Cairo International Airport’s cargo terminal received an ancient ptolemaic casket including the mummy of a rat on Tuesday, which had been in Germany for more than 50 years.
Ahmed al-Rawy, a customs official at the airport, said the mummy arrived aboard a plane from Frankfurt, and will be handed over to the Egyptian Museum.
The shipment is the result of contact from German museum officials who suspected the mummy had been illegally smuggled out of Egypt. The golden rat symbolized popular submissiveness during the Era of Decay, Rawy said. The casket had been on display in Leipzig, Germany, since 1997.
The casket is covered with layers of gypsum and gold, and had been under restoration in Germany, Rawy said.
Edited translation from MENA.
