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At the end of the 19th century, two tombs were discovered at Luxor which contained the mummies of some of Egypt's greatest Pharaohs and members of their families and courts. Their original tombs had been plundered, but the bodies, stripped of jewellery and funerary goods, somehow survived. More than 40 mummies were found, dating from the 17th Dynasty to the 21st (580 BC to 940 BC). of Ahmose, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II and III, Seti I, Rameses II and III, and Meneptah - the mortal remains of kings who ruled at the height of Egypt's power and opulence. All had been presumed lost when their tombs were robbed, but the mummies had been repaired, re-wrapped, and in some cases placed in new coffins and moved by priests to a more secure site, where they were to remain hidden for over 3000 years. coffins found in these two royal caches and other royal burials, which include Yuya and Thuya and Tutankhamun. Much new work has been done on the royal mummies over the last 20 years, and whilst many questions have been answered many still remain, particularly over the identification of some of them. The book incorporates recent information and ideas about this unique collection. tombs. Diseases and ailments, mummification techniques and the original reason why mummification was introduced, are all covered, and other topics included are the problems of identification, conservation, and work on reconstructing the lifetime appearance of mummies.