Ancient Egypt - Getty Images

Ancient Egypt

A reconstruction of an extract from the Book of the Dead depicting an embalming scene. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library via Getty Images)

Guidebook to the Ancient Egyptian afterlife

The tomb of Pharaoh Djoser, built at Saqqara

Timeline: the evolution of ancient empires. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mural of the battle of Actium from 1600

Actium, 31 BC: the beginning of the end for Mark Antony and Cleopatra

Colourised print of the Lighthouse of Alexandria as imagined in the 18th century

General ancient history

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: what were they, and what happened to them?

Carved wall scene depicting Cleopatra at Dendera Temple

Cleopatra: what is the real legacy of the last pharaoh?

York Minster's rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red

A brief history of the English rose

(Photo by Michele Falzone via Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn't know about ancient Egypt

Engraving of the death of Cleopatra

When and how did Queen Cleopatra die and who killed her?

Sunset at the Chephren Pyramid, Giza, Egypt

Searching for the pharaohs: where are the tombs of Ancient Egypt's missing kings and queens?

Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh presented by Viking Cruises opens at the Saatchi Gallery on 2 November. Tickets on-sale now, please visit: www.tutankhamun-london.com

Treasures of Tutankhamun. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Figure of Tutankhamun

In pictures: the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun's blue and gold funerary mask

Tutankhamun unmasked: 7 intriguing truths about the pharaoh and his treasures

Four figures in a boat, including the ibis-headed god Thoth and the scarab-headed god Khepri

8 ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses you might not know about

Ramesses II holding prisoners

Was Ramesses II really that great?

Great Pyramid of Giza

5 facts about the Great Pyramid of Giza

The pirate Blackbeard

10 brilliant beards from history

Dramatic view of the sun setting over a megalithic tomb and stone circle. (Dreamstime)

Egypt’s lost tombs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A counting of goats and rams in cuneiform script, ancient Ngirsu, Iraq, 2360 BC. (DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Cuneiform: 6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the world’s oldest writing system

An elevated view of Cairo's Old City, which is home to a Roman tower, a Greek Orthodox church and an array of historical mosques and madrasas. (Photo by Getty Images)

Battleground of empires: Cairo in 5 cultures. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting in the tomb of Inherkha – a priest wearing the mask of Horus is performing the opening of the mouth ritual. The purpose was to restore to the deceased the use of the senses, thus restoring life in the next world. Ancient Egyptian 20th dynasty c1186-1070 BC. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Why was mummification used in Ancient Egypt, and why did they leave the heart in the body?

Composite image of famous women: Cleopatra, Marie Curie, Mary Wollstonecraft, Madame CJ Walker, Jane Austen, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ethel Smyth, the Virgin Mary, Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Diana, Princess of Wales, Amelia Earhart.

100 women who changed the world

The burial mask of Tutankhamun. From the moment Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in The Valley of Kings in 1922, rumours swirled that a curse would fall on those who disturbed the Boy King's eternal slumber. (Photo by Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)

Q&AHow many people are supposed to have died from the curse of Tutankhamun's tombs?

11 shocking moments in history

The history of today. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Turkey, which is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. (Photo by DOZIER Marc via Getty Images)

A new civilisation rises. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving from Ulrich Molitor’s ‘On witches and female soothsayers’, depicting witches bringing down the rain. Germany, 15th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A spell-binding history of witches. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Schama on 'Civilisations'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&AWhy were cats so important in Ancient Egypt?

Nefertiti

Has the world been blinded by Nefertiti’s beauty?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Demons and shipwrecks. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.