Return to my Egyptology pages
Go to my home page
© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
I am often asked, "Just how accurate is the Egyptology in The Mummy, the movie?" First of all, the movie opens in ancient Thebes, surrounded by pyramids, wrong, no pyramids in Thebes. Later an airplane sinks into the desert, "Quicksand!" Wrong, quicksand requires a swamp with lots of water. Besides those two things, the movie gives a loose feeling of authenticity. I don't have a clue if the spoken language was based on real Egyptian, or not. I don't think there was a legendary lost city of Hamunaptra (spelling?), also called the city of the dead. There were many cities of the dead (burial places), one near (to the west of) each city. There was a Book of the Dead, in fact nearly everyone was buried with one. It was designed to help you get into the netherworld. There certainly was more than one person named Imhotep. The original Imhotep was back in Djoser's time, and later became a minor god. I don't think that Sety I was murdered. But, it is a fun movie, very funny all the way through. Good special effects. I wonder if there are any beetles in my apartment?
I just saw The Mummy Returns. It is much like the first movie, fun and dazzling. There apparently was a king called Scorpion, some time before the First Dynasty. Medjay were originally residents of Medja in Nubia; later that became the name for the police. Anubis was not considered a warlike god, as far as I know. I especially liked one phrase: "Ah, the old wipe out the world ploy." I am told that the "Egyptian" language spoken in both movies is roughly based on real Egyptian, and that the person who invented this pseudo-Egyptian also created the Egyptian for Stargate.
I just saw The Scorpion King, and it is a much better movie, in my opinion. It takes place before ancient Egypt, and so does not mess with Egyptian history. But mainly, I'm tired of movies in which ordinary humans repeatedly defeat god-like beings (who can destroy the entire earth). And I don't like movies that rely heavily on magic in a non-fantasy setting. In Greek mythology, Memnon was apparently an Ethiopian king slain by Achilles in the Trojan war. The Akkadians (Assyrians and Babylonians) were around some time after the beginning of Egypt. In the movie, it seems that the Akkadians died out, except for the Scorpion king, who supposedly will rule Egypt. But I suppose he can repopulate both Egypt and Mesopotamia.