Something opened about

In the forgotten land of Cairo 380km southwest, a long period in the past was under the yoke of powerful Greek and Roman empires, Egyptian archaeologists discovered the area. the tomb of mausoleum or 36 km ² wide, with countless mummies buried.

Sometimes the coincidence is a great chance, even with modern archeology. And one of the great "luck" things happened to the modern civilization in Bahariya, the suckling territory was nearly 400km from the Egyptian capital.

When the night watchman at the Alexander Dai temple - dated 24 centuries ago - was slowly riding the little mule on his way home, about 1km away from the cathedral, suddenly he could no longer trudge. It was bogged down in the sand . The tabloid was forced to jump to the ground to help the animal escape the swamp. It turned out that his "horse" was plunged into a small hole - very rare here.

Losing the inherent sleepiness, the guard pulled out my foot and yelled and discovered . a mummy wrapped in gold! ", That is the verbal statement of Zahi Hawass, current general director of the Sahara ruins. , an agency under the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Mr. Z. Hawass went on to say: "By law, the newly discovered area must be frozen immediately by our agency, before archaeologists are invited . And we have done so, despite weather conditions of this place ".

The site excavates a tomb in the place where Bahariya is smoked.

Then he pointed out the direction of the desert, where there were hundreds of square blocks pouring into heaps, making the new brown soil "acrid" to be the true white gray in the desert: That is the 150 excavation site in turn. Bahariya's tomb complex over the past few years. Any grave grave has a mummy, so the archaeologists call it "The Valley of the Mummies".

"The first three graves were used by hoes and shovels to remove the sand from above - still according to Mr. Z. Hawass - They belong to a large tribe of royal tombs, formed from 332 BC to the century. IV after AD ".

As history has known, more than 2,300 years ago, following the flow of the Nile, the identities of Upper and Lower Egypt were gathered in a unified empire. The following centuries in this country formed and developed one of the most civilized civilizations on earth; It was also at that time that the Egyptians built the miraculous pyramids to ensure eternal life for their lords.

Of the two tombs - the first three were excavated - there were short steps leading to a small cellar, behind the thick oak doorway, countless mummies of the same clan. Following them is a constant number of daily living things, to help the dead quickly settle in the afterlife.

The third grave is completely square, below a depth of 5m, with walls carved in clear hieroglyphs. There is only one mummy here, called by Mr. Z. Hawass by the name "TX ". It was a woman's body, wrapped tightly in sheets of cotton-impregnated shroud. Obviously, the original white color of the sheets has turned color over time. An excellent masterpiece that harmonizes human body with divine features.

"About 30% of the mummies found are" holy "like this woman," added Mr. Z. Hawass. Through archaeological dating, the last grave artifacts correspond to the period of 332 BC, closely related to the reign of Alexander the Great - the legendary prime minister of Macedonia.

After conquering most of Western Asia, Alexander was warmly welcomed in Egypt. The indigenous people were happy, because it was the time to end hundreds of years of Persic conflict and harsh domination.

General Manager Z. Hawass is marking the newly discovered sites.

In the Mediterranean region, a great change in social institutions and religious beliefs began. The way of the "graceful" of the ancient Egyptians immediately attracted the Greeks and Romans from far away; then the Egyptian gods were "sociable" with their respective subjects - which once fought each other harshly - from Greek and Roman myths. For example, the Bahariya temple not only worshiped Alexander the Great, but also worshiped the legendary Greek god Herakel .

After the time of Alexander the Great, the Egyptian civilization flourished for another century. People make use of their time to adorn real life, as well as carefully prepare for the return of spring.

At the time of the pharaoh's reign, only high-ranking noble clergy were allowed to embalm the body, now even the middle class has the bliss. As Professor Nasri Iskander, Director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, said: "In the post-Alexander era, people raced to embalm their bodies. Mostly, they followed the tradition of the practice of transmission of life, but did not understand at all. Why . Under pharaohs, all organs in the human body are removed before marinating, the body is soaked in saline for drying and easier to bundle.

The 40 days later, the body was wrapped in thick flax fibers, then placed and enveloped by two overlapping rectangular wooden vests, finally the block stone financial institution. The head of the dead is usually set to the east, so that when reincarnated - reincarnated in the next life, it will be seen right at the sun shining in the way . "

A common grave.

"But please look at this - Professor N. Iskander points to a display case to find artifacts found at the 'mummy valley' - Since excavation so far, there are rare mummies in Bahariya. Just as not all mummies are placed in the east in the traditional way, sometimes there are 2, 3, even mummies who are "thrown away" by each other . causing they only carry the meaning of the purely anthropological grave. "

Indeed, Bahariya's tombs are very different from the pyramid burial relics. Of all the 150 mummies found so far, there is not any accompanying urinal - an object that is not separate from the pharaoh's burial sites. The small pot next to each body contains the organs of the marinated and buried body, including lungs, liver, stomach and colon.

As well as not seeing any burial masks - metal objects that simulate the lines of the gods, are engraved with the figures of the four sons of the supreme god Horus in the Egyptian faith; but in the post-Alexander era, people often replaced the four young gods with the lines that matched the embalmed faces.

According to Professor N. Iskander, those "absurdly absent- minded artifacts" testify to the "mixing" period with civilizations during the Alexander period: "Traditional practices have been more or less affected. Greek and Roman thinking ".

Sitting by the grave, two archaeologists are cleaning sand around the body of the TX. Before deciding to watch the face of the deceased beauty, they put on a gas mask."It's better to keep up with everything - Z. Hawass explains - Because it is impossible to predict the type of ancient viruses and germs that are" installed "in the mummies that have a chance to rise. they, immediately the heat and moisture in the active lungs will help them to revive after sleeping for centuries .

TX mummy.

If not guarded, death will come to those subjective within a few days, slowly within a few weeks. We have witnessed so many tragic cases with a few ardent archaeologists . ".

As for Professor N. Iskander, he expressed his regret , he said: "My conscience is extremely bitter when I touch the soul of the deceased, violating their absolute quiet world. I have a problem. Only a small part of the valley of mummies should be unearthed, but my opinion has been heard by competent authorities. Anyway, it is a national historic site that needs to be conserve.

Indeed, the mummy valley is much larger than what the world science world still thinks: underground underground grave populations spread over an area of ​​up to 36km ² . In ancient times it used to be home to about 30,000 people, mainly farmers, craftsmen and gardeners. Apparently there was a huge graveyard in this place ".

More than 700 Bahariya artifacts have been found by scientists, most of them preserved in specialized archives of the National Conservation Center located in El Bawiti city.

In particular, there are 3 mummified gold mummies taken to Cairo's Egyptian Museum in the capital, stored in transparent glass cages with standard humidity and temperature to serve the promotion and study of them. One of the three corpses has a makeup on the head of a golden falcon - a symbol of the supreme god Horus in the ancient Egyptian faith.

"Obviously, these three bodies are from wealthy people - Mr. Z. Hawass said - Apparently they are desert or chief patriarchs. In addition, Bahariya is a rich place in ancient times. , here used to provide grape wine for the whole empire . Based on the mask of all three mummies, we see clearly the influence of Greek schools: curly hair, nose high, big eyes and very good shape.

But there is also a need to add another difference to the pharaoh's mummy system: instead of pure gold, the post-Alexander Alexander imposing mask was replaced by a simple, gold-plated plaster and, of course, cheaper. a lot of".