Egyptian mummies

1 Listen and read. Then match. 60 DIGITAL

Here are the instructions for how to make a mummy.

Wash the body in Nile water. Take out the organs. Wash the organs and put them in canopic jars. Put the heart back in the body. The heart is the centre of intelligence and of the soul.

Cover the body with a special salt called natron.

After 40 days the body is completely dry.

2 Listen, read and write the names. 61 DIGITAL

What are canopic jars?

Canopic jars are special containers for the internal organs. Each canopic jar has a top with the head of a god.

Hapi is the god with a baboon head and contains the lungs.

Duamutef is the god with a jackal head and contains the stomach.

Imsety is the god with a human head and contains the liver.

Qebehsenuef is the god with a falcon head and contains the intestines.

For Egyptians, a mummy is the body of a person or an animal preserved after death. Mummification is a step to obtain a happy afterlife.

Wrap up the body in linen bandages. Put lucky amulets under the bandages and say spells to activate their magical powers.

Put the mummy in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus. Then place it in a secret room inside a pyramid.