A mummy with a golden tongue was discovered in Egypt

Archaeologists have found several 2,000-year-old mummies at a burial site near Alexandria in northern Egypt, with a golden tongue in one of them. This was announced this week by the authorities in Egypt.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, during archeological excavations at the Temple of Tafosiris Magna, west of Alexandria, 16 tombs that were hewn in stone were discovered. The mummies were buried in a technique that was common in the Greek and Roman periods.

Several “poorly preserved” mummies were found in the tombs, one of which carried a “gold amulet in the shape of a tongue.” According to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the items were placed in the mouths of the dead “to ensure they could speak in the afterlife.”

Researcher Kathleen Martinez from the Dominican Republic said two more mummies found at the site were particularly interesting. One of the mummies was covered with layers of linen, on which was painted in golden color the figure of the god Osiris, the Greek name of the Egyptian god of death Osar. Another mummy had an inscription decorated with horns and a figure of a cobra and a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a falcon’s head, representing the god Horus, the son of Osiris Isis. The god Horus, according to mythology, had a head of a falcon.

Khaled Abu al-Hamad, who is in charge of antiquities in the Alexandria region, said there are also women’s burial masks and eight sculpted masks, made of marble.

This is a team of researchers who have been working in the area for several years, with its main purpose being to find the tomb of Queen Cleopatra. However, among archaeologists there are sponges for the possibility of finding her grave in this area.

Some believe that the Queen of Egypt was buried in her hometown of Alexandria, a city destroyed by a tsunami in 365 AD. Others estimate that she was buried 45 km away, in the ancient temple of Tafosiris Magna, built by the descendants of the Egyptian dynasty Beit Ptolemy, in the Nile Delta.

Cleopatra VII, born in 70 or 69 BC, ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. She was the last of the rulers of the Macedonian Ptolemy dynasty, who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 centuries – but no tomb of Pharaoh from that dynasty has been discovered so far.