The La Mummia
Teodolinda Mattson
Many European Christians, though, were in agreement with the conman Paré interviewed, feeling mummia was a disgusting and dangerous medicine. Read on to learn of how Shakespeare and other playwrights disparaged the drug, of the doctors and preachers who ranted against it, and of how precious Egyptian mummies gradually came to be put to a more exhibitionistic use.
Mummia, mumia, or originally mummy referred to several different preparations in the history of medicine, from "mineral pitch" to "powdered human mummies". It originated from Arabic mūmiyā "a type of resinous bitumen found in Western Asia and used curatively" in traditional Islamic medicine, which was translated as pissasphaltus (from "pitch" and "asphalt") in ancient Greek medicine. In medieval European medicine, mūmiyā "bitumen" was transliterated into Latin as mumia meaning both "a bituminous medicine from Persia" and "mummy". Merchants in apothecaries dispensed expensive mummia bitumen, which was thought to be an effective cure-all for many ailments. It was also used as an aphrodisiac.[1]
Beginning around the 12th century when supplies of imported natural bitumen ran short, mummia was misinterpreted as "mummy", and the word's meaning expanded to "a black resinous exudate scraped out from embalmed Egyptian mummies". This began a period of lucrative trade between Egypt and Europe, and suppliers substituted rare mummia exudate with entire mummies, either embalmed or desiccated. After Egypt banned the shipment of mummia in the 16th century, unscrupulous European apothecaries began to sell fraudulent mummia prepared by embalming and desiccating fresh corpses.
The etymologies of both English mummia and mummy derive from Medieval Latin mumia, which transcribes Arabic mūmiyā "a kind of bitumen used medicinally; a bitumen-embalmed body" from mūm "wax (used in embalming)", which descend from Persian mumiya and mum.[2][3]
During the Crusades, European soldiers learned firsthand of the drug mummia, which was considered to have great healing powers in cases of fracture and rupture.[11] The demand for mummia increased in Europe and since the supply of natural bitumen from Persia and the Dead Sea was limited, the search for a new source turned to the tombs of Egypt.
The Arabic sources show an awareness of the difference between mummia from natural sources and that obtained from Egyptian mummies, and describes a range of its contemporary medical uses to treat various conditions. The substances used for mummification were also used for medicinal purposes into the medieval period. Al-Baghdadi gives many accounts of mummification and burial customs: People find underground tombs with many of the dead of the Ancients, wrapped in shrouds of linen cloth, which may be of a thousand arms-lengths. The word mom or mummia is sometimes used in Arabic writings to describe honeybee wax', but more often to describe the pissasphalt which oozes from the rocks in certain places such as Persia and Yemen. Arab writers were equally fascinated by the discovery of animal mummies and gave many detailed accounts of their burials. Al-Baghdadi was told of an incident by a treasure hunter in the pyramid area who had found a sealed jar.
La mummia è un media franchise multimiliardario composto da una trilogia cinematografica. I film, La mummia, La mummia - Il ritorno e La mummia - La tomba dell'Imperatore Dragone, sono usciti rispettivamente nel 1999, 2001 e 2008.
La trilogia è considerata il remake di La mummia del 1932 diretto da Karl Freund, con Boris Karloff nel ruolo di Imhotep. Il franchise ha subito un riavvio nel 2017, con La mummia di Alex Kurtzman, che fa parte del Dark Universe della Universal Pictures.
On 21 January 2021, Sabzian and Courtisane are hosting the fifth Milestones screening online, presenting Al-mummia [The Mummy] (1969), the only full-length film by the Egyptian screenwriter, costume and set designer, and filmmaker Shadi Abdel Salam (1930-1986), which is also known by its alternative English title The Night of Counting the Years.
The film will be available on Sabzian free of charge only in Belgium. The presentation of Al-mummia is part of a series of four Milestones screenings hosted online by Sabzian, of which three in collaboration with Courtisane.
On 21 January 2021, Sabzian and Courtisane are hosting an online screening of Al-mummia [The Mummy] (1969), the only full-length film by the Egyptian screenwriter, costume and set designer, and filmmaker Shadi Abdel Salam (1930-1986). The film will be available on sabzian.be free of charge in Belgium only, and will be accompanied by a selection of conversations with and writings on Shadi Abdel Salam, as well as the complete screenplay of Al-mummia and some of the drawings that he sketched in preparation for the film.
Pallottino, Massimo. "Il libro etrusco della mummia di Zagabria - Significato e valore storico e linguistico del documento." Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu, vol. 19, br. 1, 1986, str. 1-8. Citirano 03.12.2023.
Pallottino, M. (1986). 'Il libro etrusco della mummia di Zagabria - Significato e valore storico e linguistico del documento', Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu, 19(1), str. 1-8. Preuzeto s: (Datum pristupa: 03.12.2023.)
M. Pallottino, "Il libro etrusco della mummia di Zagabria - Significato e valore storico e linguistico del documento", Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu, vol.19, br. 1, str. 1-8, 1986. [Online]. Dostupno na: [Citirano: 03.12.2023.]
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