Mummy Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer 2,250 Years After Death

A Ptolemaic mummy at the National Archaeology Museum in Lisbon was finally diagnosed with prostate cancer after dying more than 2,250 years ago.

According to the Daily Mail, the mummy would have been between the age of 51 and 60 when he died between the years 285 and 230 BC.

“It is the oldest known case of prostate cancer in ancient Egypt and the‭ ‬second‭ ‬oldest case in history,‭” said Dr. ‬Prates, a radiologist at Imagens Medicas Integradas in Lisbon.

Well that’s interesting, but how does this help scientists find a cure? Does knowing how long prostate cancer has been around somehow make it easier for scientists to know what causes it? Did this mummy consent to having his diagnosis released to the world? Did he have proper insurance to cover all these expensive tests?

These are very ridiculous questions, but still, we’re curious to know the answers to the first two.

If this old mummy can help scientists understand prostate cancer so they can finally find a cure for it, then I’m all for more testing. But somehow, these tests just seem to be telling us what we already know: that prostate cancer has been around for a very long time and we need a cure for it, along with a long list of other cancers.

Agonising end: The mummy, known as M1, was a 5ft 5ins adult male who died a painful death at the hands of the disease aged between 51 and 60

Oldest case in Egypt: The 2,250-year-old Ptolemaic mummy, which revealed tell-tale signs of prostate cancer under high-powered digital imaging