Paging Mr. Indiana Jones [Curse of the Mummy!]

CAIRO (Reuters) - A German has handed in a package containing part of a Pharaonic carving to Egypt's embassy in Berlin, with a note saying his stepfather had suffered a "curse of the Pharaohs" for stealing it, Egypt said Wednesday.

The note said the man felt obliged to return the carving to make amends for his late stepfather and enable his soul to rest in peace, Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities said.

The stepfather had stolen the piece while on a visit to Egypt in 2004 and on his return to Germany suffered paralysis, nausea, unexplained fevers and cancer before dying recently, the anonymous man said in the note.

The Egyptian embassy in Berlin had sent the fragment back to Egypt by diplomatic pouch and it had been handed over to the Supreme Council for Antiquities, where a committee of experts was trying to ascertain its authenticity, the statement said.

The belief in a curse that strikes down anyone who disturbs the tombs or mummies of ancient Egypt's Pharaohs has been around since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the subsequent death of the excavation's financier Lord Carnarvon.

Here’s also this, from the Telegraph (UK):

Legend has it that the royal tombs of ancient Egypt were sealed with monstrous curses against all those who trespassed into the domain of the afterlife.

In the tomb of the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamun, hieroglyphs were said to have spelled out a dreadful end for all those who entered.

Howard Carter, the lead archaeologist who opened the tomb in 1923, wrote that “all sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt”.

advertisementBut a German man has decided the curse of the mummies is definitely not a myth - and has therefore returned a plundered ancient Egyptian carving which he says has fatally cursed his family.

The relic was stolen three years ago from the Valley of Kings, near Luxor, home to the tombs of dozens of Pharaohs and Egyptian nobles who were buried there some three millennia ago.

The unnamed man decided to take it home to Germany with him as a souvenir of his trip.

It was on his return to Europe that the trouble began, according to an anonymous note that accompanied the carving when it was recently returned to the Egyptian embassy in Berlin.

Instead of enjoying his stolen treasure, the thief was struck down with an inexplicable fatigue and fever, progressing to paralysis, and ultimately death.

Following his demise, the stolen piece was returned to the Egyptians by his stepson, who believed that the thief’s torment would not end merely with death.

By returning the carving to its rightful home, Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities said this week, he hoped his stepfather’s soul could rest in peace.

The apparent curse is the latest in a long series of bedevilments that have menaced the explorers and plunderers of the Valley of the Kings over the years.

King Tut’s “curse” is by far the most famous of those attached to the ancient pharaohs.

The team that excavated his tomb is rumoured to have suffered a bizarre series of unexplained deaths in the months and years after its treasures were uncovered.

Its primary victim was said to be the expedition’s main financial backer, George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, who was found dead soon after revealing the tomb’s still unsurpassed bounty.

His death is now frequently ascribed to blood poisoning rather than a millennia-old curse.

But potential toxins in the tombs, and the hieroglyphic warnings against disturbing the peace of the pharaohs, have perpetuated the mystery.

The antiquities council, which has now received the stolen carving after it was flown back by diplomatic bag from Germany, has formed a committee to study the artefact.

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