No Pork Ban In Ancient Egypt

Ansa. it ^ | 12-15-2005

[blam]

No pork ban in Ancient Egypt

Italians find pig bug in mummy's tummy

(ANSA) - Florence, November 15 - Italian researchers have found a pig-related disease in a mummy, squashing a common belief that Ancient Egyptians had a dietary ban on pork .

Until now historians have found evidence suggesting ancient high priests in Egypt prohibited pig meat, in common with many Middle Eastern peoples who still don't eat pork today .

"It has hitherto been thought that there was a sort of religious-hygienic ban on eating pork in Ancient Egypt," said Pisa University historical pathologist Fabrizio Bruschi .

The researchers recently found the oldest recorded case of a rare disease called cystercosis in the belly of a second-century BC mummy. Cystercosis, which can spark dangerous mood swings and epilepsy, is caused by an intestinal parasite contained in raw or poorly cooked pork .

It can also get into the body from fruit and vegetables that have been contaminated with pig faeces.

Cystercosis, which has only recently been recognized and is very uncommon in the industrialised world, strikes the human nervous system. It develops when people consume the larval form of the parasitic tapeworm Taenia solium. The larvae eventually affect the muscles and brain, and moving larvae can be detected in the affected person's eyes.

In the brain, the larvae can severely damage the frontal lobe and cause personality changes. The most common symptom of this disease is mood swings. Last year an American executive died after a bizarre stunt thought to have been induced by cystercosis contracted in Mexico. He climbed onto the roof of his moving car and "surfed" on top, then jumped off and was killed.
As with all serious brain damage, there is no direct treatment for cystercosis. Patients are sometimes given antidepressants to help with the mood swings and psychotherapy to help them resist irrational impulses. The Italian discovery is set for publication in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene .

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Red Badger]

Yummy yummy in the tummy tummy, mummy..........

[Republican Wildcat]

So their government isn't going to cap spending, either.

[Izzy Dunne]

found a pig-related disease in a mummy, squashing a common belief that Ancient Egyptians had a dietary ban on pork .

Strange logic here. Why does one specimen prove that there was NOT a ban?

Isn't it possible that this mummy was part of the secret bacon-eating club?

[Red Badger]

World's oldest "Pig-in-a-Blanket"?..............

[Red Badger]

Maybe that's why they're called "club sandwiches"..........

[Old Professer]

There ought to be a prohibition against the use of squash when quash is called for.

[jpf]

"The larvae eventually affect the muscles and brain, and moving larvae can be detected in the affected person's eyes."

okay, YUCK! Remind me to get those dumplings EXTRA well done next time.

You know scientists seem to have a habit of concluding things about the past based on one or two samples, I'm not sure that's a wise move. For all we know this mummy had a secret subterranean Barbecue grille and a apron that read "I've got your pork ban right here."

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that is curious. Since it was a Late Kingdom mummy, it could have been that the eating of pork was popularized in Egypt by the Greeks.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam!

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[Lady Jag]

Pork is an excellent preservative

[chesley]

You gotta realize, archaeologists need new theories like any other scientific profession. And they are noted for their tremendous disagreements over such trivial objects as a molar. It's not a hard science.

[bobdsmith]

Yea because physicists never disagree..

[Izzy Dunne]

You gotta realize, archaeologists need new theories like any other scientific profession.

Sure they do. I don't see how that fits, though.

And they are noted for their tremendous disagreements over such trivial objects as a molar.

My beef is probably with the writer here, not with the archaeologists.

It's the idea that finding one specimen who did X DISPROVES the idea that there was a ban on X that is ridiculous.

It's not a hard science.

Writing, however, apparently is.

[asp1]

What proved that there was a ban?

[Serb5150]

The larvae eventually affect the muscles and brain, and moving larvae can be detected in the affected person's eyes.

I think I'm going to puke.

[Izzy Dunne]

What proved that there was a ban?

Nothing.
All I'm saying is that finding out that a catholic John Kerry supports abortion does NOT prove that the catholic church has no ban on it.

[chesley]

It fits because this hypothesis is based upon the flimsiest of evidence. Evidence, moreover, that is susceptible to several other interpretations.

Maybe I misread the article, but I was under the impression that the writer was reporting the opinions of the archaeologist. I agree with your comment about what one specimen proves or disproves.

AS for your last comment, I'm not quite sure how that fits, either. But taking it at the most literal meaning, writing is not a science at all, but an art form, with greater and lesser practitioners. Now if some of the scientists that I've read could actually write well too, well there might be less confusion in the world.

But as I learned during my years in graduate school, not everybody has the goal of reducing confusion. In fact, some people depend upon it to make their livings.

[chesley]

Oh, they disagree. But physics experiments are repeatable. Archaeology is not.