The mummies have been identified as a man and woman, possibly two priests during Cleopatra’s reign, possibly holding the secret of this great queen’s tomb.
Excavations at the ancient city of Taposiris Magna in Egypt’s Nile Delta have revealed two distinctive mummies of two people of high status during the reign of the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra. They were carefully embalmed and covered with gold leaf, a luxury burial reserved only for the kingdom’s top powerful figures.
Before becoming priests, these monks would go through many years of training and study to achieve a certain high level.
Their graves are located deep in an ancient temple, but unfortunately the tomb structures are not sealed, the two mummies have been soaked in water many times over the course of 2,000 years and are not as intact as the buryers would like.
A female musculoskeletal doctor in the research team is checking the body condition of 2 mummies – Photo: ARROW MEDIA
Dr Glenn Godenho, Egyptologist from the University of Liverpool, said the two people in the grave were a man and a woman, and most likely both were priests – a high-ranking religious official in ancient Egypt. as one connected to the world of the gods.
In the era of the Pharaohs, the Egyptian priest had an important role in many religious rituals of daily life and in festivals. The priesthood is one of the important priesthood positions. That is the person assigned to take care of the rituals, rituals, sacrifices, and worship of a religion or sect. Priesthood holders were held in high esteem by the people, with certain status and authority.
They are only allowed to wear clothes made of fabrics or vegetable fibers, clothes made from animals are not allowed. In addition, they had to shave their eyebrows, bathe several times a day, and only believe in the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. Most of the priests in Egypt were men, only a small number were women.
The yellow leaves on one of the mummies still have the image of a scarab, symbolizing rebirth. The couple’s burial items also include 200 coins with Cleopatra’s image, clear evidence of the times they existed.
The scene of the ancient temple – photo: ARROW MEDIA
In particular, the temple buried aristocratic couple is located very close to the city of Alexandria – the capital of Egypt under Cleopatra. Letting two important figures guard this temple may suggest that Cleopatra and her lover Mark Anthony were most likely buried nearby.
Photo: ARROW MEDIA
The condition of the couple is not good because water has flooded into the grave – Photo: ARROW MEDIA
The ancient city found the mummified couple also has a special meaning. To become the perfect ruler in the eyes of the Egyptian people, Cleopatra repeatedly tried to portray herself and her lover as goddesses Isis and Osiris – her brother and husband. According to mythology, Osiris was then killed, cut into pieces and scattered everywhere. The goddess Isis went to pick up the pieces of her husband’s body and reincarnated him. Taposiris Magna is the “grave of Osiris” in the ancient Egyptian language! So that could be where Cleopatra chose to rest with her lover.
The tomb of Egyptian queen Cleopatra is said to have been built in 30 BC, with her lover Anthony. However, despite efforts to find, modern archaeologists have not been able to find traces of this famous couple’s tomb.