Ancient Egypt has been always a source of admiration and amazement due to their remaining great monuments which have survived thousands of years to remain beautiful till this moment. One of the great mysteries of ancient Egyptian civilization is the technique they used for mummification to keep their great kings and warriors in good shape after all these years.
In this article we will show you some photos of ancient Egyptian mummies that survived for thousands of year keeping the last moment in their lives alive to tell their stories to the world.
This great warrior and wise king (Seti I) who died 1279 BC was the son of (Ramesses I) and the father of (Ramesses II). He was a pharaoh of the New Kingdom Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt who took his name from the Egyptian god (Set or Seth - the god of deserts, violence, and disorder). He returned order after (Akhenaten's) religious reform and reconquered most of the disputed territories for Egypt and generally concluded his military campaigns with victories.
The mummy of (Seti I) is perfectly preserved and looks like a sleeping wise man after more than three thousand years of his death.
Rules for 66 years after his father (Seti I) and remains one of the longest reigns in history. He lived for more than 90 years with an iron grip and great military record of victories in both the north (the land of Canaan) and the south (land of Nubia).
On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. His body was later moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881, and is now on display in the Egyptian Museum. Many theories we based on the long reign he held and the autopsy of the well preserved mummy claimed him to be the famous (Pharoh of Moses) but nothing were proven for sure. With this golden hair and calm look on his face, Ramesses II is still admired and respected in his death as he used to be in his life.
She was the daughter of the famous (Yuya) and (Tjuyu). Yuya was a noble land owner and he fell in love with Tjuyu (we will come to their story later on). Tiye is connected to many great Egyptian kings as she became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun (the one with the famous golden mask). Her mummy was identified as "The Elder Lady" found in the tomb of Amenhotep II in 2010.
With great black hair and dark skin, Queen Tiys's mummy is still inspiring us about how ancient Egyptians took care of their look and wanted to look beautiful even in their graves.
His name means (the living image of Amun - the god of son). Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten (who was called formerly: Amenhotep IV) and one of Akhenaten's sisters, or possibly one of his cousins, (Ancient Egyptian kings were common to marry their sisters to keep their bloodline). As a prince, he was known as Tutankhaten before he changed his name when becoming a king. He ascended to the throne in 1333 BC, at the age of nine or ten, his reign didn't last long as he died at 18 years old probably due to murder with a blunt hit over his head.
Although Tutakhamun wasn't popular with his accomplishments due to his short lived reign, he is well famously known world wide due to the discovery of his full tomb in 1922 which survived thefts and kept all of it's original content. One of the major contents of the well preserved tomb was the famous golden mask that shows to public at the Egyptian museum.
Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne the previous year as a child of about two years old. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III’s father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.
She was the second known female ruler of ancient Egypt after (Neithhotep) who ruled 1600 years earlier. Hatshepsut's mummy can be seen smiling after 3500 years of her death giving us hope for the future.
Thutmose IV was born to Amenhotep II and Tiaa but was not actually the crown prince. He transcended his elder brother claiming the accomplishment of a dream he had where sphinx has spoken to him enlightening him with light of wisdom. He later on restored the Sphinix of Giza and subsequent commission of the Dream Stele.
Thutmose's mummy can be seen dreaming and smiling in peace. British scientists claimed that early death of Thutmose and also reported early deaths of his previous family members could be referred to genetic temporal epilepsy which is associated with extensive dreams and spirituality.
Yuya was noble man not a king but he was treated and buried like kings besides his wife (Tjuyu) in an eternal love scene, their daughter, Tiye, became the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III.
The tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu was one of the most spectacular tombs ever found in the Valley of the Kings despite Yuya not even being a pharaoh as we said. Although the burial site was robbed in antiquity, many objects not considered worth plundering by the robbers remained.
Both the mummies of Tuya and Tjuyu were largely intact and were in an amazing state of preservation. Their faces in particular were relatively undistorted by the process of mummification, and provide an extraordinary insight into the actual appearance of the deceased while alive.
Yuya came from the Upper Egyptian town of Akhmim, where he probably owned an estate and was a wealthy member of the town's local nobility. His origins remain unclear. The study of his mummy showed that Yuya had been a man of taller than average stature and the anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith considered that his appearance was not typically Egyptian.
Taking into account his unusual name and features, some Egyptologists believe that Yuya was of foreign origin. Yuya's story could be linked to the story of (Youssef - Joseph) who is considered a prophet in Islamic religion and who also was a nobility and a financial adviser to the king. Prophet Youssef was famous of his beauty and that we can make sure is common between him and Yuya who looks beautifully preserved fair haired as well.
In the latter picture, the mummy of Tjuyu, Yuya's wife.
The famous powerful ancient Egyptian hero who restored Egyptian lands from Hyksos invaders who took almost upper half of Egyptian lands.
During his reign, Ahmose completed the conquest and expulsion of the Hyksos from the Nile Delta, restored Theban rule over the whole of Egypt and successfully reasserted Egyptian power in its formerly subject territories of Nubia and Canaan. He then reorganized the administration of the country, reopened quarries, mines and trade routes and began massive construction projects of a type that had not been undertaken since the time of the Middle Kingdom. This building program culminated in the construction of the last pyramid built by native Egyptian rulers. Ahmose's reign laid the foundations for the New Kingdom, under which Egyptian power reached its peak. His reign is usually dated to the mid-16th century BC
When Thutmose II died, Thutmose III was too young to rule (one or two years old). Hatshepsut became his regent, soon his co-regent, and shortly thereafter declared herself to be the pharaoh while never denying kingship to Thutmose III. Thutmosis III had little power over the empire while Hatshepsut exercised the formal titulary of kingship. Her rule was quite prosperous and marked by great advancements. When Thutmose III reached a suitable age and demonstrated the capability, she appointed him to head her armies.
Thutmose III reigned from 1479 BC to 1425 BC. He is widely considered a military genius by historians as he conducted at least 15 campaigns in 20 years. He was an active expansionist ruler, sometimes called Egypt's greatest conqueror or "the Napoleon of Egypt." He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia during seventeen known military campaigns.
He was the first pharaoh after Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against Mitanni. His campaign records were transcribed onto the walls of the temple of Amun at Karnak (Luxor, Egypt). He is consistently regarded as one of the greatest of Egypt's warrior pharaohs who made Egypt an international superpower by creating an empire that stretched from the Asian regions of southern Syria and Canaan to the east, to Nubia to the south.
In most of his campaigns, his enemies were defeated town by town until being beaten into submission. The preferred tactic was to subdue a much weaker city or state one at a time resulting in surrender of each fraction until complete domination was achieved. He was persistent and patient and had steady feet towards domination of the entire region surrounding Egypt.
These mummies and many others denote the greatness and commitment of ancient Egyptians towards keeping their memories alive for the future generations to learn from their greatness to remain one of the greatest civilizations ever existed on earth.