Each week in October, University of Manchester Egyptologist Nicky Nielsen will share an intriguing aspect of ancient Egyptian beliefs and traditions surrounding death and the afterlife. On the morning of Oct. 16, 1817, Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni entered a narrow rock-cut fissure in the Valley of the Kings. As he navigated a long, sloping passageway, the light of Belzoni’s torch illuminated beautiful and, to the Italian, strange symbols covering both walls and ceiling. He had found the tomb of the Egyptian king Seti I (1323-1279 BC). “I may call…
