Tutankhamun’s curse was supposed to bring death. Probably only the newspapers are to blame for it

Pharaoh Nebcheperure Tutankhamun ruled Upper and Lower Egypt for only 9 years, and he took over as a boy. He was only 18 when he died and the year was 1323 BC. He was not an important ruler, yet he is one of the most famous ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

The reason for his notoriety is the sensational discovery of his tomb, which was followed by a complete media storm. The front pages of the newspapers were filled with descriptions of a cruel curse that would kill anyone who entered the pharaoh’s burial sites and began to dismantle his possessions.

A sensational find peppered by the death of the sponsor

Archaeologists have been searching for the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun since the beginning of the 20th century, but for many years their efforts were in vain. Only archaeologist Howard Carter was lucky. You can read his story in this article. He discovered the final resting place of the Egyptian monarch in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings. He immediately sent a telegram to George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon; to the sponsor of the excavations, without whose funds the research would not have been possible. Until the patron arrived at the site, the tomb remained closed. For the first time, Carter and Lord Carnarvon explored it side by side.

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Only a few weeks later Lord Carnarvon died. His body was found in a hotel room in Cairo and the cause of death was determined to be blood poisoning from an infection from a mosquito bite. But the media was immediately clear: The death of the rich nobleman was caused by the curse of the pharaohs, allegedly found on the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb, according to which any daredevil who would disturb the rest of the mummies should soon perish.

Media and molds

Is Pharaoh’s Curse Real? Simple statistics can probably answer that; 58 people worked in the discovered tomb during the excavation. During the following decade, only eight of them died. Carter, who was the first to enter the tomb with Lord Carnarvon, lived a long, full life. The doctor who dissected the pharaoh lived to be a good 75 years old.

Of course, there could have been some pathogens in the tomb, mainly from dangerous molds. Scientists described a similar case after the discovery of the grave of King Casimir IV. Jagiellonian. The toxic spores could theoretically be the cause of the illness of financier George Jay Gould, who eventually died of pneumonia after visiting Tutankhamun’s tomb. However, there is no scientific evidence for this.

The most likely reason for Tutankhamun’s pharaonic curse is therefore the fact that Lord Carnarvon sold the entire story of the discovery, uncovering and treasures of the tomb to a single newspaper: the Times of London. After he died, this gave other media outlets a way to cash in on the story anyway, and in the ensuing media frenzy there were fabrications about the threatening inscriptions on the walls of the tomb as well as outright misinformation about the causes of the injuries and deaths of various members of the research team. The myth of the curse soon took on a life of its own…and Egyptologists are still debunking it in the sweat of their brows.

Source: History Today, History Extra, National Geographic

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