Hamunaptra

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Hamunaptra is a fictional ancient Egyptian city hidden deep in the desert some distance from Thebes and is the primary setting for the story in the horror/action movie The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Thebes is identified in the film as the "City of the Living" while Hamunaptra is the "City of the Dead, ancient burial site for the sons of pharaohs." This coincides only loosely with the actual Wadi el-Muluk, the Valley of the Kings on the opposite side of the Nile from ancient Thebes. Being to the west, where the sun set, this valley was considered the realm of the dead. King Seti I, who is depicted in the film, was entombed there.

Inside Hamunaptra are two books. One is the golden Book of Amun-Ra, "The Book of the Living," hidden beneath the statue of Horus. "It contains within it all the secret incantations of the Old Kingdom." The other is the black Book of the Dead, hidden beneath the statue of Anubis. The Book of the Living can take life away while the Book of the Dead can give it back. It is the latter that Imhotep, high priest of King Seti I, uses in his attempt to resurrect his true love Anck-su-namun.

Also in this city is the preparation room where mummification is carried out. And hidden deep is a large underground chamber holding "the wealth of Egypt." To protect this treasure, however, the entire necropolis is "rigged to sink into the sand on Pharaoh's command," causing the city to disappear under the desert, putting the treasure permanently out of reach.

With the passage of time Hamunaptra becomes a lost city, the subject of legends. As a result, by the 1920s, the decade in which most of the film's action takes place, its existence is doubted by serious scholars. But the lead characters locate it. It is there that the primary action of the film unfolds.