In a rare first, Archaeologists have found a 2,000-year-old mummy with golden tongue in Egypt!

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has confirmed the news, saying in a statement that some mummies have recently been unearthed during archaeological excavations in 16 burial shafts near a temple on the outskirts of Alexandria. According to the statement, the golden tongue was placed on a mummy so that it could speak with Osiris, the God of Dead, in the afterlife. An Archaeologist, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the tongue might have been removed during embalming, and it was replaced later with a golden tongue so that the deceased could talk to the God.

The temple, where the excavation is going on, is situated near the Mediterranean coast. Devotees used to worship a God, called Taposiris Magna, at this temple. It is to be noted that Taposiris Magna is also a city established by Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BCE. The name means Great Tomb of Osiris that Plutarch identifies with an Egyptian temple in the city.

Archaeologists have also discovered some items made of gold in the area where the mummies were buried. They, even, found a golden statue of Osiris, and a funeral mask, made of gold. Incidentally, the face, hands and feet of Pharaoh Tutankhamun were also being covered with gold mask and plates, respectively, during his funeral.

Jennifer Houser Wegner, the Curator of Egyptian Artefacts at Penn Museum in Philadelphia, stressed: “For the Egyptians, gold was a material that had qualities of everlastingness/that it would last forever. It never tarnished. It always shone brilliantly.”

Meanwhile, Kathleen Martinez, an Archaeologist from the University of Santo Domingo, is leading the expedition. Martinez has been researches in that particular area for years in hopes of finding the tomb of Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII. So far, she has found a few coins depicting Cleopatra at the site that was built by one of her ancestors. However, the location of her tomb still remains unknown…

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das