Thoughts & Things

I Fulfilled My Life's Dream of Seeing a Mummy

When I was a little girl, I lived for ancient history. I was especially interested in ancient Egyptian history, especially the social and cultural aspects. I read every fiction and nonfiction book I could get at my tiny school library and the tiny (but slightly less so than the school) public library. I watched documentary specials that played on TV. It was my thing.

I especially had an interest in mummies. I especially have an interest in mummies that extends beyond the Egyptian variety (particularly bog bodies). But I will always have a soft spot for the Egyptian mummies that started that fascination. For probably close to twenty years, I have wanted to see a real-life mummy. I don't live in a big enough city to get those kinds of artifacts at the local museums (although the city is large enough to have decent museum options). But I've hoped I could make it out to visit a museum that would have a mummy.

Yesterday, I fulfilled my dream! My mother took me to visit the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto for my twenty-fifth birthday. We got to wander parts of the city as well, enjoy some good sights, good food, and got to walk through the Taste of Italy festival (which actually had a major fire today). But we spent the bulk of the day at the ROM.

There were many exhibitions that I enjoyed a great deal, featuring incredible artifacts from around the world and throughout history. Every part of the day was well worth my time. But as we wandered through the Egyptian section, we came across a mummy. The Mummy of Antjau, dated to approximately 664-600 BCE, and found in Western Thebes, Egypt. He may not be a well known historical figure, but he is still a mummy, and my mind is blown.

I hope this isn't the last mummy I ever see, but I have been so pumped that this happened. I needed to share it somewhere. It's not every day that you get to fulfill a lifelong dream!