1. Egypt was the Hollywood of its day – full of the biggest celebrities of the ancient world – heroes and villains alike. Cleopatra, then, could be seen as the first and ultimate femme fatale. She was Queen of Egypt and its last Greek ruler and has captured so much interest because, when Caesar holidayed in Egypt in the winter of 48-47BC, the two became lovers and had a child. She and her son visited Rome and, indeed, were present when Caesar was murdered. Later, when the Roman triumvir Marc Antony relocated to Alexandria, they also became lovers and possibly even married, in spite of Marc Antony already being married to the Roman ruler, Octavian’s sister. When Octavian went to war with Egypt, the couple retreated to Alexandria, where they committed suicide.

2. Narmer is considered by many to be the founder of the first Egyptian Dynasty, thanks to the famous Narmer Pallette which depicts him unifying Upper and Lower Egypt. It was thought that this honour actually belonged to Menes, although archaeological evidence supports the Narmer theory.

It’s considered possible that Narmer and Menes were, in fact, the same person, or that Narmer came to rule as a successor of the King Scorpion. His tomb is in the Umm el Ga’ab region of Abydos.

3. Nefertit, whose name meant ‘the beautiful one is come’, was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and mother-in-law of Tutankhamun. She is remembered for the distinctive ‘nefer’ beads which bear her name and the famous bust which now sits in Berlin’s Egyptian Museum.

The location of her tomb has long been a subject of speculation, as no mummy was ever found. In 2003, an English archaeologist believed she had discovered the tomb in the Valley of the Kings, due to the age of the mummy, embedded nefer beads and its distinctive wig but Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiques dismissed this claim on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

4. Ramesses the Great ruled Egypt for an incredible 66 years, from 24 until his death at 90. He encouraged discoveries and sent expeditions to what are now Israel, Palestine and Syria. He is also believed to have created the world’s first ‘peace treaty’ with the King of Hittites in 1271BC.

Ramesses, if alive today, could also lay significant claim to the biggest alimony bill of all time, as he is believed to have fathered a whopping 90 children. Christmases at the Ramesses house were a raucous affair!

Perhaps due to his extremely long reign (and maybe just a tad of vanity), there are more statues of Ramesses than any other Pharaoh. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings but, since 1886, his mummy has been exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

5. Tutankhamun or ‘King Tut’ is also known as the ‘boy king’ as he came to reign at the delicate age of 11. His reign lasted between eight and ten years as he died around the age of 20. Recent scientific breakthroughs have discovered that he most likely died from the swift onset of gangrene after breaking his leg.

In reality, King Tut didn’t achieve too much, other than beginning the process of restoring Egypt after Akenhaten’s doomed efforts to introduce his new religion to the country.

Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered by the Egyptologist Howard Carter in 1922 and the real reason for Tutankhamun’s current fame is that it’s the only Pharaoh’s tomb to have been found in tact. The quantity of riches in his tomb begged the question of how much had been left in other, greater Pharaoh’s tombs before they were plundered.