In economics, one hears of the “curse of oil” – and one might say wherever there is buried treasure there is a curse, surreal or real. Of course, the most famous curse is said to be associated with the mummy of Tutankhamen; although the truth is that what the press and novelists wrote about this in 1922 had very little to do with any actual curse.
I and others have written elsewhere how Tutankhamen’s alleged curse was “created by the mass media to suppress opposition to archaeology, a subject of today’s press reportage.” more profitable. It initiated the transformation of the mummies from conflicted characters into the more overtly evil entities they would become in cinema.”
Tutankhamun’s Mask (CC BY 2.0)
Even so, it would be a mistake to assume that there are no dangers to the looting of tombs. A number of early European and Egyptian sources describe in great detail the dangers associated with very human activities. A notable book was written by Jean Bodin and is called Colloquium heptaplomeres (Colloquium of the Seven about Secrets of the Divine). Jean Bodin is a complex character who may be progressive in his notions of religious freedom but intolerant of witches and wizards. Bodin describes Egyptian tombs, mummies, and popular belief in curses.
The treasure is guarded by demons, mummies and Jinn
The Colloquium is structured as a conversation between seven wise theologians: Coronaeus (Catholic), Curtius (Calvinist), Salomon (Jew), Toralba (Philosophical Naturalist), Fridericus (Lutheran), Senamus (Skeptic) and Octavius (Muslim).
The Colloquium reflects the 10th-century Jewish Kingdom of the Kazars, whose tolerant and generous government existed at a time when fanaticism, ignorance, and anarchy reigned in most of Europe. . Its Supreme Court has seven judges including two Jews, two Muslims, two Christians and one Pagan. All seven characters represent different aspects of Bodin’s philosophy. Toralba, whose name means “white cow,” may also be Pagan; for he “believed that true religion consisted in simple worship of the gods and obedience to the laws of nature.”
In the Colloquium, Solomon the Jew recalls how the tombs were guarded by a special class of spirits. This would be the species known as Jinn in Islamic anthropology. It should be noted that in Islamic lore, Jinn are among the distinct species that share our world, along with humans and Angels (Arabic: Malak).
The black king of the djinn, Al-Malik al-Aswad, in the late 14th-century Book of Wonders. (Public domain)
Buried treasure is always guarded by demons. But why did the devil perform such a good deed? Do they have more complex agendas of their own? One suggestion is that demons were jealous of humans for the remedies discovered from Egyptian corpses. Perhaps the devil has a natural tendency to prevent humans from sharing in those benefits.
Mummy medicine
Octavius , a Muslim, gives his own experience in searching for “amomia” – medicine from mummies. Egyptian corpses from ancient times were soaked for a long time in myrrh, cardamom, salt, vinegar, honey, myrrh, aloe vera, spikenard, wild cinnamon, resins and preservatives. preserve myrrh. He worked with a Genevan “Empiricist” who convinced him to steal a mummy. He claimed that there was so much healing power in these corpses that they could prevent almost any disease.
They walked among the pyramids, opened as many tombs as possible and pulled out a leather-wrapped corpse. Below were narrow strips of linen wrapped around each part of the corpse covering the gilded skin. Gold is considered a very long-lasting preservative not only for corpses but also for wood, metal and other things. The flesh is yellow and golden brown because it is soaked in a substance that ancient Cretans used as sugar.
Bright gold Egyptian funeral mask. (CC BY 2.0)
The inside of the body was very dry because the internal organs had been removed. In place of the heart is a stone statue named Isis, once the queen of Egypt, her tomb is located in the city of Nysa (Ethiopia) in upper Arabia and the epitaph is engraved on a marble column:
I am Isis, queen of Egypt, trained by Mercury
No one will lose my status.
I am the mother of Osiris;
I was the first to invent plants;
I am the mother of King Horus
I am the dog that sparkles in the sky
The city of Bubastis was founded in my honor
Rejoice, rejoice, Egypt, who nourished me.
Because the sacred rituals of Isis were said to have been abolished during the reign of Constantine the Great, they assumed the corpse was thousands of years old. The body is male and completely odorless. The corpses of women were said to decompose more easily because, according to Herodotus, their flesh was plumper and because young girls and women, not yet withered by old age, were not entrusted to those who undertake and embalm the body for three days lest they spoil the body!
The trip is cursed
Octavius arranged transportation home; delivered it to a merchant waiting for favorable winds in the port of Alexandria. They set sail, and the wind called Vulturus blew. Some demons are still called “spirits of the air,” such as the modern exorcism cult of the Zar (see the book Phi-Neter: The Power of the Egyptian Gods and the Supernatural Attack in My Ancient Egypt).
The wind was gentle at first, then became more fierce. Once they were far out to sea, a storm arose from the northwest and angry waves rocked the ship forcing them to unfurl the sails and throw the heavier cargo overboard. The storm battered the ship for a day and a night. Storms of this magnitude were common at that time, but this one lasted for days.
The storm battered the ship for a day and a night. (Public domain)
The captain feared “a sailor conquered by a ferocious northwest wind,” to use the poet’s words. He forced everyone to leave the ship, which was filling with water. All were overwhelmed with pain from the violent swaying, so instead they prostrated themselves and asked God for forgiveness.
Solomon remembered the storm in the Bible that caused Jonah to be thrown into the sea to calm the storm. But, said Octavius, it is clear that we have poured out our prayers in vain; until someone reminded the captain to order the death penalty for anyone who did not throw any Egyptian body that happened to be on the ship into the sea!
Terrified when he heard this command, Octavius under cover of darkness, threw the body into the sea. Almost as soon as he did so, the wind subsided and they reached Crete safely.
Thus, they learned that transporting Egyptian corpses always caused storms, and therefore Egyptian maritime law strictly prohibited this. If anyone violates the law, they must throw the goods into the sea and compensate the trader for damages. Naturally Octavius kept silent about his mistake!
Colloquium participants wondered why did storms arise from Egyptian corpses, when it did not happen when other bodies were being transported from one place to another? Was the sea stirred by the power of the devil, or by some other incarnation of the mummy? But the sea calmed immediately after the Egyptian bodies were dumped and the fact that this was consistent with previous experience, as well as maritime laws and the trial arguably made it clear what the answer was. Although it must also be said that seafarers, with good reason, are notoriously superstitious; There are many stories of ghosts and fiery images seen on the bows of doomed ships.
The Colloquium lists a number of these phenomena, the prototype of which is Helen (of Troy, perhaps an unidentified star of bad omen). The twin lights are considered her brothers Castor and Pollux, welcoming spirits. Or perhaps this is some special optical phenomenon, “flames” and “unwieldy flames” are said to move around tombs, gallows and swamps. These demons are also guardians of the dead, having the power to stir up the wind.
A fierce discussion occurred regarding the appearance of fiery ghosts associated with tombs in the classical tradition. Everyone agrees that the cause of bad luck is not the presence of the corpse but the power of the demon that always pursues those who brought it out of the tomb. Octavius once again reminds us how jealous these demons are of those who use healing remedies taken from Egyptian mummies.
An Egyptian stele with a curse engraved on it. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )
Such stories are also famous in European folklore, of spirits guarding hidden treasures and killing those who dig them up. The consensus of the Colloquium is that no one searching for treasure with the help of the devil has ever found it or been enriched by the find.
The book of buried gems
Jean Bodin, through his characters, comes well informed about the customs of Egypt. To discover how far his stories truly reflect views of the Muslim world, we will look at the book that provides the title for this article; The Book of the Buried Gem, like Bodin’s Colloquium of the Seven was written in the 17th century.
The Buried Pearl describes many complex magical techniques to neutralize curses, allowing ancient tombs to be plundered. This magic is by no means obsolete and it still exists, in a spiritualized form, in the practices of contemporary neo-pagans.
It exists in three anonymous manuscripts: two in the Bibliotech Nationale and one in a private collection. Its introduction mentions Léon l’African, a 16th-century Arab commentator from Fez in Morocco, who wrote that in his time there were many such books. The Book of Buried Pearls focuses on the treasures of Egypt and is a fascinating list or gazetteer of locations along the Nile. These are said to contain the lost treasures of the Pharaohs or valuables left behind by the Jews after the biblical exodus. It also confirms another persistent rumor of the medieval world that ancient Coptic Christian churches, especially one in old Cairo, were where the Philosopher’s Stone was hidden.
As one might expect, these stories are part fantasy, part reality. They often have descriptions of tombs and temples in obscure but possible locations. Even today there are likely to be a large number of unexcavated and unknown sites in Egypt. Even a “windshield survey” from the road between Luxor and Edfu revealed countless burial sites, some clearly looted but by no means all exhausted.
I am reminded of Mortimer Wheeler’s arguments about the megalithic tombs in India, so vast that one could spend a lifetime opening them, without ever exhausting the supply and never now learn many new things about them; Or so he thought.
The atmospheric and mysterious El Kab epitomizes a landscape ripe for treasure hunters. (© Author Chris ‘Mogg’ Morgan)
Buried Pearl claims to provide secrets on how to access tombs filled with buried treasure, which, in addition to physical dangers, are said to require special spiritual and magical precautions . So there are invocations, steam baths and amulets to apply before one can carry away valuables.
One might find it ironic to publish the location of a treasure in a printed book, intended for circulation, no matter how small; Surely if these descriptions were true the treasure would have been taken away long ago? But I suppose like many comparable early modern grimoires, where treasure hunting is a thing, much of the practical reason is entertainment. In fact, the reader is torn apart. Obviously though, there will always be a percentage of readers who will take the treasure map at face value and try to follow it, making it the basis for a quest for gold.
Chris Morgan is a respected independent scholar, a Wellcome alumnus and holds an advanced degree in Oriental Studies from Oxford University. He is the author of several books on Egypt, specializing in folk religion, ritual calendars, and the “archaeological memory” encoded in the religions of post-Pharaonic Egypt. His latest book is “Ancient Egyptian Demon Calendar”.
