法老的詛咒(英語:Curse of the pharaohs)是指针对任何打扰木乃伊的人的诅咒,据称会导致厄运、疾病甚至死亡。20世纪中叶以来,许多作家及纪录片认为“诅咒”的科学解释为细菌或辐射。然而,“法老的诅咒”的现代起源及发展在欧洲文化中,从原先的传说转变到科学解释,又衍生出大量恐怖片,可见“法老的诅咒”更多的是指一种文化而非科学现象。[1]
偶尔也会在古墓中或周围发现真正的诅咒,如在萨卡拉的第六王朝Khentika Ikhekhi马斯塔巴。但在图坦卡蒙墓中未发现诅咒,有关图坦卡蒙法老的诅咒的证据极其少,Donald B. Redford 认为这是“纯粹的哗众取宠的胡话”。[2]
^Why we love mummies. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. [12 August 2008]. (原始内容存档于2008年9月2日). Upon breaching the tomb, something stung Carnarvon on the cheek. He died several months later. Newspapers sensationalized his death as the fulfillment of an ancient mummy's curse. A rumor spread that there was an insc九十三次ription over the tomb promising death to anyone who opened the tomb of the pharaoh. One recent theory is Carnarvon might have ingested anthrax spores deliberately placed in the tomb by ancient Egyptian priests to thwart tomb robbers.
^George J. Gould Dies in Villa in France.. New York Times. 17 May 1923 [23 May 2008]. (原始内容存档于2014-02-19). George Jay Gould died this morning at 3:30 o'clock at the Villa Zoralde, Cap Martin, where he had been living for some months with his wife and her two children. His death, it was stated at the villa, came quietly and was expected, as he had never rallied from the illness from which he had been suffering all Winter.
^Rupert Furneaux, The World's Strangest Mysteries, (New York: Ace Books, 1961), p. 72-74.
^Howard Carter, 66, Egyptologist, Dies.. New York Times. [28 March 2008]. (原始内容存档于2018-01-24). Howard Carter, Egyptologist who earned world fame for his discovery and exploration, in association with the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, died in his London home today at the age of 66.