谁在吃木乃伊
欧洲吃木乃伊时尚的血腥历史（The gory history of Europe’s mummy-eating fad）
Due to a series of misunderstandings and mistranslations, medieval Europeans believed that consuming embalmed bodies could cure them of disease.
由于一系列的误解和误译，中世纪的欧洲人认为食用防腐尸体可以治愈他们的疾病。
Feeling ill? In 15th-century Europe, the remedy for your headache, stomach ailment, or cancer might come with a side of Egyptian mummy.
感觉不舒服？在15世纪的欧洲，治疗头痛、胃病或癌症的方法可能伴随着埃及木乃伊的一面。

中世纪欧洲人在处理木乃伊
For centuries, embalmed bodies were prized across the continent not for their historical value, but for their purported medical benefits. Here’s the surprising reason that people once craved, and ate, mummies.
几个世纪以来，经过防腐处理的尸体在整个非洲大陆受到珍视，不是因为它们的历史价值，而是因为它们所谓的医疗益处。这是人们曾经渴望并吃木乃伊的令人惊讶的原因。
How did people start eating mummies?
人们是如何开始吃木乃伊的？
The practice of consuming parts of ancient Egyptian mummies—and, later, embalmed corpses of all kinds—began in the 11th century. What started it all, writes historian Karl Dannenfelt, was a series of mistranslations and misunderstandings.
食用古埃及木乃伊的一部分的做法 - 以及后来的各种防腐尸体 - 始于11 th 世纪。历史学家卡尔·丹嫩费尔特（Karl Dannenfelt）写道，这一切的开始是一系列的误译和误解。
The gory story hinges on one word: mumia. Prized for its healing qualities, mumia was a substance found on a single Persian mountainside where it seeped from black-rock asphalt. Named after the local word for wax, “mum,” the substance was used for a variety of medical purposes and gained a reputation in the Arabic world as expensive, precious, and effective.
血腥的故事取决于一个词：mumia。mumia因其治疗特性而备受推崇，是一种在波斯山坡上发现的物质，它从黑岩沥青中渗出。该物质以当地的蜡“妈妈”命名，用于各种医疗目的，并在阿拉伯世界赢得了昂贵、珍贵和有效的声誉。
But when Western Europeans began encountering the Islamic world and translating its texts, a single mistranslation led to widespread confusion about the meaning of mumia. According to Dannenfelt, a variety of 11th- and 12th-century translators incorrectly identified mumia as a substance exuded from preserved bodies in Egyptian tombs.
但是，当西欧人开始接触伊斯兰世界并翻译其文本时，一次误译导致了对mumia含义的广泛混淆。根据Dannenfelt的说法，各种11世纪和12世纪的翻译者错误地将mumia识别为埃及坟墓中保存的尸体中渗出的物质。
(How Egyptians made mummies in 70 days or less.)
（埃及人如何在70天或更短的时间内制作木乃伊。
Part of the confusion came from the word mumia’s similarity to the word mummy—and also the fact that some ancient Egyptian mummies were embalmed using asphalt. Scientists now know that only some mummies were made with that process. But Western Europeans, fascinated by ancient finds in Egypt, ran with the concept—and mumia became associated with embalmed bodies instead of precious asphalt from a Persian mountain.
部分混淆来自mumia这个词与木乃伊这个词的相似性 - 以及一些古埃及木乃伊使用沥青防腐的事实。科学家们现在知道，只有一些木乃伊是用这个过程制成的。但是西欧人对埃及的古代发现着迷，于是接受了这个概念——mumia与经过防腐处理的尸体联系在一起，而不是来自波斯山的珍贵沥青。
Medical cannibalism 医学同类相食
Mistranslation and medical misunderstandings now combined with another fallacious, but longstanding, belief: that the human body contained properties that could heal other humans.
误译和医学上的误解现在与另一种错误但长期存在的信念相结合：人体含有可以治愈他人的特性。
For generations, humans had practiced what is now known as medical cannibalism in a bid for better health. From the belief that gladiators’ blood could heal epilepsy to the use of human fat in homemade remedies, medical cannibalism was alive and well in medieval Western Europe. With the arrival of mumia, by then also called mummy, medical practitioners believed they’d hit upon a new source of healing products made from the human body.
几代人以来，人类一直在实践现在所谓的医学同类相食，以寻求更好的健康。从相信角斗士的血液可以治愈癫痫到在自制疗法中使用人类脂肪，医学同类相食在中世纪的西欧盛行。随着mumia（当时也称为木乃伊）的到来，医生相信他们找到了一种新的人体治疗产品来源。
Mumia was prescribed for everything from headaches to heart attacks—and a run on mummies followed. Suddenly, people were ransacking Egyptian tombs not just for jewelry or pottery, but for the bodies within, and canny salesmen began collecting and selling mummies. Demand quickly outpaced supply, leading to a brisk trade in fake mummies. Bodysnatchers and unethical tradespeople began turning fresh cadavers and the bodies of executed criminals, enslaved people, and others into “mummies” in an attempt to capitalize on the craze.
Mumia被开了从头痛到心脏病发作的所有处方 - 随后对木乃伊疗法开始流行。突然之间，人们洗劫埃及的坟墓不仅仅是为了珠宝或陶器，而是为了里面的尸体，精明的推销员开始收集和出售木乃伊。 需求迅速超过供应，导致假木乃伊交易活跃。抢尸者和不道德的商人开始将新鲜的尸体和被处决的罪犯、被奴役的人和其他人的尸体变成“木乃伊”，试图利用这种热潮。
被误翻译和误理解的陶蛹，猜猜里面装的什么东西？
Although it is inscribed with the word mumia—a medicinal substance found on a Persian mountainside—this 18th-century apothecary vessel may have actually contained ground-up mummies. In an epic mistranslation, Western Europeans who read about mumia believed the substance was derived from embalmed bodies.
Bodysnatchers would “steal by night the bodies of such as were hanged,” wrote one observer, who noted the bodies were then embalmed with salt and drugs, dried in an oven, then ground into powder that apothecaries added to their home remedies.
一位观察家写道，抢尸者会“在夜间偷走被绞死的尸体”，他指出，尸体随后用盐和药物防腐，在烤箱中干燥，然后磨成粉末，药剂师添加到他们的家庭疗法中。
Victorians and Egyptomania 维多利亚时代和埃及狂热
Though skepticism about mumia grew throughout the centuries, the fascination with mummies only rose.
尽管几个世纪以来对木乃伊的怀疑越来越多，但对木乃伊的迷恋却只增不减。
Egyptomania was so pronounced in England during the Victorian Era that mummy unwrapping became a popular pastime in lecture halls, hospitals, and even private homes in the 19th century as British men returned home from archaeological expeditions, colonial postings, or sightseeing tours with bodies they’d looted from Egyptian tombs.
在维多利亚时代，埃及狂热在英国非常明显，以至于在19 th 世纪，当英国人带着他们从埃及坟墓中掠夺的尸体从考古探险，殖民哨所或观光旅游中返回家园时，木乃伊拆开成为演讲厅，医院甚至私人住宅的流行消遣。
(What was the mystery message written on this mummy's wrappings?)
（这个木乃伊的包装上写的神秘信息是什么？
Despite a ban on the export of antiquities, Europeans continued seeking out mummies both to satisfy their curiosity and provide components for medical remedies. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the use of mumia finally died off.
尽管禁止出口文物，但欧洲人继续寻找木乃伊，以满足他们的好奇心并提供医疗成分。直到19 th 世纪末，mumia的使用才最终消失。
Still, the world’s fascination with ancient Egyptian “remedies” remains. For proof, just look at the skin care shelf in your local store, where “magic” creams and other skin care items use ancient Egyptian motifs in their advertising material. We may no longer eat the byproducts of mummies to stay healthy, but the mystique of ancient Egypt remains as strong as ever.
尽管如此，世界对古埃及“补救措施”的迷恋仍然存在。为了证明这一点，只需看看您当地商店的护肤货架，那里的“神奇”面霜和其他护肤品在其广告材料中使用了古埃及图案。我们可能不再吃木乃伊的副产品来保持健康，但古埃及的神秘感仍然像以往一样强烈。