Re:Ancient Egyptian coffins and mystery of ‘black goo’
by Cthulhu_ on Monday May 25, 2020 @04:03AM
(#23299054)
I don't doubt that there's been scientific research into the best way to mummify a body; they wouldn't have done all of the steps on a whim / guess. But we're talking about a tradition spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years here. Mummification or otherwise preserving a body goes back a long time - the oldest form of intentional mummification goes back to 5000 BC, or 7000 years ago (according to wikipedia), so even then they had developed a tradition and the knowledge of preserving a body already.
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Re:Ancient Egyptian coffins and mystery of ‘black goo’
by throwaway2048 on Monday May 25, 2020 @04:26AM
(#23299169)
To put things in perspective we are closer time-wise to Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt than he was to the building of the Great Pyramids. Ancient Egyptian culture was immensely old, even at that time, and was basically continuous for the whole period.
Re:Ancient Egyptian coffins and mystery of ‘black goo’
by lqet on Monday May 25, 2020 @11:17AM
(#23301929)
I remember reading somewhere that Alexander the Great was so impressed by the (by then already ruinous) Tower of Babel, that he ordered it to be demolished and re-built. He died before the construction was completed, though.
Edit: here is a source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etemenanki
Re:Ancient Egyptian coffins and mystery of ‘black goo’
by phonypc on Monday May 25, 2020 @11:38AM
(#23302131)
The figure I usually see used for that comparison is Julius Caesar or Cleopatra. I think Alexander is a little too old for it to be quite true.
Re:Ancient Egyptian coffins and mystery of ‘black goo’
by jbay808 on Monday May 25, 2020 @01:31PM
(#23303006)
I remember feeling surprised (although I shouldn't have been!) when I learned that ancient Rome had their own historians studying ancient history, but who didn't consider themselves to be ancient history.