wunder beta🪦 Mummies & Pharaohs!
Journey to ancient Egypt to discover why people made mummies, how they did it, the giant pyramids, and the boy king Tutankhamun!
What you’ll learn
- Why Egyptians Made MummiesUnderstand why the ancient Egyptians made mummies: to preserve the body so the spirit could reach the afterlife.The ancient Egyptians believed that after death a person journeyed to the afterlife, and that they needed their body to make that journey. They thought each person had a spirit that must find its body again. Gods like Anubis and Osiris watched over the dead. Making mummies was a holy act of love, done for pharaohs, ordinary people, and even beloved pet animals.
- How A Mummy Was MadeUnderstand the main steps of mummification: removing organs into canopic jars, drying with natron salt, and wrapping in linen.Making a mummy took about 70 days. Embalmers removed the soft organs and kept them in four canopic jars, but left the heart in the body. They dried the body for 40 days using a desert salt called natron, then wrapped it in long linen bandages with lucky amulets tucked inside. Finally the mummy was placed in a painted coffin and carried to its tomb.
- Pyramids And Secret TombsLearn that pyramids were royal tombs, how they were built, and why pharaohs later used the hidden Valley of the Kings.The pyramids were giant stone tombs built for pharaohs, like the Great Pyramid of Giza. Thousands of paid workers built them by moving huge blocks up ramps. Because robbers kept stealing pyramid treasure, later pharaohs hid their tombs in the Valley of the Kings, cut deep into desert rock. These tombs had painted walls and were filled with treasure for the afterlife.
- King Tut And Egyptian WritingLearn about Tutankhamun, Howard Carter's 1922 discovery, hieroglyphs, and how the Rosetta Stone unlocked Egyptian writing.Tutankhamun, or King Tut, became pharaoh as a boy and was mostly forgotten until 1922, when Howard Carter found his treasure-filled tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Its golden mask made Tut world-famous. The Egyptians wrote in picture-symbols called hieroglyphs, which no one could read for centuries, until the Rosetta Stone, carrying the same message in three scripts, helped scholars crack the code.
Questions this course answers
Why did the ancient Egyptians make mummies?
The Egyptians believed a person needed their body for the journey to the afterlife, so they preserved it as a mummy.
Which god had the head of a jackal and looked after mummies?
Anubis, the god with a jackal's head, was the god of mummies, and priests wore an Anubis mask while working.
Did the Egyptians ever make mummies of animals?
The Egyptians mummified many animals, including beloved pet cats, so they could join their owners in the afterlife.
How long did it take to make a mummy?
Making a mummy was slow, careful work that took about 70 days from start to finish.
What special salt did the Egyptians use to dry out the body?
Embalmers covered the body in natron, a salt from the desert, which soaked up all the water so the body could not rot.
What were canopic jars used for?
Canopic jars held the soft organs, like the stomach and lungs, that were removed from the body before drying.
Grounded in trusted sources
- The British Museum
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Smithsonian Institution
Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.
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