 Even today, Egypt is still synonymous with the legends of the Ancient Egyptians. Names like Ramses and Cleopatra, Tutankhamun and Nefertiti, echo through the art and literature of the world's different cultures. The temples, the mummies and the pyramids, with their mysterious origins still fascinates school children, grown-ups, and even Egyptologists.
From their remarkably advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and mummification to the sleek beauty of their manuscripts, jewellery and monuments, the Great Pharaonic Kingdoms left a vast and sophisticated legacy of mythology, arts and sciences over the course of 5,000 years, that still touch our modern lives.
Mummies
Religion was part of everyday life. The great enduring symbols and masterpieces of Ancient Egypt were all part of an elaborate preparation for the journey which began after death. From Hollywood blockbusters to oriental novelists and from classical verses to video games, the figure of the mummy has fascinated audiences worldwide for centuries. Many modern embalming techniques and methods use the same processes perfected thousands of years ago.
Most mummies were found in the Valley of the Kings, the most renowned necropolis of them all. Home to Tutankhamun's famous tomb as well as Seti I, Ramses the Great and Tuthmosis III, and carved deep into the remote limestone hills at Thebes, the burial city for the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom was designed to be inaccessible to robbers. Unfortunately, some robbers persevered, lusting for gold and Lapiz Lazuli encrusted treasures. Luckily, a few tombs managed to escape their attention and so treasures from Yuya, Taya and Tuthankhamun's tombs survived. Many of them can be seen in Cairo's famous museum of Egyptology today.
 The Ancient Egyptians sophisticated knowledge of embalming is nothing short of astonishing. Firstly, all of the internal organs were carefully removed, mummified and sealed in canopic jars, but the heart was left inside the body, as Anubis, god of embalming, needed to weigh the dead heart to judge its owners honesty.
A special combination of dehydrating salts known as natron was then left on the body for 40 days to draw out all the moisture. Once dried, the mummy was anointed with oils to make it watertight, and then rubbed with gum, cedar oil, wax and more natron. Stuffed with sawdust, draped in funerary jewellery and bandaged in linen, the mummy was finally sealed in a succession of coffins inside an ornately decorated sarcophagus.
Pharaohs
Tutankhamun, Ramses, Nefertiti… so many familiar names that evoke ancient Egypt at once. Over more than 3,000 years and 30 dynasties, their social organisation has perpetuated one of the richest cultures in human history.
Queen Hatshepsut
Although not the first, nor the last woman to rule Egypt, and certainly not as well-known as the later Cleopatra, Queen Hatshepsut was the greatest and longest ruling Egyptian Queen. In her royal portraits and statues, she reinvented herself as a bearded male pharaoh, symbolising her authority in a male world. She died in 1458 after fifteen years of prolific monument building and world exploration. Her successors tried to erase her from history, but in typical fashion, she's defied them all and persevered.
Queen Nefertiti
Queen Nefertiti's elegant, chiselled face captivated the world when her now iconic limestone bust resurfaced in Amarna in 1912. She came to power as the wife of king Akhenaten, but their reign was controversial because of their devotion to the cult of the sun-god Aten. Their army of enemies destroyed almost all traces of their time in power. Today, the location of Queen Nefertiti's mummy and the details of her life and reign still remain a mystery.
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun's magnificent golden death mask is one of Egypt's most iconic treasures. A boy king, Tutankhamun was a minor ruler. He was only 9-years-old when the fate of the empire fell upon his boyish shoulders. He ruled the country for 10 years and died when he was still a teenager.
Though he made his own mark on the temples of Karnak and Luxor, we know very little about his life. It's his perfectly preserved tomb and its glamorous horde of golden treasures which made him a household name, when Howard Carter discovered it in 1922.
 Ramses II
Disputably the most powerful of all the pharaohs, Ramses the Great changed the face of Egypt with his architectural ambitions. Over a 67-year reign, he built more monuments to the glory of the gods and to himself than to any who came before or after him. Heroic on the battlefield, he not only expanded Egypt's borders but brokered the world's first ever peace accord, fending off the encroaching Hittites and creating a stable, unified country.
His commissions include Abu Simbel with its magnificent hypostyle hall, the Ramesseum at Thebes and his funerary complex with its collection of crumbling colossi.
Ahmose I
It was Ahmose I who raised a rebellion against the occupying Hyksos and ushered in the New Kingdom in 1539. Ahmose I left a fine legacy through his temples built at Abydos and Karnak. But his greatest and most lasting legacy is his military might, recapturing and expanding the empire's lost borders. King of Egypt, he died after 25 years of reign. His tomb is now lost somewhere beneath Dra Abu el-Naga, but his mummy still lies in the Luxor Museum. |
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