Osiris, the oldest and greatest of the Egyptian gods, has long reigned in the Lands of the Mummies. But, before the deceased is welcomed to his/her eternal afterlife, he appears before a panel of 14 judges to make an accounting for his deeds during life.

Then, the jackal god Anubis leads the deceased to a scale. Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased again the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth and justice. If the heart of the deceased outweighs the feather, then the deceased has a heart which is heavy with evil deeds. Ammit, instantly devours the heart, condemning the deceased to oblivion for eternity. But if the feather outweighs the heart, then the deceased had led a righteous life and may be pre-sented before Orisis to join the afterlife.

Once accepted into the afterlife, the deceased needs something to occupy his time. And boy, these mummies are busy.

When I can pull myself away from the Mummy Maze (free from http://www.popcap.com/) I realized there are mummies everywhere. They're indestructible (or nearly so). The cheat codes at http://www.cheatcc.com/gb/mummy.html will help you on your Game Boy, but the only thing that will save you from Mummy Rot is a remove disease spell.

"Mummies attack intruders without pause or mercy. They never attempt to communicate with their enemies and never retreat. An encounter with a mummy can end only with the utter destruction of one side or the other."

--Monster Manual, D&D III

The great thing about gaming in the desert is that it gives Bob & I a chance to use our dry humor, though you can't horse around with camels.

The Playstation tips for Mummy recommends exploring the pits as many hidden treasures lurk therein. And the treasure is what taking the risk is all about. Every mummy worth his bandages has a lot of gold, gems, and other neat stuff.

The largest collection of antiquities Egypt has ever sent to the United States -- including a life-size reconstruction of the burial chamber of the pharaoh known as "the Napoleon of Egypt" -- is on display at the National Gallery of Art. The exhibit called "The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt," will comprise 115 artifacts, twice as many as "Treasures of Tutankhamen."