The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has been exhibiting since this week the “screaming mummy” of the son of a Pharaoh accused of hatching a plot to kill his father.
Rarely shown to the public, this mummy named “the unknown E” offers a tense face whose open mouth seems screaming with pain.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, DNA analyzes confirmed that it would be that of one of the sons of Ramses III, a pharaoh who ruled between 1186 and 1155 BC. AD
Signs about this mummy seem to attest that the man was hanged and covered with sheepskin that the Egyptians considered impure.
Pentawere, the son of Ramses III, had been sentenced to hang for involvement in a plot against his father, according to papyri.
He would have conspired with his mother Tiye, second wife of Ramses III, to kill Pharaoh. The story is not clear whether Ramses III was actually murdered, but there are indications that he was stabbed in the neck.
An amulet with the eye of Horus symbolizing consolation and protection had been placed around the neck of Ramses III, according to the ministry.