor; It was first preserved in the Bulaq Museum, then moved to the Ismail Pasha Palace in Giza, and in 1902 it was transferred with the royal mummies to the Egyptian Museum of Tahrir in Cairo.
The mummy has undergone a number of studies since its discovery, and for the beauty of its body, it was among the few mummies that modern-day scientists have never deciphered. Among the research conducted on it; X-rayed in 1932, by Douglas Derry, a professor at the Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine in Cairo at the time, who estimated the age of Amenhotep I at death to be between 40 and 50 years old.
In 196, a University of Michigan expedition x-rayed the mummy of Amenhotep I, and the x-ray estimated the age at about 25 years, based on the good condition of the teeth.
All these estimates about the age of Amenhotep I were not satisfactory, as the “two-dimensional” x-rays did not accurately reveal the secrets of the mummy, until recently, two Egyptian scientists, Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist, and the former Minister of Antiquities, accompanied by Dr. Sahar Selim, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Cairo mummy examination using CT scan.
Secrets of a great king
In early May of 2019, Sahar Selim was on a date to receive a gift from heaven when she began to perform a CT scan on the mummy of Amenhotep I, as she is the first to see the face of the Egyptian king after his reburial about 3,000 years ago.
This is how the professor of diagnostic radiology at Cairo University described to “Sky News Arabia” her feelings during the first moments of the process of revealing the secrets of the mummy of King Amenhotep I, who is considered one of the greatest kings of ancient Egypt.
According to Saleem and Hawass’ study; Amenhotep I ruled Egypt for 21 years (about 1525-1504 BC), and was the second king of the Eighteenth Dynasty to take the throne after the death of his father, Ahmose I. Amenhotep’s name means: “Amon is satisfied.”
The reign of Amenhotep I enjoyed prosperity and peace; He protected the lands of Egypt, led an expedition to Kush and an expedition to Libya. Kushid many temples, including: the Temple of Amun in Karnak, the temples In Upper Egypt at Elephantine, Kom Ombo, Abydos, and the temple of Nekhbet, and after his death, Amenhotep I and his mother were worshiped in Deir el-Medina..
what’s new?
Although X-ray examinations were performed in the past on the mummy of Amenhotep the First, the CT scan revealed new details, the X-ray was not able to provide consistent information about the mummy, because the three-dimensional information of the mummy appears on a two-dimensional X-ray film, and the result is the overlay of the mummy’s components, which It makes their characterization less accurate.
In the case of CT scans, scientists were able to remove hundreds of thin layers from the body, providing more detailed images of reconstructed soft tissues as well as bones.
In her interview with Sky News Arabia, Selim reveals the secrets of the mummy after the CT scan, as she says that the most important secrets revealed by the study are that the health condition of King Amenhotep I was good, in addition to his age at the time of death estimated at 35 years, as it was inferred from the meeting point my pelvic bones.
Examination of the mummy shows that the height of Amenhotep I was about 169 cm, circumcised, and had teeth in good condition, while he wore 30 amulet, and the mummy was surrounded by a belt consisting of 34 golden beads, to which they are attached an amulet in the form of a shell.
Regarding the cause of death, she indicates that they did not find any cause of death in the mummy indicating that the death was unnatural. There were no injuries or diseases affecting the bones, and there were no signs of arteriosclerosis in the mummy, as they appeared in other mummies, and it is likely that the death occurred due to infection or injury to any organ removed during mummification.
She explains that the CT scan cannot reveal the cause of death, unless there are signs in the bones or tissues, such as the signs of slaughter in the neck of Ramses III, and the amputation on the toe of his left foot, as well as the wounds in the face of the mummy of Seqenen Ra, and also the fracture that the rays showed in The leg of the mummy of Tutankhamun.
Selim says that the rays reveal the great similarity between Amenhotep I and his father, King Ahmose; The mummy’s face appears with a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, and slightly prominent upper teeth.
She also pointed out that the mummy’s condition confirms that it was given great care after it was reburied by the priests of the twenty-first dynasty in the cache of the royal monastery, and more than the pieces that appeared in the mummy were treated as a result of the tampering of the royal tomb excavators, and this behavior by the priests is one of the best Signs that indicate the upscale civilized dimension.
Rehabilitation
For his part, Zahi Hawass comments on the results of the study that he reached with the participation of Selim, and says that among the important points that the study revealed is that this mummy was the first to be embalmed by the Osiris method (crossed farms), and this situation continued with all the kings of the modern family. .
Hawass added to Sky News Arabia, that the study considers the priests of the 21st and 22nd dynasty, after many archaeologists accused them of stealing the mummies’ jewelry, after they were transferred to Deir al-Bahari, and the presence of jewelry in the mummy of Amenhotep I refutes this theory, and confirms that the priests transferred the mummies for the purpose of preserving them.
The Egyptologist explains that he and Dr. Sahar Selim studied 40 mummies within the Royal Mummies Project of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which was launched in 2005, and through it they were able to collect a lot of information about these mummies, but he points out at the time that the study of the mummy of Amenhotep I is one of the most important researches. conducted in this regard.
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