Curses and Plagues: fact or fiction?
A modern idiom speaks of people making themselves sick with worry. As with so many aphorisms that are casually used, this linkage of stress and illness embodies a deep truth, a truth that may already have been familiar to the ancients. It is an archaeological fact that most tombs of the Pharaohs had a curse written above the door, to deter intruders, warning that whoever opened or entered the tomb would die. ‘Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of the Pharaoh.’ (Budge 2001) For centuries such curses have been dismissed as superstitious nonsense, but recent evidence shows that unwittingly or otherwise, the ancient Egyptians had harnessed a powerful tool: danger whether real or perceived can have devastating effect psychology can have on the immune system. Psychological stress may reduce the effectiveness of the immune system, thus increasing the risk of infection or disease (Dhabhar et al., 1996; Kang et al., 1996). The ancient Egyptians may have in fact been famil
