It’s time for Mummymania Mondays! #mummymaniamondays today’s theme: what is a Mummymania? (A thread)

So… what is Mummymania?
After the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 by the Napoleonic campaign, Egypt became a fascination to the rest of the world, especially Britain. This prompted a craze known as ‘Egyptomania’, and various waves surfaced from the 19th to the 20th C.

The sub craze that went hand in hand with Egyptomania, was MUMMIES! This ‘Mummymania’ obsession caught the attention of many people wanting the ‘ultimate souvenir’. People would buy mummies to put in their homes.

Many went to Egypt with the intention of purchasing a mummy and bringing it back themselves along with Egyptian antiquities and relics. Some things mummies were used for:

Paint! Pictured: mummy brown paint, made from real mummies.

Medicine (credit: Smithsonian Magazine)

And even, home decor

And much more! More information on these at a later date!
Literature also boomed with ‘Mummy fiction’, with many authors combining ancient Egypt with the Victorian intrigue of the supernatural.

Authors included, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, and H. Rider Haggard. If you fancy reading some of these, check out the 2021 monthly Mummymania Mondays Book Club: https://mummymaniamondays.wordpress.com/book-club/ 

In the 20th century, we also got an influx of mummy films…
The Mummy (1932)

The Mummy’s Curse (1944)

The Mummy (1959) to name a few!

But before all of these films, another spark leading to another wave of Egyptomania, Mummymania, and the ‘Curse of the Pharaohs’, occurred... Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.

In recent years, our obsession with ancient Egypt has become less and less. Mummies are no longer really seen as horror icons, as vampires, werewolves and zombies appear to be the scary ‘monster’ of choice. But with new discoveries all the time, our obsession could rise again…

Are we due for another wave of Mummymania?