Unexplained Mysteries of LOST LANDS

Unexplained Mysteries of LOST LANDS

Lost lands are continents, islands or other regions believed by some to have existed during prehistory, but to have since disappeared as a result of catastrophic geological phenomena or slowly rising sea levels since the end of the last Ice Age. Lost lands, where they ever existed, are generally thought to have subsided into the sea, leaving behind only a few traces or legends by which they may be known. The term can also be extended to mythological lands generally, to underground civilizations, or even to whole planets.

The classification of lost lands as continents, islands, or other regions is in some cases subjective; for example, Atlantis is variously described as either a "lost island" or a "lost continent".

Lost land theories may originate in mythology or philosophy, or in scholarly or scientific theories, such as catastrophic theories of geology, that may later be picked up by writers and individuals outside academia. Occult and New Age writers have made use of lost lands, as have native peoples such as the Tamil in India.

LYONESSE 

Many western cultures have myths of lost lands, where once lived our great ancestors. Typical is Lyonesse, a fabled land once said to exist between Land’s End and the Scilly Isles, off the British coast.

On this land stood the city of Lions and some 140 churches. Folk tales, and later poets such as Tennyson, kept the fable alive by associating it with King Arthur. Thought to be the place of his birth, his death has also been associated with the lost land. Logically, it seems the fable arose from its association with the Breton town St-Pol-de-Leon, know to the Roman’s as Leo’s Castle. 

ATLAND 

Another such fable concerns Atland. First coming to popular attention in 1848, when antiquarian Cornelius Over de Linden first produced his Pera Linda Book, Atland is said to be an ancient land off the Dutch Frisian coast. With a sub-tropical climate and well advanced, happy population, a catastrophe struck in 2l93BC, destroying the land. Survivors went on to travel the world, founding Egyptian, Greek and Indian civilisations. The Oera Linda Book was written on cotton paper and de Linden claimed it came from 1256, copied from an even older work. Published in 1876, many people consider it a fraud. 

LEMURIA 

Some lost lands are more modern, and said to be rationally theorised to have existed. For instance, there is a problem with a primitive group of primates called lemurs. They are found only on Madagascar, off the African coast. But they have close relatives in the bushbabies of Africa and the lorises of India. Prior to the understanding of continental drift, zoologists realised this was mysterious. How could such closely related species appear an ocean apart? The problem was first tackled in the 19th century by English zoologist Philip Sclater, who argued for a lost continent, which he called Lemuria.

In the 1870s, the idea was taken up by the likes of Huxley and Wallace, leading scientists of their day. Ernst Haeckel even went so far as to suggest Lemuria could be the origin of humankind. Mystics soon got into the act regarding this new ‘Garden of Eden’. Among them was Madame Blavatsky. Contacting her psychic ethereal beings, they told her that there had existed on Lemuria the Third Root Race of humanity. At this stage of their evolution they were brutish apes, Lemuria finally being destroyed in a cataclysm before humanity advanced and moved on to Atlantis. However, even though continental drift may explain the distribution of the lemurs, some still believe in the existence of this lost continent.

MU 

A further lost land is Mu, which, according to former Bengal Lancer, Col James Churchward, existed in the Pacific Ocean. Claiming to have found evidence in 1870 from clay tablets found in India, man first appeared here 200,000 years ago, advancing to a civilisation of ten tribes with some sixty million people. Also gaining knowledge from trance visits to previous lives, Churchward never produced any real evidence, but argued that the truth was found in legends throughout the world. Like Atlantis, Mu disappeared about 12,000 years ago following volcanic eruptions and tidal waves. 

MYTHS OF THE PAST 

As we can see, most of these lost lands are quite fanciful, but share a similar psychology to other forms of lost worlds. Typical is the monotheist Garden of Eden. Said to be a paradise long, long ago, its civilization was restricted to a single couple, who were thrown out, not through cataclysm, but copulation. But other such lands have more social structure. Take the Norse Asgard, the realm populated by the Northern gods. It is said to exist in the centre of the universe, reached by the rainbow bridge. It contains many regions and mansions, the most famous being Valhalla. This is the home of the souls of slain warriors, taken there by the Valkyries, where they drink and feast for eternity. We can see many similarities, in terms of metaphor, between such heavenly lands and lost civilisations. They both seem other worldly, and are surrounded by similar fantastic mythology. It seems that when a society is at peace with itself, the metaphor continues to exist, but when the society falls into less moral times, their fantasy land is destroyed, thus becoming a moral tale of regret. And perhaps we can understand what is going on by looking to the eastern Shambhala. 

SHAMBHALA 

Shambhala was immortalised in the western mind by the hit film, Lost Horizon, based in the fantastic and mystical lost world of Shangri-la. A mythical land in many eastern traditions, it is most famously associated with the mysticism of Tibet. Shambhala is itself sanskrit for ‘the Source of Happiness’, as interpreted by Tibetan monks. In mythology it is a land hidden by a huge ring of snow-capped mountains.

The kingdom itself is said to be shaped as an eight-petalled lotus blossom. The capital of Shambhala is said to be Kalapa, itself surrounded by a second ring of mountains. The inhabitants of Shambhala are said to be extremely healthy, wealthy and wise, having lived for hundreds of years in beautiful, gold-topped pagodas. 

REFLECTION OF ATLANTIS 

Thought to be a repository for esoteric knowledge pre-dating all civilisations, residents are almost spiritual in nature, with many later traditions seeing them as spiritual masters. For instance, Madame Blavatsky, who wrote so much about Atlantis, thought it was the home of her spiritual masters, the Mahatmas, immediately merging the legend of Shambhala with Atlantis. Similarly, it cannot be found today because it vanished from the face of the Earth millennia ago when its residents gained enlightenment. 

THEORIES OF PARADISE 

The west first heard of Shambhala in 1627 after Catholic missionaries travelled to Tibet and heard stories about it. Some Buddhists associate it with the mythical land of Olmulungring, an invisible kingdom dating back to the 17th century BC, when its king travelled to Tibet to bring enlightenment. Some scholars think Shambhala is simply a remembrance of earlier civilisations of Central Asia which were known to exist, and had contact with Tibet. Many other scholars and traditions place Shambhala in a variety of locations. Taoist mythology calls it Tebu, a secluded land between Tibet and Szechwan. Blavatsky thought it existed somewhere in the Gobi Desert. Whilst historian Geoffrey Ashe suggested it might be in the remote Altar mountains between Russia and Mongolia. However, other traditions give a more esoteric location, explaining the mythology concerning its disappearance. 

A MYSTICAL CENTRE? 

Consider the ancient traditions of Shambhala being a repository where spiritual knowledge is guarded. In this respect, Shambhala become a source of teaching, filtering esoteric knowledge to the world. Could this hint that Shambhala isn’t a real place at all, but rather a state of consciousness achievable through trance? Such an idea is suggested by the idea that only adepts steeped in esoteric traditions can reach it. Indeed, one of Shambhala’s guarded secrets is the Kalacakra, or ‘Wheel of Time’, the source of the highest Tibetan Buddhist esoteric wisdom. Said to signify a system for gaining enlightenment, Buddha is said to have assumed the form of Kalacakra prior to death in order to pass on his wisdom to a group of adepts. The scholar of Tibetan mythology, Edwin Bernbaum, takes this line of thought, seeing Shambhala not as a physical thing, but symbolic of the depths of the mind. In this sense the mythical land is a mind model produced by a form of superconsciousness achieved only in trance. 

THE SYMBOL 

Throughout the world the ancients left a symbol of such a level of consciousness in the mandala, which is a symbolic series of rings or spirals representing the stripping away of levels of consciousness as enlightenment is revealed. The Kalacakra is itself a form of mandala consisting of two concentric circles lavishly decorated with Buddhist imagery. However, if you were to draw a plan of Shambhala, you would draw two rings, to represent the rings of mountains surrounding Shambhala and its capital city. Add the lavishness of Shambhala, and you have actually drawn the Kalacakra, hinting that Shambhala is an elaborate mandala. In a previous post I came to a similar conclusion concerning Atlantis. And although not so obviously clear in the other lands we have visited, such symbolism can still be imagined. It seems that, throughout the world, lost civilisations have been dreamed about. 

A DEEPER LONGING 

Why is this the case? What is it about man, his mind and his societies that prompt an apparent mystical need for other symbolic lands to reflect our deeper desires and consciousness? One obvious answer is that the societies we produce are not complete without our foibles, our insecurities and our conflicts. In this sense, ‘lost lands’ become an idealized view of a time when man was more at peace with fellow man. But I think we can go even deeper than this. The history of man has been his increasingly technological mind-state, freeing himself from the confines of nature. This has involved a move away from the deeper spiritual models of man’s earlier existence, as one, and in harmony with, nature. Hence, in moving away from the spiritual, and becoming more and more a material being, we seem to have slowly lost part of what it is to be human. We have lost that primeval bonding that confirmed our earlier existence. And this leaves a longing for that bonding, for that natural spirituality which still resides deep within us. And this can leave so many of us sad – and sets in place a mind-set that looks back to a more spiritual ‘Golden Age’ that we still wish could be with us. 

Unexplained Egypt's fantastic and weird history

Unexplained Egypt's fantastic and weird history

Strange and weird facts about Egypt's mummies, pyramids and tombs. Stories of tutankhamun's death, Pharaohs and many more mysteries that surrounded egypt's great history.

Pyramids and Tombs 

Pyramids were a big signal to tell grave robbers where the pharaoh's treasure was hidden. That's why, by Tutankhamun's time, pharaohs were buried underground.
Napoleon's engineers said the stones of the Great Pyramid would build a wall around France. Some people believe the young Tutankhamun was murdered by his uncle, Ay, who went on to take the throne. But in 2005 the mummy was given an X-ray, and they found he had a broken leg, which probably led to his death. 

Tombs held everything a God would need in the next life, including a toilet. Even the pharaoh's cats were mummified to keep him company. 

Pharaohs were buried with models of their servants. But early pharaohs were buried with real servants - knocked on the head. 

Why does the Sphinx have no nose? Legend says Napoleon's army used it as target practice. The truth is it was wrecked 500 years before by Mohammed Sa'im al-Dahr, a Sufi fanatic. 

In the 1800s, some people believed pyramids could focus invisible forces, preserving dead bodies and even sharpening blunt razor blades. A Czech engineer, Karel Drbal, even patented the idea - in 1959! 

Napoleon's engineers told him the stones of the Great Pyramid would build a one-metre wall around France. Cut into 6cm rods, they'd reach the Moon. 

Pyramids have been said to be all sorts of things: stone computers, observatories for astronomers or astrologers, and, of course, alien landing sites. 

Napoleon entered the Great Pyramid and came out pale and shaking. He refused to speak about it, but hinted he'd seen a vision of his future. 

The Ancient Greeks said the pyramids were built over 10 years by 10,000 slaves. In fact, they were built by 25,000 or so free men, who were well fed with beef and ale - and each one probably took just five years. 

Tomb raiders 

Every pyramid discovered in Egypt has been robbed. That's why the discovery of Tutankhamun's rock tomb was so important. 

A caliph of Baghdad broke into the centre of the Great Pyramid. He found Cheops's coffin - but it was empty. 

Tutankhamun's tomb was robbed shortly after he was buried. The thieves appear to have been caught in the act: they dropped a bag of rings in the tunnel they'd dug. 

Lord Carnarvon, who funded the Tutankhamun excavation in 1922, died a year later. As he died, the lights in Cairo failed and his dog back home howled. "It's a curse!" superstitious people claimed. 

Mummies were buried with "Books of the Dead": these weren't full of curses on grave-robbers, but gave advice on how to get on in the afterlife. 

In 1901 a British historian, Flinders Petrie, was exploring Pharaoh Djer's tomb. He found an arm wrapped in bandages that had been stuffed into a crack in the wall, perhaps by an early robber. 

A robber in the 1880s was caught after selling the treasures of 30 mummies. The Egyptian government "forgot" about his theft and gave him a job… as a guide, showing tourists round the tombs. 

In 1944, a robber reached into a coffin to steal some gold. The lid fell and trapped him, then the roof fell in and killed him. They know when he died because they found that day's newspaper in his skeleton's tattered coat. 

So many mummies were dug up in the 1800s that they had no value: some were even used in the boilers of railway engines. 

The sinking of the Titanic has been blamed on a curse from a mummified priestess that was being shipped to America. It's a great story, but not true. 

Mummies 

Mummies were embalmed in a special tent or house called "The Beautiful House". Nice name for a butcher shop. 

If clumsy priests knocked off the fingers or toes, they would replace them with a wooden spare part. 

To make a mummy, "they first take an iron hook and draw out the brain through the nostril" - at least according to the Greek historian Herodotus. 

The eyes can be replaced by black stones - though for Ramesses IV, they used small onions (it's enough to make you weep…). 

The spirit of the mummified pharaoh had to pass through the Duat, a place of boiling lakes, rivers of fire and poisonous spitting snakes. 

From the 1300s, people ground mummies into powder as a cure for illnesses. 

King Charles II would collect the dust that fell off mummies. He used it on his skin, believing the "greatness" would rub off. 

"Mummy" is an ingredient in the Witches' brew in Macbeth. 

In Victorian England, people flocked to watch a Dr Pettigrew unwrap a mummy at the Royal College of Surgeons. Places were so scarce that even the Archbishop of Canterbury was turned away. 

Stolen mummies were sent to the US in the 1890s to be mashed and made into wrapping paper. But customers started to die of cholera. The mummies' revenge! 

Pharaohs 

Some historians think the first pharaohs were invaders from the East (and some potty historians say they were from another planet!). 

Early pharaohs would marry every royal princess to make sure there would be no young rivals born.

Otzi The Iceman - Unexplained Mysteries

Otzi The Iceman - Unexplained Mysteries

Otzi the Iceman (also spelled Oetzi and known also as Frozen Fritz) is the modern nickname of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC, found in 1991 in a glacier of the Otztal Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from the valley of discovery. He rivals the Egyptian "Ginger" as the oldest known human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view on the habits of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.

Otzi was found by two German tourists, Helmut and Erika Simon, on September 19, 1991. The body was at first thought to be a modern corpse, like several others which had been recently found in the region. It was roughly recovered by the Austrian authorities and taken to Innsbruck, where its true age was finally discovered. Subsequent surveys showed that the body had been located a few meters inside Italian territory. It is now on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.

Scientific analysis

The body has been extensively examined, measured, x-rayed, and dated. Tissues and gut contents were examined microscopically, as was the pollen found on his gear. At the time of his death, Otzi was a 30-to-45-year old man, approximately 160 cm (5'3") tall.

Analysis of pollen and dust grains and the isotopic composition of his teeth's enamel indicate that he spent his childhood near the present village of Feldthurns, north of Bolzano, but later went to live in valleys about 50 km further north.

He had 57 tattoos, some of which were located on or near acupuncture points that coincide with the modern points that would be used to treat symptoms of diseases that Otzi seems to have suffered from, such as digestive parasites and osteoarthrosis. Some scientists believe that these tattoos indicate an early type of acupuncture.

His clothes, including a woven grass cloak and leather vest and shoes, were quite sophisticated.

The shoes were waterproof and wide, seemingly designed for walking across the snow; they were constructed using bearskin for the soles, deer hide for top panels, and a netting made of tree bark. Soft grass went around the foot and in the shoe and functioned like warm socks. The shoes have since been reproduced by experts and found to constitute such excellent footwear that there are plans for commercial production.

Other items found with the Iceman were a copper axe with a yew handle, a flint knife with an ash handle, a quiver full of arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts and flint heads, and an unfinished yew longbow that was taller than Otzi-The-Iceman was.

Among Otzi's possessions were two species of polypore mushrooms. One of these (the birch fungus) is known to have antibacterial properties, and was likely used for medical purposes. The other was a type of tinder fungus, included with part of what appeared to be a complex firestarting kit. The kit featured pieces of over a dozen different plants, in addition to flint and pyrite for creating sparks.

In 2004, frozen bodies of three Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed during the Battle of San Matteo (1918) were found. One body was sent to a museum in the hope that research on how the environment affected its preservation will help to find out about Otzi's past and future evolution. 

An Ancient crime?

Analysis of Otzi-The-Iceman gut contents showed two meals, one of ibex meat, the second of red deer meat, both consumed with some grain. Pollen in the first meal showed that it had been consumed in a mid-altitude conifer forest.

DNA analysis revealed traces of blood from four other people on his gear: one from his knife, two from the same arrowhead, and a fourth from his coat. A CAT scan revealed that Otzi had what appeared to be an arrowhead lodged in one shoulder when he died, matching a small tear on his coat.

The arrow shaft had been removed, apparently by a companion. He also had bruises and cuts on his hands, wrists, and chest.

From such evidence, and an examination of his weapons, molecular biologist Thomas Loy from the University of Queensland believes that Otzi and one or two companions were hunters who engaged in a skirmish with a rival group. At some point, he may have carried (or been carried by) a companion. Weakened by blood loss, Otzi apparently put down his equipment neatly against a rock, lay down and expired.

Before the latest evidence, it was speculated that, rather than fleeing attackers, Otzi-The-Iceman was ritually killed to propitiate a god or gods, or that he was a chieftain and therefore ritually killed to ensure fertility. One of the most fanciful theories was that he was in fact an Egyptian who had been ritually castrated. Later examination, however, revealed that, though shrunken by the mummification, Otzi did in fact possess a penis.

Curse

Seven people loosely related to Ötzi's discovery or research have subsequently died, leading some to believe in a curse while others believe that mountain climbers are risk takers and often die early of accidental causes. It should be noted that there are other numerous researchers and scientists working closely with Ötzi's body who have not died in the 14 years since his discovery. 
1. The "curse" began in 1992 with the death of Dr. Rainer Henn, 64, who was the head of the forensic team who examined the body. He died when his car was in a head-on collision with another vehicle while on his way to give a talk about Otzi.
2. The second "victim" is mountaineer Kurt Fritz, who led Dr. Henn and the others to the iceman's body and later gave tours to the site. Like other experienced climbers, he died in an avalanche at a mountain region he was familiar with.

3. Austrian journalist Rainer Hoelzl was the third "victim". He exclusively covered the removal of the body as part of a one-hour documentary that was shown around the world. But he developed a mystery illness - thought to be a brain tumor - that claimed his life in extreme pain a few months after the programme was shown.

4. The fourth "victim" is the German tourist Helmut Simon, who found the Otzi-The-Iceman . The hiker returned to the region to celebrate winning a £50,000 court battle over rights to the mummy. He set out in fine weather but a blizzard set in and he fell approximately 100 meters into a deep ravine, some 200 kilometers from the place where Otzi perished. He had not signed the court papers so his widow did not get the £50,000.

5. Dieter Warnecke was the head of the mountain rescue team that searched for Helmut Simon. He died at age 45 of a heart attack less than an hour after Helmut Simon was buried.

6. The 6th victim was archaeologist Konrad Spindler - the leading expert on the 5,300-year-old corpse. The Austrian expert had dismissed the link between the five previous deaths. He declared: "I think it's a load of rubbish. It is all a media hype. The next thing you will be saying I will be next." He died in April 2005 at age 66 of ALS, a pre-existing chronic condition.

7. In October 2005 the "curse" claimed its seventh "victim" - the 63-year old Dr Tom Loy died prior to finishing a book on Otzi. He was the seventh person to die who had been in close contact with the mummy.


The Innsbruck professor Friedrich Tiefenbrunner died during open-heart surgery in January 2005. Tiefenbrunner belonged to Spindler's team and had found a method to protect Otzi's mummy against bacterial and fungal attack.

Unexplained Mysteries of PLATO’S ATLANTIS

Unexplained Mysteries of PLATO’S ATLANTIS

One of the most written about mysteries is that of Atlantis. What does it mean? What is Atlantis? Where is it? What influence does it have on us? Does it exist in the first place? So many questions, so many ideas. For this essay I thought I’d go back to source and see if we can learn anything about its conception. And the beginning of the myth takes us back to that great philosopher, Plato, who first wrote about it. But can we find hints in Plato’s life and mind itself? 

EARLY LIFE 

Being nothing less than the father and instigator of western philosophy, Plato was born in Athens in 428BC to one of the great political families of his time. His actual name was Aristocles, Plato being a nickname which means ‘broad and flat’, referring to his shoulders which he used to great effect as a wrestler. Indeed, it was thought that Plato would be a great wrestler. But his talent was shown to be inferior and he tried being a poet, but was equally lacking in talent. Stuck for a profession, Plato began to think about his future. Statesman or philosopher were uppermost in his mind, but once he had heard Socrates speaking, he knew where his future lay; in philosophy - particularly in the ideas of Pythagoras. 

PYTHAGORAS AND FORMS 

Pythagoras had been an enigmatic figure. On the one hand a philosopher and on the other a mystic who was believed to have performed more than the odd miracle, he is seen today as the instigator of the quasi-religious cult of the Pythagoreans. Believing that behind the chaotic world of appearance there existed a harmonious world of numbers, he is seen as the father of mathematics.
Plato was fascinated by this harmonious world below the consciousness we appreciate. He developed it into his philosophy of ‘Ideal Forms’. To Plato this fundamental realm was a world of ideas and forms. Existing in an eternal state of unchanging reality, everything that could be conceived in the conscious world already existed as an idea or form in this other world. Hence, nothing could be invented, merely rediscovered. The true reality was one of images which fed the conscious mind. 

FIRST HINT OF ATLANTIS? 

We can immediately see here that Plato was more concerned with a world of images and symbols than with the world we experience. And it is attractive to suggest that Atlantis was not a true reality of the conscious world, but a symbol within the abstract inner-world of ideas. But why would he possibly want to create such an image if it held no existence in the real world? Because, at heart, Plato wanted to create this ideal form within the real world. Plato lived towards the end of the Athenian war with Sparta. And as Athens lost the fight, he experienced the end of Athenian democracy and the imposed rule of tyranny which followed. The new leaders forcing Socrates to commit suicide for offending the gods, they made it difficult for Plato to remain in Athens, and for many years he traveled before opening his Academy in 386BC. 

THE REPUBLIC 

Uppermost in his mind during his travels was a growing philosophy of the perfect state, or utopia. Dictatorship, he saw, was wrong. But democracy had also failed, resulting in defeat for Athens. Hence, he devised his Ideal Republic (Athens) In this republic there were to be no possessions or marriage. Everything was owned by the state and children were removed from their mothers, educated communally, classed the state as their parent, and all citizens as brothers and sisters. All would be educated up to the age of twenty, when the less intelligent would leave and take up menial duties within the state. The remainder would carry on their education for a further ten years, where the less intelligent would be dropped to join the military. The supremely intelligent who remained would then study philosophy until the age of fifty, when they would form the ruling class of philosopher-leaders. 

POLITICAL INSURGENCY 

This political ideology bears an uncanny resemblance to the ideal state of Atlantis conceived in Plato’s dialogues. During his lifetime he several times attempted to bring his political philosophy to fruition in Syracuse, but each time he failed to persuade the rulers. At one stage he was imprisoned for his interference, and on another occasion he was sent back to Athens a slave, luckily bought at the slave market by someone who knew him, thus gaining his freedom. This would have left him frustrated. And it is easy to see the possibility that, in another attempt to create his utopia, he built a myth about a previous utopia - a great, magnificent place - that was destroyed when his philosophy was dropped, descending the citizens into corruption, a state that existed in Athens in Plato’s time. 

THE GREAT METAPHOR 

As we can see, the whole of Plato’s life and philosophy suggests that Atlantis was a metaphor for a world he was determined to have imposed. Atlantis was his political philosophy in action, complete with an object lesson in what failure of his philosophy would mean. And in creating the metaphor, he was manipulating his inner-world of ideal forms, creating an eternal ideal to be rediscovered at some time in the future. Indeed, at the centre of Atlantis we find the Royal City, and the very design of the city gives valuable evidence that Atlantis was not so much a reality as a creation of the mind. 

THE ROYAL CITY 

At the centre of the city was a temple to Poseidon. This temple existed on an island surrounded by a circular canal 600ft wide. Around this canal was a circle of land 1,200ft wide, surrounded by another circular canal also 1,200ft wide. There was then another circle of land 1,800ft wide surrounded by a third circular canal 1,800ft wide. From the central island out to sea was a further subterranean canal, and around the entire complex was a huge stone wall. This design is significant. Fundamental to Plato’s philosophy was Pythagorean mysticism. And throughout the ancient world our ancestors have left a symbol that defines their mysticism. 

A SYMBOL LIKE NO OTHER 

This is the mandala. Sometimes drawn as a spiral, at other times as a series of concentric circles, its circular shape represents ultimate wholeness, and the complete construction represents the point at which the microcosm and macrocosm meet - the point at which the real world interposes with the ethereal. The various rings represent the levels of consciousness that must be stripped away before meeting the god-head at the centre, and from the outside to the centre is a path the mystic must travel down to gain unity. If the reader now draws the above plan of the Royal City of Atlantis, you will be drawing a typical mandala with seven concentric rings, complete with the path from the outer edge to the centre, and in that centre, the temple that represents the god-head. I put it to you that, no matter what evidence may be found of a ‘real’ Atlantis, the original conception was a metaphor of the mystical path we must trace in the mandala – and achieved in the real world through realization of Plato’s philosophy. 

Tutankhamun Mysteries : Curse of Pharoh

Tutankhamun Mysteries : Curse of Pharoh

The mystery behind the sudden death of Tutankhamun, the boy king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, may have been finally solved by scientists who believe that he fell from a fast-moving chariot while out hunting in the desert. 

Speculation surrounding Tutankhamun's death has been rife since his tomb was broken into in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter. X-rays of the mummy taken in 1968 indicated a swelling at the base of the skull, suggesting "King Tut" was killed by a blow to the head. 

More recent studies using a CT medical scanner, however, revealed he suffered a badly broken leg, just above his knee just before he died. That in turn probably led to lethal blood poisoning. Now further evidence has come to light suggesting that he suffered the fracture while hunting game from a chariot. 

The new findings are still circumstantial but one of Egypt's leading experts on Tutankhamun will say in a television documentary to be screened this week that he believes the case is now solved on how the boy king met his sudden and unexpected end. 

"He was not murdered as many people thought. He had an accident when he was hunting in the desert. Falling from a chariot made this fracture in his left leg and this really is in my opinion how he died," said Zahi Hawass, general secretary of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. 

Until now, many historians had assumed that he was treated as a rather fragile child who was cosseted and protected from physical danger. However, Nadia Lokma of the Cairo Museum said that a recent analysis of the chariots found in the tombs of the pharaohs indicated that they were not merely ceremonial but show signs of wear and tear. Hundreds of arrows recovered from the tomb also show evidence of having been fired and recovered. "These chariots are hunting chariots, not war chariots. You can see from the wear on them that they were actually used in life," Dr Lokma said. 

A cache of clothing found in Tutankhamun's tomb, which was stored in the vaults of the Cairo Museum, suggest that he was accustomed to riding these chariots himself. They include a specially-adapted corset which would have protected the wearer's abdominal organs from any damage from an accident or the heavy jostling of a chariot ride. 

A final piece of evidence comes from a garland of flowers placed around the neck of Tutankhamun's mummy. Botanists found it included cornflowers and mayweed that were fresh at the time the decoration was made. 

"The cornflower and mayweed on the garland around the mummy were in flower in March and April, which tells us the time of year he was buried," said Nigel Hepper of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kew Gardens. 

Because the flowers could have been collected only between the middle of March and the end of April, and as the complex process of mummification lasted 70 days, this meant Tutankhamun probably died in December or January. That timing coincided with the middle of the winter hunting season. 

The results of the latest research into Tutankhamun, which are to feature in a Channel Five documentary tomorrow evening, come just a few weeks before Britain hosts the first exhibition of his tomb's artefacts in 35 years at The O2 centre, formerly the Millennium Dome, in south-east London. 

When the first Tutankhamun exhibition in London was held at the British Museum in 1972, some 1.5 million people made the pilgrimage to see his fabulous solid-gold facemask. This time, however, the mask will remain in Egypt because of fears it might not withstand the trip. 

The present-day Lord Carnarvon, whose ancestor paid for Howard Carter's 1922 expedition, said the latest findings indicated that Tutankhamun was an active young man who took risks with his life. 

"I thought he was an over-cosseted child, but I think he was really out there in the field and taking part in things towards the end of his short life," Lord Carnarvon said. "His chariots could have reached considerable speeds, up to 25mph. If a chariot turns over at that speed, you could easily break your leg very seriously." 

Curse of the Pharaohs

The Curse of the Pharaohs refers to the belief that any person who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh is placed under a curse whereby they will shortly die. Many tombs of pharaohs have curses written on or around them, warning against entering. 

The belief was brought to many people's attention due to the deaths of some members of the team of Howard Carter, who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922, launching the modern era of Egyptology. The first of these "mysterious" deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon. He had been bitten by a mosquito, and later slashed the bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and blood poisoning resulted. Skeptics pointed out that many, many others who visited the tomb or helped to discover it lived long and healthy lives. A study showed that of the 58 people who were present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen years. All the others were still alive, including Howard Carter who died peacefully at the age of 64 in 1939. The doctor who did the autopsy on Tutankhamun lived until 75. 

Some have speculated that deadly fungus could have grown in the enclosed tombs and been released when they were open to the air. Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, favoured this idea, and speculated that the mold had been placed deliberately to punish grave robbers. A newspaper report printed following Carnarvon's death is also believed to have been responsible for the wording of the curse most frequently associated with Tutankhamun – "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King" – a phrase which does not actually appear among the hieroglyphs in KV62.

Tomb curses 

Curses relating to tombs are rare, perhaps through the idea of such desecration being unthinkable and dangerous to record in writing. They most frequently occur in private tombs of the Old Kingdom era. The tomb of Ankhtifi (9-10th dynasty) contains the warning: "any ruler who... shall do evil or wickedness to this coffin... may Hemen [a local deity] not accept any goods he offers, and may his heir not inherit". The tomb of Khentika Ikhekhi (9-10th dynasty) contains an inscription: "As for all men who shall enter this my tomb... impure... there will be judgment... an end shall be made for him... I shall seize his neck like a bird... I shall cast the fear of myself into him". Curses after the Old Kingdom era are less common though more severe in expression, sometimes invoking the ire of Thoth or the destruction of Sekhemet. Zahi Hawass quotes an example of a curse: "Cursed be those who disturb the rest of a Pharaoh. They that shall break the seal of this tomb shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose." 

Modern accounts of curses 

Hieroglyphs were not deciphered until the beginning of the 19th century by Jean-François Champollion so any reports of curses prior to this are in the domain of perceived bad luck associated with the handling of mummies and other artifacts from tombs. Louis Penicher wrote an account in 1699 in which he records how a Polish traveler bought two mummies in Alexandria and embarked on a sea journey with the mummies in the cargo hold. He was alarmed by recurring visions of two specters and stormy seas that did not abate until the mummies were thrown overboard. 

Zahi Hawass recalled that as a young archaeologist excavating at Kom Abu-Bellou he had to transport a number of artifacts from the Greco-Roman site. On the day he did so his cousin died, on the anniversary of that day his uncle died and on the third anniversary his aunt died. Years later when he excavated the tombs of the builders of the pyramids at Giza he encountered the curse: "All people who enter this tomb who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it may the crocodile be against them in water, and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in water, the scorpion against them on land." Though not superstitious, he decided not to disturb the mummies. However, he later was involved in the removal of two child mummies from Bahariya Oasis to a museum and subsequently reported how he was haunted by the children in his dreams. These phenomena did not stop until the mummy of the father was re-united with the children in the museum. He came to the conclusion that mummies should not be displayed though it was a lesser evil than allowing the general public into the tombs. Hawass also recorded an incident relating to a sick young boy who loved Ancient Egypt and was subject to a "miracle" cure in the Egyptian Museum when he looked into the eyes of the mummy of King Ahmose I. Thereafter the boy read everything he could find on Ancient Egypt, especially the Hyksos period. 

The idea of a mummy's curse was developed in The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century, an early work combining elements of science fiction and horror, written by Jane C. Loudon and published anonymously in 1827. Louisa May Alcott is thought to have been the first to use a "mummy curse" plot in her 1869 story "Lost in a Pyramid". 

Opening of King Tutankhamun's tomb 

The Anubis figure which guarded the entrance to Tutankhamun's treasury room. 

The belief in a curse was brought to many people's attention due to the deaths of the members of the team of Howard Carter, who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922, launching the modern era of Egyptology. 

The famous Egyptologist James Henry Breasted worked with Carter soon after the first opening of the tomb. He reported how Carter sent a messenger on an errand to his house. On approaching his home he thought he heard a "faint, almost human cry". On reaching the entrance he saw the bird cage occupied by a cobra, the symbol of Egyptian monarchy. Carter's canary had died in its mouth and this fueled local rumors of a curse. Arthur Weigall, a previous Inspector-General of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government, reported that this was interpreted as Carter's house being broken into by the Royal Cobra, the same as that worn on the King's head to strike enemies , on the very day the King's tomb was being broken into. An account of the incident was reported by the New York Times on the 22nd December 1922. 

The first of the "mysterious" deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon. He had been bitten by a mosquito, and later slashed the bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and blood poisoning resulted. Two weeks before Carnarvon died Marie Corelli wrote an imaginative letter which was published in the New York World magazine in which she quoted an obscure book that confidently asserted that "dire punishment" would result through an intrusion of a sealed tomb. A media frenzy followed with reports that a curse had been found in the King's tomb, but this was untrue. Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, suggested at the time that Lord Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb and this further fueled the media interest. Arthur Weigall reported that six weeks before Carnarvon's death he had watched the Earl laughing and joking as he entered the King's tomb and his saying to a nearby reporter (H. V. Morton), "I give him six weeks to live." The first autopsy carried out on the body of Tutankhamun by Dr Derry found a healed lesion on the left cheek, but as Carnarvon had been buried six months previously it was not possible to determine if the location of the wound on the King corresponded with the location of the fatal mosquito bite on Carnarvon. 

In 1925, the anthropologist Henry Field, accompanied by Breasted, visited the tomb and recalled the kindness and friendliness of Carter. He also reported how a paperweight given to Carter's friend Sir Bruce Ingham was composed of a mummified hand with its wrist adorned with a scarab bracelet marked with, "Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water and pestilence." Soon after receiving the gift, Ingram's house burned down, followed by a flood when it was rebuilt. 

Howard Carter was entirely skeptical of such curses. He did report in his diary a "strange" account that in May 1926 he saw jackals of the same type as Anubis, the guardian of the dead, for the first time in over thirty-five years of working in the desert. 

Skeptics have pointed out that many others who visited the tomb or helped to discover it lived long and healthy lives. A study showed that of the 58 people who were present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen years. All the others were still alive, including Howard Carter, who later died of lymphoma at the age of 64 in 1939.