Archaeologists opened a 2,000-year-old black sarcophagus which people feared 'would unleash a curse'

When archaeologists unearthed a giant black sarcophagus in Alexandria, Egypt, which was thought to have lain beneath the ground undisturbed for over 2,000 years, there were fears over what opening it might bring.

Opening up the tombs and burial places of Ancient Egyptians has long been linked with a mystical 'curse' that will bring misfortune, woe and death upon those who dare disturb the dead.

The most famous curse is that of Tutankhamun, with a number of the team who discovered the young pharaoh's final resting place dying shortly afterwards, but plenty of other members of the expedition lived long, healthy and successful lives so who's to say if curses are real.

Anyhow, when archaeologists discovered the black granite sarcophagus, it set alarm bells ringing among the more superstitious folks.

There were fears that cracking open the coffin and having a look at what was inside would unleash some manner of curse upon the world, though fortunately that doesn't appear to have been the case.

PA

The sarcophagus, which was opened up in 2018, is thought to have been buried around the time of the early Ptolemaic period which began in 323BC, following the death of Alexander the Great.

Young Alex built a massive Macedonian empire which incorporated Egypt among his possessions, but then he made the rather poor career move of dying, leading his warlords to carve out chunks of his empire for themselves.

Egypt was won by a fellow called Ptolemy, who kicked off the Ptolemaic period in Egypt and nabbed his late boss's body for good measure.

While there were fears that opening up the ancient sarcophagus would let loose a curse, what was instead found were skeletons and some stagnant red water.

There were hopes that the sarcophagus would contain the body of Alexander the Great, but it actually had three skeletons of men believed by experts to have been soldiers inside, one of which was found to have been struck with an arrow.

Egyptian Ministry of Antiques

While the people inside don't seem to have been all that important in the grand scheme of history (sorry lads, not everyone can be an Alexander the Great), the discovery of their final resting place was fascinating.

And rather disgustingly, some people expressed an interest in drinking the stagnant red water that had been found pooling inside the black sarcophagus.

While they had hoped it might give them some manner of special powers slurping up the 2,000 year old corpse goo is nothing but disgusting, unhygienic and highly unwise.

Thousands signed a petition asking to be allowed to have a sip, but thankfully their requests were ignored.