Why did Pharaohs of egypt use curses?
Curses were not used in Royal tombs, nor most private tombs for that matter. Tomb curses from Egypt are EXTREMELY rare. However, they were used by the government against the Pharaoh’s enemies, and these took several forms. 1. Names of foreign peoples have been found written on pots which were then smashed, destroying the enemy. Curiously, this was done even with the names of minor powers who could in no way have presented a threat to Egypt or her interests. 2. Names and images of domestic individual enemies (or of anyone committed to the “memory hole”) were scratched out and destroyed to deny them any chance of an afterlife, in effect a perpetual curse that would destroy the immortal aspects (Ka and Ba) of the enemy. When referring to them in texts, the name was written deliberately distorted (often in such a way as to give it a negative meaning) or the individual was referred to via circumlocutions (i.e. “the great criminal”). As to why, for the same reason we use them today. As one w
