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The Ancient Egyptians: Masters of the Afterlife
An overview of Egyptian afterlife beliefs: the soul's parts, the journey through the Duat, the judgement of the heart, the Field of Reeds and their effect on tombs.
Egypt and Africa
Afterlife and Burial
Mummies, embalming, coffins, the Book of the Dead and Tutankhamun.
Ancient Egyptian Magic: The Oldest Known Spells
What heka was, how Egyptian magical practice worked, and why the Pyramid Texts of about 2350 BCE and later Coffin Texts are early, but not the oldest spells anywhere.
Ancient Egyptian Mummies: Uncovering the Secrets of the Dead
What CT scans, DNA and chemical analysis of Egyptian mummies reveal about health, age at death, diet and disease, and where the evidence is still uncertain.
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: A Guide to the Afterlife
What the Egyptian Book of the Dead really was: a New Kingdom collection of funerary spells on papyrus, how its chapters were used, and the Papyrus of Ani as an example.
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: A Legacy of Spirituality and Culture
The Weighing of the Heart scene explained: Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Maat and Ammit, and how the Book of the Dead was translated and received from the nineteenth century.
The Ancient Egyptian Mummification: A Legacy of Spirituality and Culture
Mummification as a religious ritual: priests, prayers, amulets and linen wrapping over about seventy days, and how the practice changed from early burials to the Roman period.
The Ancient Egyptians' Fascination with the Afterlife
How funerary offerings, grave goods and tomb food supplies were meant to sustain the dead in ancient Egypt, and what they reveal about social rank.
The Ancient Egyptians' Knowledge of Embalming
The practical craft of Egyptian embalming: natron drying, organ removal, canopic jars, resins and oils, as described by Herodotus and tested by modern analysis.
The Ancient Sarcophagi of Egypt: A Window to the Past
How Egyptian stone sarcophagi and wooden coffins changed, from rectangular royal chests to nested anthropoid cases, and what their texts and art reveal.
The Mysterious Tomb of Tutankhamun: A Treasure Trove of Ancient Secrets
The 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter, what it contained, the short reign of the king and the facts behind the so-called curse of the pharaohs.
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Pyramids and Giza The Giza pyramids, their builders, the Sphinx and the myths around them. Egyptian Building and Writing Temple architecture and hieroglyphic script. Science and Medicine Egyptian healing, astronomy and mathematics. Nubia and Kush The Nile kingdoms of Kerma, Napata and Meroe south of Egypt. Delta Cities and Ptolemies Tanis, sunken Thonis-Heraklion and the Ptolemaic dynasty. African Kingdoms West African states such as the Ashanti and Nri. Ships and Navigation Boats, harbours and the methods ancient sailors used to cross waters.