"A mysterious black sarcophagus was pried open in Alexandria, Egypt... Photos of the gruesome scene found inside the sarcophagus spread quickly online after archaeologists pried open the 30-ton vessel, revealing three decomposed bodies floating in an unidentified red juice. Netizens around the world immediately began speculating about what the substance could be, with many jumping to the outlandish conclusion that the liquid might possess magical healing powers...What kind of world do we live in where the authorities deny the common people their right to drink unknown fluids from the bottom of a 2000-year-old sarcophagus?
The wild theory went so viral it spawned a change.org petition entitled "let the people drink the red liquid from the dark sarcophagus."
"We need to drink the red liquid from the cursed dark sarcophagus in the form of some sort of carbonated energy drink so we can assume its powers and finally die," petition founder Innes McKendrick wrote on the site.At the time of publication, the petition had accrued 19,013 signatures...
...the Egyptian Antiquities Minister spoke out to assure the public that the liquid is not "juice for mummies that contains an elixir of life" — it's just sewage water that managed to leak into the ancient tomb through a small crack in the vessel's side.Well, there's that...
BTW, when I checked today, the number of names on the petition is now up to 32,034.
Photo via Popular Mechanics.
There are many reasons why I'd be disinclined to consume a red liquid from an Egyptian sarcophagus, including the possibility that it was intended for Sekhmet. Granted that one's very low on my list of reasons, but this is from the Wikipedia article on Sekhmet:
ReplyDeleteIn a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends Hathor as Sekhmet to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra poured out beer dyed with red ochre or hematite so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra.
Maybe I shouldn't bring this up, though, since the possibility that the red liquid could be beer is just going to attract even more interest.
:-) maybe that is 'natural wine'? :-) (xref your 'natural wine' posting)
ReplyDeleteI-)
This brings several thoughts to mind, one of which I cannot resist: "Don't drink the Kool-aid!"
ReplyDeleteBut the other is "healing powers"? Really? Now, if we had opened "sar-casket" and found someone ALIVE, then, yes, by all mean, have a sip. But when we find only bones...that kind of goes against the common notion of what it means to have healing powers/properties.
Another thing that comes to mind is this matter's analogy to the Eucharist. Of course, I believe that Communion is symbolic, not literal (like my Catholic brothers and sisters). And, yes, there's the thing that we happen to believe Jesus is alive, and not in the grave. But still....
I have heard that some caskets "leak" with bodily fluids. If a sarcophagus was truly sealed and impermeable, it MIGHT be that that fluid is a mixture of blood, etc....although I cannot imagine fluid lasting that long. UNLESS IT'S A VAMPIRE!!!!
And does anyone else notice the overlap of the words sarcophagus and esophagus? The former is a combination of flesh and eating. The second is means...I don't know, but "eat" seems to be part of it.
OK, enough of my foolishness. Thank you for the article. Even though our politics are different, I so appreciate this site. It truly brings us the interesting, amusing, educational, enlightening things of life--so much better than CNN or FOX! THANK YOU, SIR!
sarcophagus c. 1600, "type of stone used for coffins," from Latin sarcophagus, from Greek sarkophagos "limestone used for coffins," literally "flesh-eating," in reference to the supposed action of this type of limestone (quarried near Assos in Troas, hence the Latin lapis Assius) in quickly decomposing the body, from sarx (genitive sarkos) "flesh" (see sarcasm) + phagein "to eat"
Deleteesophagus, late 14c., from Greek oisophagos "gullet, passage for food," literally "what carries and eats," from oisein, future infinitive of pherein "to carry" (from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry") + -phagos, from phagein "to eat"
all the more reason to be cremated if you are looking for an eternal resting place. anonymous scatter of cremains will not be pried open by future generations.
ReplyDeleteHomeopathically diluted mummy-juice cola seems like a good way for the archaeologists to supplement their grant money.
ReplyDelete