Why did the Egyptians try to preserve their dead for eternity? How did they succeed? Carol Andrews answers these questions in a fully illustrated survey of the techniques of mummification, the religious beliefs that lay behind the practice, the ornate coffins and elaborate tombs that housed the bodies, and the grave goods that accompanied them. She explains how animals also came to be embalmed and relates the curious role assumed by Egyptian mummies in European culture and mythology. This book has long proved fascinating reading; it is now available in an updated format.

Carol Andrews has long been a member of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum. She is author of The Rosetta Stone and Catalogue of Egyptian Jewellery in the British Museum.