So the next time someone says that disease is a "modern" problem

[TZ]

Cite this utterly fascinating article:
Heart Disease Found in Egyptian Mummies
ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2009) — Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too.


Study results are appearing in the Nov. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and are being presented Nov. 17 at the Scientific Session of the American Heart Association at Orlando, Fla.

"Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socioeconomic status living as much as three millennia ago," says UC Irvine clinical professor of cardiology Dr. Gregory Thomas, a co-principal investigator on the study. "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117161017.htm
Does this mean the Egyptians ate a lot of HFCS? :P

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. They didn't do enough weed.

Vitamin D infused Weed cures all.

[lizerdbits]

2. Not sure that's surprising

For upper classes I'm guessing they were pretty sedentary and ate well in terms of quantity, though I'm certainly not that knowledgeable about the lifestyle of that era. :shrug:

[onager]

5. Maybe they couldn't be TOO sedentary...

I heard this story from a tour guide at the Saqqara pyramid\burial complex in Egypt:

After a Pharoah had ruled for 30 years, the priests declared a special jubilee year called the Heb-Sed.

The Pharoah had to prove he was still fit to rule. He did this by fighting a bull in the huge courtyard at Saqqara, with the priesthood assembled to watch.

If he goofed up this part of the ceremony and the bull didn't kill him, the priests did.

Assuming he killed the bull, he still had to ask the gods for permission to rule another 4 years.

If the answer was negative (as judged by the priests, naturally), he was removed from office immediately and killed, and the crown passed to his successor.

My grasp of Egyptian history is not too swift, so I'm not sure if this ceremony was still around during the reign of Ramses II (19th Dynasty). He ruled for about 68 years. The Saqqara complex was built by Pharoah Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty and he didn't rule long enough to have to fight the bull.

This does, IMO, shed some light on why Pharoah Akhnaten desperately wanted to break the political power of the priesthood. Which he did by inventing a new One True God, Ra.

But as history has shown us many times since the days of the Pharoahs, smashing an entrenched priesthood is never easy. They just have too much bullshit on their side (pun intended).

[trotsky]

3. Mercury did it.

Mercury that was sent back in time by the Illuminati in conjunction with the Lizard People working for Big Pharma, using special time-traveling chemtrail jets in order to spread thimerosal-laced vaccines in the atmosphere to try and give autism to all the ancestors of Atlantis and defeat the woo movement once and for all.

AND WE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT IF NOT FOR THOSE MEDDLING KIDS AND THEIR DOG!!!

[lizerdbits]

4. Epic win!

All those conspiracy theories PLUS a Scooby Doo reference. :headbang:

[laconicsax]

6. !

:wow: