Research city of the dead
As part of my research I'm looking into what is the city of the dead? There are many myths, legends and films surrounding the city of the dead. In films such as the Mummy the city of the dead also known as Hamunaptra in the film, is a mystical city the houses the remains of the mummy Imhotep (The Mummy, 1999). That’s an example of the city of the dead being used in fiction to hide creatures of the undead. However I found that in real life there is not just one example of the city of the dead but three and two are located within Egypt. Now Egyptian history has not just one but two gods linked into death, so having two cites of the dead seems very possible. The first of the two gods is Anubis who was the god of embalming and the dead. Anubis was believed to have the body of a man and the head of a jackal. He was believed to of watched over the dead which included the process of mummification (The British Museum, d.u.:anubis,osiris). Now the second god is Osiris who was believed to be the ruler of the underworld, similar to the Greek god Hades. Osiris was believed to be a mummified man who had a cone like headdress on his head. (The British Museum, d.u.:anubis,osiris)
That’s a little bit of background on their two gods of the dead let’s take a look at the city's themselves. They are both located in Cairo however one of them is a cemetery and one of them is a slum. Let’s focus on the cemetery first now looking at the information posted by national geographic I’m noticing some similarities between the way the city is described in Cairo and the way the city of the dead is described in the invisible cities book for example “the streets are quite, narrow, and often unpaved, and they seem to wind forever, a world of crumbling high walls with ornate gates and domes and minarets” (Hoffman, 2015) This reminds me of how the city of the dead is talked about in the invisible cities book. The idea of narrow streets for me thinking about is like being put into a coffin alive. Most likely this is because coffins are quite small in space that it's making me feel like that.
Now let’s take a quick look into what is said about the slum. Apparently around 500,000 people live within this part of the city of the dead sharing the space with corpses dating back to the 7th century (atlasobscura, 2015). Imagine that actually living among the dead, I wonder what sensory experience those people have on a daily bases. The smell of the rags from mummification, the sight of the tombs and the sounds to them is a crow just a crow or is it something more?
As part of my research I'm looking into what is the city of the dead? There are many myths, legends and films surrounding the city of the dead. In films such as the Mummy the city of the dead also known as Hamunaptra in the film, is a mystical city the houses the remains of the mummy Imhotep (The Mummy, 1999). That’s an example of the city of the dead being used in fiction to hide creatures of the undead. However I found that in real life there is not just one example of the city of the dead but three and two are located within Egypt. Now Egyptian history has not just one but two gods linked into death, so having two cites of the dead seems very possible. The first of the two gods is Anubis who was the god of embalming and the dead. Anubis was believed to have the body of a man and the head of a jackal. He was believed to of watched over the dead which included the process of mummification (The British Museum, d.u.:anubis,osiris). Now the second god is Osiris who was believed to be the ruler of the underworld, similar to the Greek god Hades. Osiris was believed to be a mummified man who had a cone like headdress on his head. (The British Museum, d.u.:anubis,osiris)
That’s a little bit of background on their two gods of the dead let’s take a look at the city's themselves. They are both located in Cairo however one of them is a cemetery and one of them is a slum. Let’s focus on the cemetery first now looking at the information posted by national geographic I’m noticing some similarities between the way the city is described in Cairo and the way the city of the dead is described in the invisible cities book for example “the streets are quite, narrow, and often unpaved, and they seem to wind forever, a world of crumbling high walls with ornate gates and domes and minarets” (Hoffman, 2015) This reminds me of how the city of the dead is talked about in the invisible cities book. The idea of narrow streets for me thinking about is like being put into a coffin alive. Most likely this is because coffins are quite small in space that it's making me feel like that.
Now let’s take a quick look into what is said about the slum. Apparently around 500,000 people live within this part of the city of the dead sharing the space with corpses dating back to the 7th century (atlasobscura, 2015). Imagine that actually living among the dead, I wonder what sensory experience those people have on a daily bases. The smell of the rags from mummification, the sight of the tombs and the sounds to them is a crow just a crow or is it something more?
Ref:
atlasobscura. (2015) CAIRO'S CITY OF THE DEAD. [Online] Available from: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/city-of-the-dead-cairo-egypt [accessed 30 October 2015]
Hoffman, C. (2015) Cairo's City of the Dead. [Online] Available from: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/egypt/cairo-city-of-the-dead/ [accessed 30 October 2015]
The British Museum. (Date unknown) The gods and goddesses of ancient Eygypt. [Online] Available from: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html [accessed 30 October 2015]
The Mummy (1991) Directed by Stephen Sommers [Film]. USA: Universal Pictures
atlasobscura. (2015) CAIRO'S CITY OF THE DEAD. [Online] Available from: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/city-of-the-dead-cairo-egypt [accessed 30 October 2015]
Hoffman, C. (2015) Cairo's City of the Dead. [Online] Available from: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/egypt/cairo-city-of-the-dead/ [accessed 30 October 2015]
The British Museum. (Date unknown) The gods and goddesses of ancient Eygypt. [Online] Available from: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html [accessed 30 October 2015]
The Mummy (1991) Directed by Stephen Sommers [Film]. USA: Universal Pictures