In 1922 in the Egyptian “Valley of the Kings” a group of excavators led by the British archaeologist Howard Carter, discovered a sealed tomb. The mummy of Tutankhamun, which had been preserved almost intact, remains to this day one of the most important archaeological finds of all time. However, shortly after the burial chambers are opened, the financier and license holder Lord Carnavon dies, so the legend quickly spreads that the tomb is cursed! Subsequently, more deaths that followed among the members of the archaeological team add fuel to the hysteria caused about the curse surrounding the tomb.

This news caused an unprecedented “Egyptomania” with the result that the press in particular dealt with everything related to the Pharaoh. “The Curse of the Pharaoh, although it is 100% fiction, is one of the most well-known phenomena internationally,” says historian Rolf-Bernhard Esich. To this day the Pharaoh’s curse is popular, through novels, children’s books and movies. It is invoked in jokes even for tourists, who while traveling in Egypt were affected by simple gastrointestinal infections. Historian Esich organized the exhibition “From the Curse of the Pharaoh to Hate Speech” on curses and insults from the time of the Pharaoh to the digital age at the Museum of Communication in Berlin.

Curses and curses through the ages

Curses are probably as old as language itself and are part of basic human behavior. A kind of power is attributed to these words. “Of course there was swearing in Egyptian. But that they addressed insults or curses to the gravediggers is not certified.” Egyptologists have discovered nothing about it, Esich says.

So how did the Egyptians curse? There is no evidence on that either. Highly educated stone masons certainly did not carve into stone the daily curses of the pyramid builders. But there is evidence that refers to royal curses. The exhibition specifically presents a pair of flip-flops, an imitation of the gilded sandals from Tutankhamun’s tomb. Chained enemies are depicted on the soles, which of course were “stomped down” with each step, symbolic curses for the opponents.

In everyday language it is difficult to tell the difference between swearing and cursing. As with the royal sandals, the curse is directed at others. Blasphemy again is usually an offensive expression about a thing, a person or an institution. Both can turn against us.

Blasphemy is a cross-cultural element

There are many commonalities between cultures in this matter. “It’s always about taboos, like bodily excretions or sexual acts. For example the swear word “shit!” it appears in many languages,” recalls the philologist Esich, who is passionately concerned with the function of language. There are also cultures in which insults and curses are widespread in relation to relatives, as for example happens in Arabic or Russian.

Something similar happens with animals, whose characteristics are used to insult someone, even across countries and borders. In this exhibition visitors learn how the donkey in Turkey represents a cheeky fool or a fool depending on the content of the conversation. In Russia the supposed idiot is represented by the goat, while in Japan men who rage are called gorillas.

It is particularly interesting that when it comes to swearing, different parts of the brain are activated. When we process language this happens in the left hemisphere of the brain while for profanity the right hemisphere is activated, which is responsible for emotions. “We cannot suppress it as it is an involuntary expression. The brain does something without us being able to change it.” For example if you hit your thumb with a hammer suddenly, you will curse. Of course there are people who would not curse at all or very little as they have a high level of self-control.

In the digital age, self-restraint is especially absent on social media, as users give and take with abusive comments. Is this “hate speech” the new version of the age-old insult? “As far as the content is concerned, it’s clear no,” says Esich. “If one sees the insults uttered in the 16th century, for example, one will be disgusted.” The big difference with the past is the simple, global distribution via the internet. “It is therefore a matter of technique. However, as far as the tension is concerned, I can’t say that this has actually changed,” he points out in conclusion.