Egyptian Figures

The Figures of Egypt take many forms – from living beings to legendary gods, and even hybrids of the two – pharaohs were treated as gods too. And as much history was written in stone, we have many records of who ruled, who was worshipped, and even who made the beer! Some of the famous figures still exist today, in the form of mummified remains. Here you can explore them all.

Aswan temple, completed by Ramses II of the Ramessid Dynasty. Source: Konstantin / Adobe Stock

9 February, 2023 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

The Ramessid Dynasty: A Golden Era in Ancient Egypt

Throughout its very long history, ancient Egypt's fate has always been decided by the great ruling dynasties. A powerful state and empire needs an equally powerful ruler, and ever since the...

6 February, 2023 - 17:03 dbcarroll526

Egyptian Obelisks Unplugged: The Lost Chord Divine

The magic of ancient Egypt, with its megalithic monuments and the mysteries they symbolize, still mesmerizes millions of people 2,500 years after its decline as an ancient cradle of civilization...

Embalming scene in underground chamber. Source: © Nikola Nevenov / Nature

3 February, 2023 - 01:00 Nathan Falde

Analysis Reveals Secret Recipe of Ancient Egyptian Embalming Fluids

Egyptian mummification has been a source of fascination for historians, archaeologists and scientists alike for centuries. A recent study conducted by German and Egyptian researchers has finally...

Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the director of the Egyptian excavation team, works at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara where the golden mummy and states were found. Source: Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities

27 January, 2023 - 17:52 Sahir

Mummy Found Covered in Gold May be Oldest Ever Found in Egypt!

A Pharaonic tomb containing a mummy wrapped in a gold-covered leaf may be the oldest and most complete mummy found in Egypt to date. It has been uncovered in Saqqara, near the Step Pyramid. Estimated...

Nakhtpaaten may have been the first commuter, crossing ancient Amarna to his daily job as royal vizier. Illustration of an imagined ancient Egyptian city. Source: KHBandak / Adobe Stock

26 January, 2023 - 17:49 Aleksa Vučković

Walk (to Work) Like an Egyptian: Nakhtpaaten, the First Commuter

In the modern world, traveling to and from work seems to be a relatively easy thing to do. Whether by bus, car, or metro, getting to your workplace is rarely a challenge. But what about the ancient...

CT images of the mummy revealed amulets were placed on or inside the mummified body of the Golden Boy mummy, including a two-finger amulet discovered next to the boy’s uncircumcised penis. (Saleem, Seddik and el-Halwagy / CC BY 4.0)

24 January, 2023 - 21:48 ashley cowie

Scans Reveal Magic Amulets Inside Egyptian Golden Boy Mummy

CT scans conducted during a recent study of the “Golden Boy” mummy, which was discovered in 1916 in southern Egypt, has revealed a hidden collection of 49 magical amulets, including many forged in...

Bea De Cupere from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences with one of the mummified crocodiles. Source: Patricia Mora Riudavets / Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

20 January, 2023 - 21:59 Nathan Falde

Mummified Crocodiles Sacrificed to the Gods Uncovered in Egypt

While performing excavations at a site known as Qubbat al-Hawā in southern Egypt in 2019, archaeologists from the University of Jaén in Spain made a strange and startling discovery. They unearthed a...

The tomb of the Vizier Amenhotep-Huy in Luxor, Egypt. Source: Teresa Bedman / Institute of Ancient Egyptian Studies

7 January, 2023 - 21:57 Sahir

Egyptian Tombs Reveal 60 High-Ranking Burials from the 18th Dynasty

Right at the turn of the year, a Spanish archaeological mission made a tremendous discovery in the modern city of Luxor in Egypt, which includes the site of the ancient city of Thebes. Sixty mummies...

Cleopatra by John William Waterhouse. Source: Public domain

29 December, 2022 - 00:55 Cecilia Bogaard

There Was More Than One Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt

Very few people have failed to hear of Cleopatra, one of the most well known women in history. Remembered as a seductive temptress, not only the lover of Julius Caesar but also the wife of Mark...

Avian artwork reproduced in facsimile painting from the Green Room found at Amarna’s North Palace. Source: Public domain

14 December, 2022 - 23:59 ashley cowie

Exquisite Avian Artwork Created Sensory Relaxation Chamber for Egyptian Queen

Back in the 1920s, archaeologists working at Amarna’s North Palace in Egypt uncovered a “masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art.” This was the palace of Meritaten, the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and...

Depiction of parchment of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and their children with Aten shining on them as found on the Stela of Akhenaten and his family, Egyptian Museum, Cairo (ppicasso / Adobe Stock)

14 December, 2022 - 22:34 John and Collee...

Akhenaten And Nefertiti: Egypt’s Golden Couple

The drivers arrange the chariots of the royal entourage—two to one side, two to the other side, of the royal chariot, which is distinguished by the great ostrich plumes of its span of stallions...

A golden mummy from Manchester Museum. Source: Allan Gluck / CC BY-SA 4.0

24 November, 2022 - 13:58 ashley cowie

Mummification Had Nothing to Do With Preservation, Claims Exhibit

For over a century archaeologists and teachers have taught students that ancient Egyptians mummified corpses to “preserve” their bodies. Now, a disruptive new museum exhibit in the UK is set to...

Tattoo on the left femur of a mummified Egyptian woman buried at Deir el-Medina. Source: Anne Austin/University of Missouri-St. Louis

9 November, 2022 - 21:58 Sahir

Not A Tramp Stamp: Thigh and Hip Tattoos Found on Female Egyptian Mummies

Ancient burial sites in Egypt have yielded tattooed mummies, that are predominantly female rather than male. Over time, various debates have arisen about who these mummies were, in terms of their...

The underground tunnel found beneath Taposiris Magna. Credit: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

5 November, 2022 - 17:56 Joanna Gillan

Underground Tunnel Found Beneath Egyptian Temple May Lead to Cleopatra

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have announced the incredible discovery of a rock-cut tunnel deep below ground in the area of the Taposiris Magna Temple, west of Alexandria in Egypt...

Tutankhamun’s golden death mask as discovered in King Tut’s tomb. Source: Tarekheikal / CC BY-SA 4.0

4 November, 2022 - 13:54 Lex Leigh

King Tut’s Centenary! 6 Fascinating Facts About Tutankhamun’s Tomb

100 years ago today (November 4th) British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s legendary tomb. This famous discovery was essential in the field of archaeology, as it became...

Left: The corridor leading to the Antechamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Right: The moment Tutankhamun’s shrine was opened revealing his sarcophagus. (Public Domain).

1 November, 2022 - 13:48 Joanna Gillan

28 ORIGINAL Photos from the Discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb

November 4, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings, a watershed moment for the world of archaeology. The spectacular nature of...

Elaborate Box with Cartouche of Amenhotep III found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. (Dmitry Denisenkov / Flickr)

30 October, 2022 - 13:54 Joanna Gillan

25 Unbelievable Treasures from the Tomb of Tutankhamun You May Not Have Seen

Thanks to Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, there is no Pharaoh more well-known and well-loved than King Tut, the boy king , who died in 1323 BC at the age of 20. November...

The golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun (David Biagi / Adobe Stock)

10 October, 2022 - 18:46 Joanna Gillan

20 Awesome Sarcophagi of the Ancient World

A s arcophagus is a receptacle, usually made of stone, that is made to hold a coffin or corpse. Unlike coffins, which are buried, sarcophagi are usually displayed above the ground and for this reason...

A mummified falcon found in Egypt (rob Koopman / CC by SA 2.0)

8 October, 2022 - 19:00 Nathan Falde

Headless Mummified Falcons Found in Egyptian Temple Suggests Ancient Ritual

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Egyptian temple with 15 mummified falcons, many of them headless and buried around a pedestal. The discovery suggests a previously unknown ritual performed...

The golden mask of King Tut. Source: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / CC BY 2.0

7 October, 2022 - 01:48 Cecilia Bogaard

King Tutankhamun’s Parents Were Brother and Sister

What does Tutankhamun have in common with Cleopatra, Charles II of Spain, or even Queen Victoria? Besides being royalty in their distinct corners of the world, all of them were a product of...

A stone relief fragment in the Brooklyn Museum that could only be of Nefertiti, and now DNA testing will tell us if Nefertiti's mummy has finally been found. Source: Brooklyn Museum / CC BY 2.5

26 September, 2022 - 23:00 Nathan Falde

Famed Egyptologist Proclaims Discovery of Queen Nefertiti’s Mummy

Has Queen Nefertiti’s mummy, one of ancient Egypt’s most celebrated New Kingdom rulers, finally been found? According to the world’s most famous Egyptologist, the answer to this question is “ yes ,”...

A pair of King Tut’s sandals. Source: © Merja Attia

26 August, 2022 - 01:31 Cecilia Bogaard

King Tut Stepped on his Enemies: Learning from Tutankhamun’s Sandals

While Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw has entered popular imagination for her stunning array of shoes and fashion savvy, few know that the young King Tut also enjoyed a vast collection footwear...

A mural from the tomb Inkherkhau (TT359) on the West Bank of Nile - Thebes, Luxor, depicting a funerary procession with ancient Egyptian priests performing libations, the first one wearing leopard skin. Source: Svetlaili /Adobe Stock

21 August, 2022 - 14:59 Robbie Mitchell

A Day in the Life of an Ancient Egyptian Priest

We can learn a lot about a civilization from its dominant religion. Ancient Egypt is a good example. The religion of ancient Egypt had a far-reaching effect on every aspect of daily life. If you want...

The names Howard Carter and King Tutankhamun are interlinked but now old historical letters have revealed that Carter was also an antiquities thief. Anubis, the jackal-headed deity who presided over the embalming process and accompanied dead kings in the afterworld, next to two busts of King Tutankhamun. Source: Jiri / Adobe Stock

15 August, 2022 - 18:57 ashley cowie

King Tut's Tomb Was “Raided” By Artifact Thief Howard Carter

New evidence suggests Howard Carter, the until now respected English archaeologist who excavated Tutankhamun’s (King Tut’s) tomb in Egypt in 1922, was a tomb-raiding “artifact thief.” On the 100th...