Egyptian Tombs

• Type: Ancient magical and historical burial sites
• Location: Egypt
• Owner/Residents: Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs; guarded by curses, spirits, and enchanted creatures.
• Key Features: Known to contain immense historical treasure; protected by complex and often dangerous Dark Magic and enchantments.

The Egyptian tombs are ancient burial sites created for Egyptian royalty, such as Pharaohs. In the Wizarding World, these tombs are renowned for holding vast quantities of gold and valuable magical artifacts, making them a significant interest for treasure-seeking organizations like Gringotts Wizarding Bank. To protect the treasures within, the tombs are heavily guarded by intricate and powerful curses. These protective enchantments are notoriously dangerous, requiring highly skilled wizards known as Curse-Breakers to identify, counter, and dismantle them. Bill Weasley worked in this profession for Gringotts after graduating from Hogwarts. The dangers are real; Ron Weasley recounted how his older brothers, Fred Weasley and George Weasley, once tried to shut Percy Weasley inside a pyramid, an act he described as genuinely perilous due to the curses. The nature of these curses can vary, from causing physical mutations to being outright lethal.

The Egyptian tombs play a crucial, albeit indirect, role in the events of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the summer of 1993, the Weasley family won seven hundred Galleons from the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. They used the money to travel to Egypt to visit Bill Weasley. A photograph of the nine Weasleys standing in front of a large tomb was featured in the Daily Prophet. This newspaper eventually made its way to Azkaban, where it was seen by the prisoner Sirius Black. In the photo, Sirius recognized Peter Pettigrew—a man he believed to be dead—in his illegal Animagus form as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers, perched on Ron's shoulder. This discovery was the direct catalyst for Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban, as he sought to hunt Pettigrew down at Hogwarts. The Weasleys' trip, and the photograph taken at an Egyptian tomb, therefore set the entire plot of the third book in motion.

The canonical novels do not detail the specific interior layout or name any particular rooms within the Egyptian tombs. However, based on their function as burial sites and the work of Curse-Breakers, it can be inferred that they contain burial chambers, antechambers, hidden passages, and treasure vaults laden with enchanted artifacts and gold.

• The concept of cursed Egyptian tombs filled with treasure is a well-established trope in adventure fiction, which J.K. Rowling incorporates into the economy and history of the Wizarding World.
• In the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban video game, Hermione Granger mentions having read about a complex Reviving Charm that ancient Egyptians used on mummies (video game).
• The existence of Uagadou, the largest wizarding school located in Africa, suggests a long and rich magical history on the continent, with ancient Egyptian magic likely being a prominent and powerful branch of this tradition (Pottermore).