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unit seven. how did the egyptians make mummies page 45 reading. listen to the passage about egyptian mummies, the ancient egyptians believed in many gods. they also believed that their kings, called pharaohs, were gods. they believed that the pharaoh could help them even after he died. be because of this, they wanted the pharaoh to have a good life and a good life after death or afterlife. one way to give the pharaoh a good afterlife was to preserve his body. egyptians believed this was important for the pharaoh's spirit. this would help the spirit recognise the body. this is the reason the egyptians made mummies. as soon as a pharaoh died, the top priest, together with his helpers, started work on the body. they took out some of the organs, but left the heart inside the body. they dried the organs and put them in special jars. later, they put the jars in the pharaoh's tomb, a special building for the dead. next, they took out the brain and threw it away. the egyptians did not think the brain was important on the outside of the body. they rubbed a kind of salt on the skin to help dry the body completely. this took about 40 days. then they filled the body with cloth and sand to keep its shape, rubbed it with oil and perfumes and covered it with lots of wax, the arabic word for wax is mum. so that's how we got the word mummy. the pharaoh's body was now prepared. next, they wrapped it in very long pieces of cloth. again, they used a lot of wax to make the pieces stick together. at last, after 70 days, the mummy was ready. they painted the face of the dead pharaoh on the mummy to help his spirit recognise him. the mummy then went into two or three coffins, one inside the other, and finally into the tomb. during his lifetime, a pharaoh also prepared for the afterlife. he built his tomb, which took many years and a lot of hard work. the tomb was in the shape of a pyramid. the pointed top helped the pharaoh's spirit climb into the sky to join the gods who lived there. each pharaoh tried to be greater than the one before, so the pyramids got larger and larger. more than 70 pharaohs built pyramids for themselves. the great pyramid at giza is still the largest stone structure in the world. the tomb was filled with everything the person needed for the afterlife, such as food, clothing and jewellery. there were also model figures of men and women called shabtis, these figures became workers for the pharaoh in the afterlife. some tombs had 365 shabtists, one for each day of the year. later, other people, such as priests, people in government and rich egyptians, also wanted to be mummies so that they could join the pharaoh in the afterlife. they even made some animals, such as cats, dogs and birds, into mummies, because these animals represented gods. when everything was in the tomb. they closed it very tight. egyptians believed a pharaoh's tomb was like the house of a god. if someone entered it, terrible things would happen to that person. he or she could even die. but this did not stop people from entering the tombs. during construction, some workers built secret tunnels into the pyramids. then they went in later to steal from them. some coffins had special doors. for the same reason, thieves went into almost all the tombs. they stole treasures such as gold and jewellery. today, most of the treasures are lost or in museums. but the pyramids of egypt are still there. every year, thousands of tourists from around the world visit the pyramids and think of the pharaohs who built them. so, in a way, the pharaohs reached their goal.
they live on, at least through their tombs.