Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo : Halloween edition 2020

Happy Halloween.

I always wanted to do special Halloween posts to celebrate Egypt’s horror heritage and God knows we got a lot to share but it is 2020

Needless to say, the true Halloween night is not tonight but rather next Tuesday 3 November 2020 in the first place.

I mean the whole world is holding it breathe for real.

I wanted to write this post from a long time about the ancient Egyptian pieces that I felt to be a little scary at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Yup, that smile !! 

By far, this could be the scariest thing for me at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo

When I saw this clay head at the EMC, it took me by surprise because for me it was too spooky with that sinister smile surviving all those years.

All that we know about that it was from the time of predynastic Egypt aka prehistoric Egypt, which means it is older than the Giza Pyramids.

It was found in Upper Egypt, I believe in El-Badari of Asuit governorate aka Badrian Culture which is kind unknown historical territory.

I thought that the lighting condition was not that great when I took that photograph in 2016 and it made the head sinister.

But I was wrong because in 2018, I took another photo for it and it looked more sinister to me.

Scarier 

And we know about the pyramids more than we do about that spooky guy in that faraway corner of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Some of the early dynastic era statuettes were spooky in their own way.

Of course, some ancient aliens theorists will scream “aliens” when they see this stuff and claim it is another proof on how ancient Egyptians had an extraterrestrial help in their civilization, otherwise how they went from such scary statuettes to magnificent statues and figurines. 

spooky figurine 

I will answer them using their same logic, from 100 years ago most humans could not have imagined our leaps in technology; maybe it is the same thing.

First of all, we are speaking about human civilization development around the globe with different periods and in case you do not know the dynastic era did not start suddenly but thousands of years pre-dated it.

The gap between the pre-dynastic era and dynastic era is not measured in decades or hundreds of years but rather in thousands. I think a lot can happen in a millennium. 

Back to our Halloween special.

That statue of ancient Egyptian deity of magic “Heka”

Yes and because the deity of magic, he looked spooky with those eyes and perfectly engraved naked human body in wood. And yes, there is a missing organ that seemed to be lost through time.

According to the old Kingdom’s Pyramids texts, Heka was supernatural energy at first and that a cannibal pharaoh must devour to gain “Heka’s” super magical power. By the time, Heka elevated to ancient Egyptian pantheon of gods.

Despite that cannibalistic start and scary wooden statue, the magical powers of Heka revolve around the power of speech. Speeches can enchant millions and we know first hand in Egypt.

Words got a magical power of their own.  

Now you will wonder about the mummies.

And no, the human mummies are not that scary as you may have to think thanks to Hollywood cheap depiction.

When it comes to the mummies, a monkey mummy was scarier than the human mummies at least for me. 

Monkey mummy

I mean. 

No caption needed

Monkeys were kept as pets in Ancient Egypt and this means they used to live in the valley of the Nile. 

No caption needed here too

Monkeys and Baboons were revered and were worshipped as deities like Babi, who was considered as one of the lords of the underworld.

Now a little Halloween spirit ancient Egyptian trivia: Babi was a bloodthirst deity who devoured the souls of the unrighteous souls after they had been weighed against Maat or truth waiting for them at a lake made of fire in the Underworld.

Nevertheless, there is a human mummy that was not scary but rather sad one I can’t ignore.

The Golden toddler mummy, a mummy of a young boy who was completely covered in gold. 

I can't describe how he made me feel then

I read somewhere it is a 4,000-years old mummy.

His hair :( 

You can see his brownish hair on his head.

He reminded me with the sad photos taken for dead children during the Victorian era and I was a brutal freaky heartless photographer.

The Egyptian Museum of Cairo got other mummies of children who did not live long enough in ancient times. Of course, this contradicts the idea of super alien health universal plan which our ancient aliens theorists are claiming.

One of those mummies is a mummy for a little girl found in Fayoum. 

The Fayoum girl mummy 

Her mummy is from the Greco-Roman era and yes , her face was painted in the famous Fayoum portraits style.

I found her mummy hidden way in a corner in the Fayoum Portraits Chamber on the second floor.

That mummy and that little golden boy made me feel that we are in front of humans at the end, not evil mummies as depicted in cheap Hollywood films.

Moving back to a lighter subject, this fragment of an ancient Egyptian statue of an official during the Old Kingdom reminds me with Tony Todd in 1992’s Candyman.

Ancient Egyptian Candyman !? 

Happy Halloween.

Do not forget to watch Egypt’s first Netflix TV series “Paranormal” to get a taste of Egyptian pop culture horror within days.

Also watch , Netflix Documentary “The Secrets of Saqqara Tomb”