Barbara Adams

Since antiquity, mummies have inspired awe and endless fascination. Part of their enduring appeal lies in their capacity to let us confront people from the distant past as recognizable individuals, and even to look into the faces of some of the great rulers who shaped history 3,000 years ago. Mummies also have much to tell us about aspects of the lives of ancient Egyptians that are not recorded in writing: their appearance, their life expectancy, the diseases they suffered from, and how they died. As survivors from one of the world's most splendid civilizations, they bring us tantalizingly close to a long-lost culture. In their own times, mummies were treated as objects of reverence, attracting teams of skilled embalmers and priests. But why exactly were mummies created? What did the Egyptians hope to achieve? What did they fear? These and other intriguing questions are answered in this absorbing history.