a summer exhibition on superstar pharaohs

In the long history of the pharaohs ofEgyptthere are “superstars”, like Tutankhamun, Nefertiti or Cleopatra. However, they were not all famous in their time. Tutankhamun, for example, was quickly forgotten. The Egyptians erased the traces of his reign, even breaking some statues. “Tutankhamun was completely rejected by the Egyptians and he suffered a damnatio memoriae since it was a time when there were many political and religious reforms and therefore the figure of Toutyearkhamon and his whole family, Nefertiti and Akhenaten, have been erased from Egyptian memory in a way”explains Enguerrand Lascols, heritage curator at the Mucem. An ironic situation, because EverythingyearKhamon is today one of the most famous pharaohs.

Over the millennia, the image of the star pharaohs has entered popular culture. In music, with I AMthe Marseille rap group, with its pseudonyms borrowed from theEgypt ancient, like Akhenaten. Or in advertising, with Cleopatra for a soap or Ramses for a chocolate powder. the mucemin Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhone)devotes its summer exhibition to the sovereigns ofEgyptwith a variable notoriety according to the 340 pharaohs. The exhibition is on view until October 17.