There is a mummy in Egypt called the Golden Boy. The main feature of this mummy of a teenage boy in a museum in Cairo since 1916 is the variety of spell plates it contains. Mantra plates come in many shapes and sizes, each with a unique meaning and purpose. Researchers are uncovering the secrets of this 2,300-year-old Golden Boy mummy using 3D CT scans.
49 mantra plates made of gold and other things were placed on the body of the Golden Bow. It also indicates that the child within this mummy is from a high social and economic status of that time. A large number of such mummies were looted for wealth at various times. But the Golden Boy was found undamaged by archaeologists, according to Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at Cairo University who led the study.
The Egyptians believed that the magic tablets would help in the afterlife. Their color, metal used and shape are all important. Sahar Salim also adds that the Egyptians used to quote passages from the Book of the Dead on mummies inscribed with incantation tablets. Each mantra plate identified from the body of Golden Boy, who died when he was about 15 years old, had different purposes and meanings.
A plate in the form of a beetle was placed on the chest to judge the Golden Boy kindly in the afterlife. This beetle-shaped mantra plate is mentioned in the 30th chapter of the Book of Death. The golden tongue in the mouth is part of the belief that it gives the ability to speak even after death. Another notable mantra plate is placed on the lingam. This is for the safety of the body. Gold sandals were also found from the mummy.
Among them was a bottle-shaped mantra plate to carry water in the afterlife and to represent the spine of the god Osiris for healing in case of illness. Valuable information has been obtained through this study. “We learned how the ancient Egyptians lived and died, and how they viewed the afterlife,” says Wozniak Esmond, an Egyptologist at the Warsaw Mummy Project and a researcher who participated in the study.
The genital foreskin of the child in the Golden Boy mummy was not cut. Among the Egyptians there was a practice of circumcision. This has raised the argument that the Egyptians used to cut the foreskin after adulthood. The Golden Boy mummy was found in 1916 from a tomb used between 332 BC and 30 BC. Researchers are hoping to get more information from this mummy. The full study is published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
English Summary: 2,300-year-old ‘golden boy’ mummy was found with 49 amulets, including a gold tongue to let him speak with the gods
