Seven of Egypt's most famous mummies and their incredible histories

Egypt is planning a royal procession of 22 mummies of pharaonic kings and queens to travel on Saturday from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum to a new home

A picture taken on November 28, 2017 shows Golden Mask of King Tutankhamun, on display at the Egyptian Museum in the capital Cairo. AFP

Detail of a granite statue of Tutankhamun on display April 21, 2010 at a preview of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs", an exhibition at Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York. Multicolored medical scans of the real mummy are reflected in the glass case. AFP

A statuette of Tutankhamun is displayed during the exhibition 'Tutankhamun, Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh' at La Villette in Paris, on March 21, 2019. AFP

This picture taken on January 31, 2019 shows the golden sarcophagus of the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun (1332–1323 BC), displayed in his burial chamber in his underground tomb (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile river opposite the southern Egyptian city of Luxor (650 kilometres south of the capital Cairo). AFP

The linen-wrapped mummy of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun, displayed in a climate-controlled glass case in his underground tomb A picture taken on January 31, 2019 shows tin the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile river opposite the southern Egyptian city of Luxor. AFP

Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, ca. 1479-1458 B.C., From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Senenmut Quarry, 1927-28. On the upper terrace of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri, the central sanctuary was dedicated to the god Amun-Re, whose principal place of worship was Karnak temple, located across the Nile, on the east bank of the river. Getty Images

The mummified remains of Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most famous female pharaoh, lie in a glass case after being unveiled at the Cairo Museum, June 27, 2007. AFP

Egyptian civilization, New Kingdom, Dynasty XXI - Limestone sphinx of Queen Hatshepsut. Getty Images

Polychrome relief of Pharaoh Thutmose III (h.1490-1436 BC), Sixth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom, Part from Thutmose Temple in Deir el-Bahari, Luxor Museum, Egypt. Getty Images

Thutmose III, relief, Temple of Amun, Karnak Temple Complex (Unesco World Heritage List, 1979). Egyptian Civilisation, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII. Getty Images

The Sphinx of Thutmose III, from Egypt and dated 1480-1425 on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, on show in the archaeological exhibition 'Pharaoh in Canaan: The Untold Story', at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, March 2, 2016. EPA

Mummified head of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III, Egypt, 1900. Getty Images

Statue of Thutmose III in ceremonial attire, Sanctuary of the sacred boat, Temple of Amun, Karnak Temple Complex (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1979). Egyptian Civilisation, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII. Getty Images

The statue of Seti I is seen after it was transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt September 21, 2019. Reuters

Painted relief of Sethos before Anubis (jackal headed god), Temple of Sethos I, Abydos, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, c1280 BC. Getty Images

The mummy of Seti I (1294-1279 BC) bears witness to the mastery of mummification techniques of embalmers of ancient Egypt during the New Empire, April 2006. Getty Images

The statue of King Ramses II is seen after it was transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt September 21, 2019. Reuters

Egyptian Kamal Ahmed Mahran, an antiquities guardian, walks out of the 3200-year-old Abu Simbel temple in between the four colossal statues of the pharaoh king Ramses II, January 13, 2002.

A visitor takes a picture of Pharaoh King Ramses II's statue at Karnak temple January 13, 2002. Reuters

A view of the wooden coffin of King Ramses II on display in the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, April 16, 2019. EPA

The mummy of Ramses II (1301-1235 BC), son of Sethy at Cairo Museum, Egypt, April 2006. The mummy was discovered with the other royal mummies in the Deir el Bahari hiding place. Getty Images

A picture taken on June 18, 2020 shows a statue of Queen Meritamen, one of the daughters of Rameses II, who became his Great Royal Wife after the death of her mother, Nefertari, at the museum in the Red Sea Egyptian resort of Hurghada. AFP

Mummy of Meritamen, daughter of Nefertari and Ramesses the Great, and later Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great. Getty Images

Statuette representing the Queen Ahmose-Nefertari (circa 1570-1505 B.C.)Getty Images

Ahmose-Nefertari, Wallpainting from a tomb of Thebes c1200BC. Ahmose-Nefertari of Ancient Egypt was the first Queen of the 18th Dynasty and mother of king Amenhotep I and may have served as his regent when he was young. Getty Images

The mummy of Ahmose-Nefertari, queen of pharaoh Ahmose of the 18th dynasty. Courtesy G Elliot Smith

Some of the most famous mummies in the world were found in Egypt, having been excavated from Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

Now the mummified remains of 22 ancient Egyptian kings and queens will be paraded through Cairo's streets on Saturday, in a royal procession dubbed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.

The event is the culmination of the Ministry of Antiquities' colossal revamp of the display of its archaeological discoveries.

Its impressive mummy collection is being relocated from the 119-year-old Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square to the National Egyptian Civilisation Museum in Egypt's medieval capital Fustat.

The mummies of 18 kings and four queens will travel on themed floats in order from the oldest – with Seqenenre Tao II, who reigned over southern Egypt around 1,600BC, leading the procession.

The 12th-century BC ruler Ramses IX will come in last.

Ramses II and Hatshepsut will also make the journey.

Most of the mummies have been on display in a small room in the Egyptian Museum since the 1950s.

They will now be displayed in a purpose-built environment, each with a sarcophagus.

Egypt will also inaugurate another museum near the Giza pyramids in coming months, which will house the mummy of perhaps the most famous pharaoh, Tutankhamun.

Here we look at seven famous mummies discovered in Egypt over the past 100 years.

1. Tutankhamun

Pharaoh Tutankhamun. AFP

In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the mummy of pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Despite several apparent grave robberies, the tomb was crammed with ancient treasures, including jewellery, gilded shrines and a solid gold funerary mask.

The discovery prompted a worldwide fascination with Egyptology.

After decades of speculating whether the child king was murdered, a computer analysis using wave penetration proved that he had died from injuries sustained while hunting.

King Tutankhamun became pharaoh at the age of nine and ruled for approximately 10 years.

The discovery of his tomb sparked the myth of the mummy's curse when Carter's partner and financier, Lord Carnarvon, died of an infected mosquito bite several months later.

2. Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut at the Cairo Museum. AFP

Hatshepsut was one of the most prominent female figures in Egyptian history, establishing new trade routes and undertaking ambitious building projects before dying in her 50s in 1458BC after a reign of nearly two decades.

The widowed queen of the pharaoh Thutmose II, she was made regent after his death, according to custom, in 1479BC to rule for her young stepson, Thutmose III, until he came of age.

Within a few years, however, she proclaimed herself pharaoh. She was also discovered by Carter, in 1902, but her sarcophagus, unlike Tutankhamun's, was empty.

Carter unearthed a separate tomb that contained two coffins – one of the queen's wet nurse and another of an unidentified woman. In 2006, Egyptian archaeologist and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs Zahi Hawass and his team sought to determine whether the other woman could be the missing queen.

A molar tooth found in a wooden box bearing Hatshepsut’s name was a perfect fit to a gap in the mummy’s upper jaw, leading Dr Hawass to conclude that the search for Hatshepsut was over.

3. Thutmose III

A relief of Thutmose III. UIG / Getty Images

Thutmose III was the son of Thutmose II; his mother was one of the king’s secondary wives or a lesser harem queen, named Isis.

Thutmose III wasted no time making a name for himself, once he was out from under the shadow of the regent-turned-pharaoh Hatshepsut.

A few months after coming to power, Thutmose III marched with an army of 20,000 soldiers to Megiddo, in modern-day northern Israel – a site better known by its Greek name, Armageddon. Scribes travelled with Thutmose III’s forces and recorded the campaign’s details, an invaluable chronicle now known as the Annals of Thutmose III.

He established a reputation as a brilliant military strategist, by transforming Egypt from an inward-looking kingdom into a triumphant, conquering nation. Historians called him the "Napoleon of Egypt".

4. Seti I

The mummy of Seti I. Getty Images

Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was a pharaoh of the New Kingdom 19th Dynasty of Egypt, the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.

In the early years of his reign, Seti led his army north to restore Egyptian prestige, which had been partly lost during the troubled years of the late 18th Dynasty.

He battled in northern Palestine and Syria and fought at least one battle with the Hittite king Muwatallis. He then concluded a peace treaty that may have established the frontier at Kadesh on the Orontes River between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains.

Seti fortified Egypt's frontier, opened mines and quarries, dug wells and rebuilt temples and shrines that had fallen into decay or been damaged. He also took over the construction of the great Karnak temple, begun by his father.

Seti's tomb is described as the finest discovered in the Valley of the Kings.

5. Ramesses II

The mummy of Ramesses II. Getty Images

Also known as Ramesses the Great, he was one of the most well-known Egyptian pharaohs because of his campaigns and numerous monuments.

Because of the many battles he fought, Ramesses’ body showed evidence of healed injuries and arthritis; his arteries were hardened; and he had a large dental infection that might have killed him.

Ramesses II reigned for almost 60 years and died when he was about 90. It is also said that he fathered more than 100 children.

His mummy was discovered in 1881 in the Valley of the Kings. Ramesses II's body was flown to Paris in 1974 to be treated for a fungal infection, and was issued an Egyptian passport, which listed his occupation as "King (deceased)".

6. Meritamen

The mummy of Meritamen, daughter of Nefertari and Ramesses the Great. Sygma via Getty Images

Because incestuous marriages were common in ancient empires, Meritamen was both daughter and later great royal wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great, along with her half-sister Bintanath.

Meritamen was a singer of Amun, priestess of Hathor, sistrum-player of Mut and a dancer of Horus, and held several titles including Magnificent in the Palace; the Beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands; The One Who Fills the Forecourt with the Scent of Her Fragrance; and Superior of the Harem of Amun-Ra. Meritamen was buried in the Valley of the Queens. She is mostly known for her beautiful limestone statue, the White Queen, found at the Ramesseum, the temple complex her father built. She also appears on the walls of the temple of Abu Simbel, with other family members.

7. Ahmose-Nefertari

The mummy of Ahmose-Nefertari. Courtesy G Elliot Smith

Ahmose-Nefertari was born in the ancient city of Thebes during the latter part of the 17th Dynasty, when her grandfather Senakhtenre Ahmosea reigned.

She became the great royal wife of Ahmose I, with whom she had at least three sons. Her son Amenhotep I would eventually succeed his father to the throne.

She was also the mother of two daughters who became royal wives, Ahmose-Meritamun and Ahmose-Sitamun.

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