# What Would an Ancient Egyptian Think of Today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888 "2008-12-12T15:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/1 "2008-12-12T15:47:32Z")
Suppose through a miracle of genetic engineering/cloning, and a computer assisted recovery of data; we were able to revive King Tutankahmon. So here he is, in 21st century USA. No doubt, some things would be familiar to him-we still eat, wear sandals, and have buildings that he would find familiar. But the rest-TV, wireless phones, the Internet, airplanes-what would e think of them-would he ascribe them to magic? And (more importantly)-wold he still belive in his religion? If so, would he regard us as gods or demons? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/2 "2008-12-12T17:05:45Z")
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - - -Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of The Future”, 1961 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/3 "2008-12-12T17:07:03Z")
I think the obvious rationalization would be that he’s died and gone to the afterlife, but that it wasn’t quite what he’d been taught to expect. He could probably get the hang of things like airplanes and automobiles, given time. He’d have no idea how they worked, but I don’t think many Americans have that deep an understanding of how they work either. But although they’d look/sound/smell very strange to him, he’d be able to understand that they were kinds of chariots and boats. Egyptian mythology even involves a boat that sails across the sky carrying the sun, so an airplane wouldn’t be too far out there. Digital technology would be much more difficult to grasp, and might indeed seem like magic. I think it would quickly be obvious to King Tut that modern people are neither gods nor demons, that we’re just people. Foreigners who dress and speak in a strange way, but still people. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/4 "2008-12-12T17:35:14Z")
Thing is, even today there are people who grow up in remote subsitence farming villages that have technology not much different than what existed 1000 years ago. What happens when a campesino from a remote Central American or Amazon village moves to the big city? Do they think the people in big cities are gods and/or demons? Do they think cars and phones and four story buildings are magic? It seems to me that the reaction to modern technolgy wouldn’t be very different between a person from the distant past and a person from an isolated subsistance farming village or hunter-gatherer village. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/5 "2008-12-12T17:55:25Z")
King Tut would barely recognize much of 21st-century _Egypt_, to be honest (not that Egypt is terribly far behind the U.S. — I just don’t see why the OP revolves around the U.S. particularly). There would be no slaves, for one, and no pharaohs. The widespread use of metals would be foreign to him, never mind plastics and asphalt and cement. Feats of engineering would astonish him that even the Romans considered routine — wide unsupported arches, domes, long flat paved roads, city-wide water system. We have a wide variety of foods available year-round thanks to refrigeration and global shipping, foods he would never have seen. Tut would never have seen _money,_ at least not in the form of hard coins (though surely he would be familiar with the concept of barter). Some things would be recognizable in the abstract: Alexandria would still be a port city handling cargo from overseas; there would be haves and have-nots (though it would not be immediately apparent to him which was which). There would be writing and paper, which he had seen before. There would be farming and foods to eat, livestock to slaughter, shoes and clothing, and death and sadness, and war. The Nile would still flood. He would recognize a huge container ship was still a ship, but it would not be immediately apparent that the ropes were made of hemp, or nylon, or twisted steel strands; he would recognize that a man was digging a hole, but he might not realize that the shovel was a mass-manufactured item stamped out by the thousand in a factory by a machine. At a guess I would say the hardest thing for him to accept is that he was no longer worshipped as a born leader, that we do not believe our leaders descend from the sun god. If I spoke ancient Egyptian I’m sure I’d hear him say, “Kids these days have no respect for their elders…” ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/6 "2008-12-12T18:05:10Z")
He might take offense to that one Katrina and the Waves song. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/7 "2008-12-12T18:28:23Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Thing is, even today there are people who grow up in remote subsitence farming villages that have technology not much different than what existed 1000 years ago. What happens when a campesino from a remote Central American or Amazon village moves to the big city? Do they think the people in big cities are gods and/or demons? Do they think cars and phones and four story buildings are magic? > > It seems to me that the reaction to modern technolgy wouldn’t be very different between a person from the distant past and a person from an isolated subsistance farming village or hunter-gatherer village. [There was a story recently about a plane that flew over a tiny tribe of people in the middle of the Amazon.](http://flickr.com/search/?q=uncontacted+tribe&l=cc&ss=0&ct=0&w=all) In the pictures, you can clearly see the people pointing up at the plane the photographer is in. Now, months later, I wonder what the hell they think happened. Are they still talking about the weird, shiny object in the sky? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/8 "2008-12-12T22:03:13Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > He might take offense to that one Katrina and the Waves song. Do you mean “that one [Bangles](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bangles/walk+like+an+egyptian_20012503.html) song”? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/9 "2008-12-12T22:05:22Z")
After he eventually realizes he’s not in his homeland-and-time anymore, he will start asking questions about everything new to him. Surely, what he thinks will then depend on what he is told. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/10 "2008-12-12T22:08:23Z")
I don’t think he’d be too crazy about [Steve Martin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP7AJiQM2RI), either/ ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/11 "2008-12-12T22:12:35Z")
When I saw the thread title, the first thing that came to mind was Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, [_Some Words with a Mummy_](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Some_Words_with_a_Mummy). A humorous treatment of the subject, but a fun and interesting read nonetheless. If Poe’s speculative prognostication is correct, I don’t think King Tut would be very impressed with our fashion sense; perhaps even less so in 2008 than in 1845. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/12 "2008-12-12T22:26:59Z")
Not to hijack, but I’ve often wondered what George Washington would think if he could somehow be revived today. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/13 "2008-12-12T22:40:27Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#): > > If Poe’s speculative prognostication is correct, I don’t think King Tut would be very impressed with our fashion sense; perhaps even less so in 2008 than in 1845. 😃 Tut might be pretty disappointed with modern women’s clothing too. Didn’t women in Ancient Egypt often go topless or wear see-through gowns? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/14 "2008-12-12T23:11:08Z")
He would think “Where are all my **slaves**?” ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/15 "2008-12-12T23:36:03Z")
No, he’d think “Wow! What a lot of slaves I have now!” ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/16 "2008-12-13T00:21:45Z")
> [@Spit](#): > > [There was a story recently about a plane that flew over a tiny tribe of people in the middle of the Amazon.](http://flickr.com/search/?q=uncontacted+tribe&l=cc&ss=0&ct=0&w=all) In the pictures, you can clearly see the people pointing up at the plane the photographer is in. > Now, months later, I wonder what the hell they think happened. Are they still talking about the weird, shiny object in the sky? That tribe had contact with other tribes in the area that HAD been familiarized with the modern world, so while it was shocking - I doubt they remain mystified. Of interest here: > **[Cargo cult](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult)** > > Cargo cults are spiritual and political movements that arose among indigenous Melanesians following Western colonisation of the region in the early 20th century. The first documented cargo cults were religious movements that foretold followers would imminently receive an abundance of (often Western) food and goods (the "cargo") brought by their ancestors.: 11 : 83, 90  Cargo cults have a wide diversity of beliefs and practices, but typically (though not universally) include: charismatic Anthro... ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/17 "2008-12-13T07:03:20Z")
[http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/pharaoh.html](http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/pharaoh.html) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/18 "2008-12-13T13:13:46Z")
At a guess I would say the hardest thing for him to accept is that he was no longer worshipped as a born leader, that we do not believe our leaders descend from the sun god. If I spoke ancient Egyptian I’m sure I’d hear him say, “Kids these days have no respect for their elders…” I find this strange-Tutankhamen was 19 when he died-still a youth. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/19 "2008-12-13T13:31:55Z")
The Ancient Egyptians were Pagan. Modern ones practice Islam. Wait until he gets a load of _that!_ Egyptians, practicing an Abrahamic faith? He’d try to put a stop to _that_, right away! We’d have to call out the cops to rescue him. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888/20 "2008-12-13T13:44:13Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > Not to hijack, but I’ve often wondered what George Washington would think if he could somehow be revived today. Probably something along the lines of “Splinter-free dentistry ? Gosh darned brilliant !”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-an-ancient-egyptian-think-of-today/476888.md?page=2)