While it turns out that I already knew that the mummy of Ramesses II was taken to Paris at one point for some restoration work, today I learned that to kill a variety of fungi that had taken up residence, they actually bombarded the ancient preserved corpse with gamma radiation to sterilize it.
Why has nobody made a comic book out of this yet?
One person’s “I invaded this country annually for eighteen years until they learned to give me the respect (i.e., tribute) I feel is my due,” is another person’s “For eighteen years this idiot told us he had ‘conquered’ us and that we ‘owed’ him something, and for eighteen years we disagreed.”
Today I learned the secret of how Flinders Petrie discovered so many small artifacts at his archeological digs when many of his contemporaries were only finding large statues and the like.
Petrie actually paid his workers a fair market value for what they found if they brought it to him.
On a personal note, I’m doing alright so far, but there are times I feel a bit like that guy who was across the bay from Pompeii in 79 AD.
These days I always feel on edge on this particular date, and not because (as social media reminded me) two years ago at this time I was busy assuring people Irma hadn’t killed us.
Nobody reveres and idolizes a time period quite like those who didn’t live during it.
