The 1999 release of The Mummy directed by Stephen Sommers is yet another instalment in the mummy genre following Boris Karloff’s famous 1932 version The Mummy. The 1999 film stars protagonist Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) as the maverick, streetsmart adventurer, Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), a book-smart scholar, and Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), the film’s antagonist. Set in the early parts of the twentieth century, the film centres around re-awakening a mummy (what else?!) cursed in antiquity. How does this movie rate in historical accuracy? Did the figure, Imhotep, actually exist?

Have a look at our review of 2017’s The Mummy featuring Tom Cruise.

Thebes and the Pyramids of Giza

The film opens with a grand, panoramic view of the pyramids in Giza, featuring the Sphinx under construction. Except we are not at Giza; instead, the narrator tells us we are in “Thebes, City of the Living”, several hundred of kilometres to the south!

The time is the Nineteenth Dynasty, during the reign of the pharaoh, Seti I (c. 1,294-1,279 BC). Seti I, the famous father of Ramesses II, is often regarded as one of Egypt’s most powerful kings. The wealth and monumentality of Egypt comes out strong in the grandeur of the royal palace, located next to the pyramids. In contrast, we think of the pyramids now as the apex of a large funerary complex, so palaces would not have been located in proximity (1).

Imhotep and Anck-su–namun

Imhotep, the pharoah’s high priest, meets Anck-su-namun, mistress of the pharaoh. The narrator declares the illicit love they have for each other; a love which later compels Imhotep to bring her alive again. There was actually a person by the name of Imhotep, who lived in the Third Dynasty (c. 2,667-2,648 BC). He was pharaoh Djoser’s chief architect.

Character	Historical Person
Imhotep	Architect of Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara Third Dynasty, c. 2,667-2,648 BC
Anck-su-namun	Ankhesenamun, wife of Tutankhamun Eighteenth Dynasty, c. 1,336-1,327 BC
Seti I	Pharaoh, father of Ramesses II Nineteenth Dynasty, c. 1,294-1,279 BC

The name, Anck-su-namun comes from Ankhesenamun, who was the wife of Tutankhamun, from the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. late fourteenth century BC). Interestingly, both Imhotep and Anck-su-namun are also central to Karloff’s 1932 The Mummy.

Anck-su-namun wears a scanty fishnet dress upon her golden body and a ornately-decorated pectoral is visible below her neck. We know of similar examples, such as the pectoral of princess Sit-Hathor-Iunet uncovered from her tomb at Lahun. The inclusion of gold and many precious stones such as lapis-lazuli and turquoise testify to its importance and high quality.

Hamunaptra: City of the Dead

After murdering Seti I, Imhotep and his followers run away. Anck-su-namun, meanwhile, decides to end her life rather than face the consequences of her actions. Shortly after, Imhotep attempts to bring Anck-su-namun back to life and brings her remains to Hamunaptra. There, he begins the process to resurrect her so they can “live again” together.

In one scene, we see five jars containing her various organs. These are canopic jars which became an important element in Egyptian burials after the Middle Kingdom. Ancient Egyptians, contrary to the film, only used four jars. Each jar would have contained one organ and one of the Four Sons of Horus would protect each jar. Egyptians would not have removed the heart from the body; after all, they believed the heart to be the seat of the mind.

The Mummy labels Hamunaptra as the “City of the Dead” and as the burial place of the pharaohs. Did Hamunaptra really exist? Unfortunately, this is a fictional city as the name did not exist in Ancient Egypt. Furthermore, “City of the Dead” must refer to the Valley of the Kings and the memorial temples on the Theban West Bank.

Imhotep’s Cruel Fate: the Hom-Dai

As a consequence to attempting to bring Anck-su-namun back to life, Imhotep receives one of the highest forms of punishment: the Hom-Dai. While his followers are wrapped, then mummified alive, Imhotep’s fate is much more cruel. The priests tie him up forcefully, then proceed to cut off his tongue. Next, they place his wrapped body into a coffin, and then a priest with the head of Anubis proceeds to toss scarab beetles into it. While the priests then place the lid on top, the scarab beetles begin to ravage and consume Imhotep alive.

The idea of being buried alive sounds extreme. Nevertheless, funerary texts of the New Kingdom reveal to us numerous instances of brutal punishment for those who do not make it to the afterlife. For example, the mythical creature Ammit devours all those who do not pass the famous judgment in the Hall of Two Truths (2). In spell 43 of The Book of Coming Forth by Day, Ani stands before three deities, hoping to avoid decapitatio by reciting a spell:

I am a Great One, the son of a Great One, I am a flame, the son of a flame, to whom was given his head after it had been cut off. The head of Osiris shall not be taken from him, and my head shall not be taken from me. I am knit together, just and young, for I indeed am Osiris, the Lord of Eternity. (3)

Capital punishment by burning has also been depicted in Ancient Egypt. On top of scenes of decapitated bodies, ancient funerary texts also contained scenes of bodies burned in raging fires. The horror that we see in Imhotep’s eyes and those around him suffering a similar fate surely has parallels in Egyptian funerary texts. Although sensational, the Hom-Dai ritual as shown in the film is completely fictional.

The use of Egyptian antiquities

Throughout the film, Egyptian objects housed in museums and similar institutions exist frequently only for the viewing enjoyment of Western audiences. The Mummy ignores their original purpose of aiding the deceased to get to and maintain their existence in the afterlife. A scene within the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo shows Evelyn exploring a room filled with all sorts of Egyptian antiquities. She approaches a sarcophagus and suddenly a mummified, partially-wrapped body sits up, scaring her. It turns out to be her brother, Jonathan, playing a prank on her as she cautions him:

“Have you no respect for the dead”

– Evelyn to her brother, Jonathan

The use of the deceased body here is at once familiar to Western audiences, for whom mummies generally imply scary and horror-inducing moments. The body has no agency as it is simply a prop, which Jonathan uses to prank his sister.

Throughout the film, Egyptian objects exist as motivation for collecting and the acquisition of wealth. Stereotypical elements such as fake doors and elaborate mechanisms exist to keep robbers at bay from glorious riches.

There is a general lack of respect for ancient monuments and structures while various groups fight to gain control. For example, a gunfight at Hamunaptra destroys countless monuments.

Later, within the underground chambers and corridors, Rick and Jonathan are frantically looking for the book of Amun-Re to counter the spells from the Book of the Dead. In the process, they rip open a stone panel on the base of a statue, callously yanking out what’s inside.

Egyptians, or rather: the Lack of Egyptians in the Film

Modern Egyptians in the film do not often enjoy a positive light. As Evelyn makes her way to the prison to free Rick, she has to haggle for Rick’s release with a corrupt Egyptian prison warden (Omid Djalili). Greedily, he accepts Evelyn’s proposition of getting 25% of the treasure and frees Rick. Then, when the group finally arrives at Hamunaptra, the power of the wealth of treasures nearby overcomes him. Finding several scarabs affixed to a wall, he carelessly hacks out several to keep for himself. It does not take long for one scarab to come alive and burr itself into his brain, killing him.

In similar fashion, the Egyptian labourers whom the Americans charge with opening a sarcophagus at Hamunaptra are easily dispensable. Dr. Allen Chamberlain (Jonathan Hyde), the Americans’ guide, tells them, “Seti was no fool. I think perhaps we should let the diggers open it.” The Egyptians do so and a cloud of dust quickly consumes them. Perhaps that scene is a nod to the cloud of hot air that met Howard Carter when he had the tomb of Tutankhamun opened?

Unfortunately, ethnic Egyptian actors are not represented in any of the major roles of the film. Indian-American actor, Erick Avari, plays Dr. Terrence Bey, the chief curator at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. Rick’s main rival, Beni Gabor (American actor, Kevin J. O’Connor), speaks Hungarian regularly, but communicates with Imhotep in Hebrew. Israeli actor, Oded Fehr, plays Ardeth Bay, the leader of the Medjay (a group tasked with preventing Imhotep from resurrecting).

Even Imhotep (South African American actor Arnold Vosloo) nor Anck-su-namun (Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez) are not played by Egyptian actors! The film may be over 20 years old today, but this lack of Egyptian representation is regrettable.

Ardeth Bey and the Medjay

The film presents Ardeth Bey and the Medjay as men skilled in combat and wholly devoted to preventing the return of Imhotep. Their inclusion in the film is a nod to a similarly named group of people we know as the Medjay. We can detect the Medjay in the archaeological record from the Middle Kingdom to the early New Kingdom. We know them from textual sources from as early as the late Old Kingdom that they may have worked as mercenaries for the Egyptians. However, by the time of the New Kingdom, the Medjay are a sort of security group in charge of protecting the royal tombs on the Theban West Bank. In the beginning of the Mummy, pharaoh’s bodyguards are labelled as the Medjay.

Several hieroglyphs are visible on Ardeth Bey’s face. His forehead resembles the name Imhotep, though written in an errant way. The word for ma’at which translates as perfection, custom, or justice may be written in a cursive manner on either of his cheeks. These phrases match the Ancient Egyptian spoken by Imhotep and his followers throughout the film – a nod to the consulting work of Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith.

Conclusion

Since its release in 1999, The Mummy has become a cult classic. Sure, Ancient Egypt is the setting of the film and a mummy is at the centre stage of the plot; yet the lack of Egyptian actors in the film is lamentable. Aspects such as the city of Hamunaptra and the power of ancient spells to resurrect are thrilling but fictional.
The Mummy opened in theatres more than 20 years ago, but ethnic inclusion is something filmmakers today could greatly improve upon.

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Notes

1. Our evidence for palaces in Egypt from the Old Kingdom is very limited.
2. A very well known motif is the weighing of the heart, which is overseen by Anubis. The deceased is led before a scale, where their heart is put on a scale against the weight of the ma’at-feather. In normal circumstances, the deceased’s heart is lighter than the feather which allows them to enter the afterlife. If, however, their heart is heavier, the mythical creature Ammit (part lion, part crocodile, and part hippopotamus) devours.
3. Faulkner, R.O. 1972. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. London: British Museum Press – page 63.