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62
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2000

Washington
Village
Boston Public Library
Boston, MA 02116

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Author: © The Salariya Book Company Ltd MM
David Stewart has written many non-fiction All rights reserved. No book may be reproduced,
part of this
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
books for children. He lives in Brighton with his
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying.
wife and young son. recording, or otherwise, without the written permission
of the copyright owner.
Artist:
David Antram was born in Brighton, England, Created, designed, and produced by

in 1958. He studied at Eastbourne College of Art The Salariya Book Company Ltd
and then worked in advertising for 15 years before 25 Marlborough Place, Brighton BN1 1UB
becoming a full-time artist. He has illustrated
many children's non-fiction books. ISBN 0-531-14597-2 (Lib. Bdg.)
ISBN 0-531-16206-0 (Pbk.)
Series Creator:
David Salariya was born in Dundee, Published in America by Franklin Watts
Scotland. He has illustrated a wide range of books Grolier Publishing Co., Inc.

and has created and designed many new series for 90 Sherman Turnpike, Danbury, CT 06816
publishers both in the U.K. and overseas. In 1989
he established the Salariya Book Company. He Visit Franklin Watts on the internet

lives in Brighton with his wife, the illustrator at: http://publishing.grolier.com

Shirley Willis, and their son.

A CIP catalog record for this title is

Editor: available from the Library of Congress.

Karen Barker Smith

Printed and bound in Belgium.
Editorial Assistant: Reprinted in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Stephanie Cole
Printed on paper from sustainable forests.

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y«i Vsujcfn 't Wanf t« Be an

T

Disgusting Tilings Ym'& I^er fa I(n<^

Written by (v>2sX\\i^ ^
fc5K/ Illustrated by
David Stewart feJ^^^^^ \ David Antram
nil \ \ ^\ 1
Created and designed by

David Salariya

FRANKLIN WATTS
w
A Division of Grolier Publishing

m mnMiwnmiiinsi NEW YORK • LONDON • HONG KONG • SYDNEY

DANBURY, CONNECTICUT
Contents 1

Intr®<kc$m 5 ;

Dea# Off fa the BuWmers! 6 i

leaving f^e Organs 8

faring $e Organs 10

Get St«ffeAr 12 1

Baiinc{ far f^e Tamb 14 !

ife Coffins 16 1

Weepers and Wallers 18

Hat a Mmntny jfeeds far a Blissful afterlife 20

T©tnl> fibers 22

An itnal MumtnfeS 24
Eternal l^esf? 26

grange afterlives 28
Glossary .30

Index 32

n bh n
Introduction

ncient Egypt as we know it

began about 5,000 years

ago beside the River Nile
in northern Africa. The
Nile floods made this land
very fertile, although
beyond it lay a vast area of blistering
desert thought to be inhabited by
demons.
Ancient Egyptian history spans
thirty centuries, and throughout this
time the country was ruled by kings
called pharaohs. The people believed
that the pharaoh was a living god, and
so it was very important to keep him happy. The pharaohs had huge monuments
built for them so that they would always be remembered. Ancient Egyptians
believed in an afterlife and thought that by saying the name of a dead person,
you could make them live forever. Another way to achieve immortality was to
preserve the body of a person once they had died, and wrap them up in linen
bandages. This process is called mummification.
Now back 3,000 years. You are a wealthy ancient Egyptian
cast yourself
on the point of death, and you want to make yourself immortal. To achieve this,
you will have to go through the expensive and complicated
process of becoming a mummy. Get ready, as you are
about to... drop dead.

1UCLU
 u M U

Dea# Off 1« the EmWltners!

VJiat y»« Wl Aoei- ncient Egyptians take a lot of
trouble preparing for the afterlife.
.. They believe that every person
YOUR DEAD BODY. When you die, the
embalmers will take your body away as y
has three spirits that survive after
soon as possible.
^ death, but only if the body is

preserved. These are the ka, the

person's life force; the ba, the spirit of the
person's personality; and the akh, the
glorified soul.
First it will be taken to a "tent of
purification," called an ibu.
The dead body is preserved by the
complicated processes of embalming and
mummification. Everyone who can afford it

makes elaborate preparations for this.

LINEN. Like most

will
ancient Egyptians, you
have saved linen throughout your life
Vhat Can Jm p$e>vfc
to use as mummification bandages.

OILS. Perfumes and oils will make

your skin smooth and sweet-smelling.

A PRIEST. You will CHEAP The MID-RANGE. LUXURY. The

need a priest to act as body is injected The organs are same as mid-
chief embalmer. He with cedar oil, removed and range, but with
should wear a mask which makes its embalmed. The a portrait mask.
of Anubis, god of insides liquefy body is dried out This is made of
embalming (right). and drain out. in natron and cartonnage (a
It isthen dried then completely mixture of plaster,
out in a natural wrapped up in linen, and resin),
salt called natron. strips of linen. or even solid sold!

ana :
Covering a dead body in
natron salt makes it
shriveled and shrunken.

niMIM, MBlMlflJl
 u

^emaving the Organs

fteryour body
has been
cleaned, it

taken to the
"place of
^embalming,'
called the wabet. In
order to remove some
of your internal
organs, a "slicer"
YOUR FRESHLY SCRUBBED BODY priest makes a long
along with all necessary priests
cut along the left
and assistants.
side of your body. <**

TOOLS. Various tools and surgical

instruments will be needed to clean out
your body and remove certain organs.

NATRON SALT. This will be used to

dry out your body once the organs have
been removed.

KNIFE. The "slicer" will use a

ceremonial flint knife to cut
your body open. ^,

8 m
 to PU ";S"e.(DON°T

The "sheer" will pretend

to run away after he has
cut you open. He is
useful, but his bloody
work insults the gods, so
the other embalmers
throw stones after him.

Your organs are

removed and will
be embalmed
separately,
although your
heart is left in

your body —you

will need this
later on. Once the
body cavity has been stuffed, the cut along your
stomach is sewn up and covered with a carving of
the protective eye of the sun god, Horus (above).

M EMIlintil
 u u u

^faring the Organs

our liver, lungs, stomach, and
intestines are removed through
the incision in your side. Once

YOUR LIVER the organs have been completely

will be stored in
removed, they are stored in
ajar with the
human head of canopic jars. Each jar is
the god Imsety
protected by one of the four sons of the god
on it.

Horus, and the lid of each jar is in the shape

of its protector god's head.
Your body is washed out with palm
YOUR LUNGS wine and will now be soaked in natron for
are stored in the
forty days to dry it out.
jar protected
by the god
Hapy, who
has the head
of a baboon.

YOUR
STOMACH is
placed in the jar
with the jackal
head of the god
Duamutef on it.

YOUR
INTESTINES
are kept in the
jar that has on it

the falcon head

of the god
A Step-By-3fep INTESTINES are a problem,
as they can be very long.
Qebehsenuef. Bum id;, Once removed, soak
natron.
in
Turn occasionally.
10 Embalming:

ii ni n n
 US 1 m
Duamutef Imsety

Qebehsenuef <^.

^ sure your
he«t is not removed.

(see page 19).

The canopic jars are stored

in a specially made box
called a canopic chest. This
willbe stored in your tomb
and should be placed as near
to you as possible.

AFTER FORTY DAYS, IF THE INTESTINES THE ORGAN can now

remove from the natron are completely dried, they be placed canopic
in its
and check that there is no are ready to be wrapped jar. Ideally, the lid should
moisture left in them. in linen. fit tightly.

: ! n i— 1
ii

Jl
 u

Get §fi$w& aP

fter forty days in natron, your

body is completely dried out.
Your skin is shriveled and
wrinkled, and you look like a piece
of old leather. You really need help
f now, so it's off to the per nefer, the
"beautiful house," where your skin will be
rubbed with oils to make it softer. The empty
space where your organs were is filled with
sawdust, rags, and chaff. Other parts of your
body are plumped up by pushing mud into
cl0
tiny cuts in your skin. All you
need now are false eyes and
perhaps some false hair. You
are almost looking
alive again! \ kg /
L_ m u m u

^°v
^ ^%chave
strong
qualities,

cavttV-
body

V{iat Ym Vail J^eei

PALM WINE and FRANKINCENSE,

juniper oil are a highly valued
used to sterilize fragrant gum resin,
the body. makes the body
smell sweet.

SAWDUST, chaff, MOLTEN RESIN

sand, and rags are is used to cover
used to stuff the thewhole body
body cavity. once it has been
stuffed.

a n « —a n im n
13

ai
 u

Banna far the T<rab

The scarab amulet (above) has
a special purpose (see page 19).

embalmer's work is almost

>he
done, and soon you will be a
mummy. All you need now are
your wrappings. It will take 15
AMULETS, small charms that will days to wrap you up, and you will
provide you with magical protection,
should be tucked in your bandages. need 20 layers of linen bandages.
If you are sensible, you will have been saving
linen your whole life. Egyptian temples are
full of statues that are dressed in new linen
every day, so you could have bought plenty
of second-hand linen there.
LINEN WRAPPINGS are essential,
as wool is thought to be unclean.

FINGER AND TOE STALLS

are only used in luxury
mummifications. Can you
afford these?

A PORTRAIT
MASK might
be placed over
your head Different bandagers work in different ways -

once you Vrapfing some prefer to start with the head and work
are wrapped. their way down the body (above). Resin is
the Mutntoy used to glue the bandages together.
14

mi
 L LJ U

^~'-"~
* ,icpf\ in the
A^ h should be
^^\CTro^
mummification
pro
^ s0
togethe^n
gathered t
else ca
that nobody

It isimportant that your portrait mask looks like

you. Some of the pharaohs have solid gold masks,
but a thin layer of gold leaf can look just as good.

Linen pads are placed Once completely wrapped in

between the bandages to bandages, you are wrapped in two
give you a good rounded special large shrouds secured with
shape (above). linen strips (above and right).

h n » n bim n
KUI U

lie C^m
Hat y«« Vil] jfeeti nee you have been wrapped,
you need a good
will
wooden coffin. If you are
|

SKILLED [very wealthy, you could

CARPENTERS
are always in demand in
•have as many as three
ancient Egypt. Make coffins all fitting snugly
sure yours works to a
high standard and
inside one another. Make sure that they
finishes on time. have pictures of the gods and all the
correct spells painted on them to protect
you. Of course, they should also have
plenty of hieroglyphs singing your praises
written on them. This nest of coffins will
WOOD is very valuable since most of it finally be placed in your tomb inside a
has to be imported. The best wood, if you large stone coffin called a sarcophagus.
can afford it, is cedar from Lebanon.

CARPENTER'S TOOLS
are made of wood or stone,
and some have blades made
of bronze.

PAINTS
are made by
grinding up
semi-precious
stones and
mixing the
powder with
plant gum.

\6
 L_ y
/

r
/
Get a move on - \\t
Jiave a decline f<§ meet
W
W
tomorrow!

\
of
Thin sheets
onto
gold stuck
wood are much
cheaper than
and
solid gold
d
fU look just
aood. Make
|old glitter
as
the
by
Ubingitwith
IV a stone.

t
t7

py ^

>^

Li

o cz^
ifcv.
IPF£W

21 Z*-^

niMl
 w y

Weepers and Wallers

ou have now been dead for
\Vhat Tan ViH ]fee&
seventy days, and today is the

MOURNERS should be
day of your funeral. You are
hired professionals. They finally about to enter the
should sob and wail
loudly, wearing blue
afterlife! You will be buried on
dresses (the color the western side of the river,
of mourning) and
where the sun sets. Your coffin is taken there
throwing ash on ^^
themselves.
~y by boat and is then placed on a sledge and
pulled to your tomb. A priest leads a
procession of mourners, followed by
bearers carrying food offerings and
PRIESTS burn
sweet smelling all the objects you will need in
incense, recite the afterlife.
prayers, and perform
the opening-of-the-
mouth ceremony.

SACRED TOOLS
areneeded for the
opening of the
mouth ceremony,
which will
restore the
body's spirit
to it.

YOUR TOMB will be

both a burial place and a
place for your family to

/ leave food for you and

to commune with
your ba.

is

mi
 L_ Hi U
Opening^^e^uth Ceremony
This takes place
in front of your beetle
arab
tomb. A priest
touches your "lips"
with symbolic tools
to restore your
senses and allow
your departed soul
to return.

t-

T^e Weighing
®F fJie Heart
Your spirit is led to a
scaleby Anubis, who
weighs your heart against
the feather of truth. The
result is recorded by the
ibis-headed god, Thoth.
A monster, Ammut,
waits to eat the heart
if it has been made too
heavy by its bad deeds.

Anubis
Thoth

nN
b

\ Heart
" ""
% *- '

n
III HI
 u

(My, My Needs) £« a BMul 4M&

ave the walls of your tomb
painted with pictures of you
^Tf^ 7 THE BOOK OF wearing your best clothes in the
/ THE DEAD is a
\*

guidebook of kind of afterlife you want to

spells to help
you through the enjoy. Your tomb should be
horrors of the stocked with the things you

WO underworld.
needed when you were alive: food, clothes,
furniture, weapons, and tools.

YOUR 5A, the

spirit of your
personality, is

able to leave
your tomb
during the
day, but will
always return
at night.

YOUR KA, or
double, will
spirit
remain with you
in your tomb at
all times.

TOMB OFFERINGS.
It is the duty of your
your tomb
relatives to visit
with of food so that
gifts
you don't go hungry.
As long as people
remember you and speak
your name, you will enjoy
everlasting life.

na n a i
 u

Once your tomb has been sealed, your

soul has battled its way through the
underworld, and your heart has been
weighed against the feather of truth, you
can at last begin to enjoy your afterlife!
Now nothing can disturb you... or can it?

Wig box

JJ-i-UJJ ill 1
21

in I I JL
' EH I BUJI
 L_ U

Hat Tfcey Mm :
nee your tomb doors are firmly
closed and sealed, you may think
you are ready for eternal rest. No
such luck! Even before the
mourners at your funeral have
had time to go home, unwanted
LINEN is very valuable because of visitors are on their way —
tomb robbers
the time it can take to weave even the have started tunneling toward you. If they
smallest amount.
steal even one small piece of jewelry from
you, it could make them very rich, so they
GLASS is scarce
in ancient Egypt.
feel it's worth taking the risk of torture and
Since it can be death if they are caught. Mummies ripped
melted down and
made into new open by robbers looking for treasure have
objects, stolen to be re- wrapped, sometimes gaining
glass cannot
be traced. extra heads or legs in the process!

GOLD JEWELRY. The jewels

can be pried out and the gold
melted down and re-used.

FRANKINCENSE
AND MYRRH are
highly prized because
of their fragrance and
their use in the art of
22 mummification.

na i
Ill SI
 u u u

Animal #iiim&e$
ncient Egyptians worry that
fmv Varieties <$
mummies might get hungry in

An Itnal Mummies: the afterlife, so they leave a

piece of meat in the tomb. An
FOOD. A cut
of meat can be
animal's leg can be embalmed
embalmed and ffov use as mummy food.
put in a special
box for you Mummified Ibis bulls are worshiped at
to enjoy in sacred sites and are thought to
the afterlife.
be messengers to the gods.
Before you died, you might
PETS. Your pet can have made a special journey c^
be mummified at to a temple to buy an embalmed
the same time as
you, whether it is animal as a gift for
ready to join the a god.
afterlife or not.

CULT ANIMALS
Some animals, like
this Ibis bull, are
mummified, as
they are believed
to have special
powers and are
treated like gods.

VOTIVE OFFERING. A gift

of a specially embalmed
animal can be given to
please a god. -*—

24

m I !
 K mum m m

Ancient
Egyptians fear
>r that the afterlife
|
might get lonely.
Unfortunate
i
pets, like this
-
dog and cat,
may be killed
and embalmed
keep youto
| company.

25

ms n
 J!

Eternal l^est? An
mummy
invitation to a
unwrapping

§otne 0<&J Uses

F<sr Mummies: *»**
»«**£+# f\$
iOl
PAINT. A horrified
artist, who found that
was using
the paint he
was made from ground-
up human mummy
remains, gave the tubes
of paint a decent burial.

PAPER. An outbreak
of cholera was
allegedly caused
when butchers used
brown paper made
from linen mummy
wrappings to wrap
their meat.

FIREWOOD.
Mummies' arms and
legswere sometimes
used as torches for
exploring tombs.

%
 u u

k
. y the 19th century A.D., 2,800
*
years after your death, you may
think you have found eternal
.peace at last. Wrong! It

becomes fashionable among the

wealthy to travel to Egypt and
buy mummies as souvenirs of their travels.
Unfortunately for you, becomes
it also
fashionable to publicly unwrap mummies.
No one is interested in you, however — Ground-up ^fskm com^V' tn
only the magic amulets tucked in your
wrappings. If you are lucky, you may be the skin.
re-wrapped and put in a museum.
 grange $terjives
.•ome mummies have become
celebrities in more recent years.
Horror stories about mummies
BY PLANE. The coming back to life were popular in
mummy of the great the 19th century and helped to
pharaoh Ramesses II

was flown to Paris create the legends associated with

for treatment of a
Tutankhamun, the most famous mummy in the
fungal growth. The
3,300-year-old world. His largely untouched tomb, full of
mummy had "monarch treasures, was discovered by the archaeologist
(deceased)" stamped
on his passport. The Howard Carter in 1922. His sponsor was
treatment was
Lord Carnarvon, who died jl
a success.
from an infected mosquito
bite soon after the tomb was
opened. His death gave
rise to the myth of the (J
pharaoh'
curse," which
MUMMY OVERBOARD! Tourists would bring
who had bought a mummy as a death to anyone
souvenir changed their minds about
taking it home because of its terrible who entered
smell. They threw it in the River Nile

FAR FROM HOME. A mummy

in Aswan was
purchased by a tourist
body of an
later identified as the
English engineer who had recently
•IX died there.
 I_ u

famous JNlumtnies

g
get into
*e moves lways
f

KING TUTANKHAMUN'S mummy suffered badly

from the amount of oils used in the mummification THE MUMMY of pharaoh
process. His flesh stuck to the inside of his coffin, Ramesses III was the model
meaning that his mummy had to be cut up to remove for many of the mummies
it. His ribs are still missing. featured in horror films
(right).

AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
MUMMY known as the
"screaming mummy" (left)
was buried and wrapped
alive
in sheepskin, probably as
a punishment.

I
 u u

Glossary
Adze An axelike tool with the blade
set in the handle at a right angle.

Akh According to ancient Egyptian

belief, theakh was one of three spirits

released at a person's death and it

represented the higher soul.

Ammut A demon of the underworld liver, and intestines were stored.

who attended the weighing-of-the-heart
test and ate the heart of anybody who Cartonnage Material made from
failed it. pulped linen etc., often used to make
the masks for Egyptian mummies.
Amulet A small object, like a lucky
charm, believed to provide magical Chaff Chopped up hay and straw,
protection to the person wearing it. often used to stuff the body cavities
of dead people once their organs had
Anubis The jackal-headed god of been removed.
embalming.
Embalming The practice of
Ba One of the three spirits released preserving dead bodies.
when someone died. It represented the
person's character, or personality. Finger and toe stalls Metal sheaths,
sometimes made of gold, placed
Book of the Dead A collection of over the ends of an embalmed body's
spellsand prayers left in tombs to help fingers and toes.
the dead in the underworld.
Hieroglyphs The ancient Egyptian
Canopic jars The set of four jars in writing system, which consists of
which the embalmed lungs, stomach, pictures representing sounds.
TO
 u
Horus The son of the gods Isis
Horus had the head of a falcon
Osiris.
and was the sun god.
Ibu "Tent of purification"; the
and Shabtis Pottery figurines in human
shape buried with a mummy. They
were called upon to do manual labor
for the dead person in the underworld.
first

place a body was taken after death. Thoth The god of wisdom and
writing. Sometimes he is shown as
Ka The ka was a person's life force. an ibis, sometimes a baboon.
When the person died, his ka lived on
in his mummy. Votive offerings Special gifts for the

gods, usually left in temples or other

Mummy An embalmed body wrapped holy places.
The word
in linen bandages.
"mummy" comes from the Persian Wabet The place where a body is
word mummiya, meaning "pitch" or taken to have its organs removed and
"bitumen". Some Egyptian mummies to be dried out in natron salt. It means
blackened over time and gave rise to the "place of embalming."
the incorrect belief that bitumen was
the embalming agent used.

Natron A form of natural salt used

for drying out the body during the
mummification process.

Per nefer The place where embalmed

bodies were rubbed with perfumed
oils, stuffed, and given false eyes and

hair. It means "beautiful house."

Sarcophagus A large outer coffin,

usually made of stone.

31

n m mnai
 u HUB
Inclex
A heart 9, 11,
hieroglyphs
19,21,27 portrait
prayers
masks 6, 14, 15
adze 16, 30 16, 31 1

afterlife 5,6, 18,20,21,24 Horus 9, 10, 31 priests 6, 8, 18, 19

akh 6, 30
Ammut 19, 30 I Q
amulets 14, 27, 30 Ibis bull 24 Qebehsenuef 10, 11

animal mummies 24-25 ibu 6, 31

Anubis 6, 19, 30 Imsety 10, 11 R
incense 18 Ramesses II 28
B intestines 10, 11 Ramesses III 29
ba 6, 18, 20, 30 resin 13, 14
baboon 10 K
bodies 6,7,8,9, 10, 12, 13, 15 ka 6,20,31
Book of the Dead 20, 30 sarcophagus 16, 31
brain 9 L scarab beetle 19
linen 6, 11, 14, 15,22,26 "screaming mummy" 29
c liver 10 shabti 21, 31
canopic chest 1 lungs 10 "sheer priest" 8. 9
canopic jars 10, 11, 30 spells 16, 20
Carnarvon, Lord 28 M stomach 8, 9, 10
Carter, Howard 28 mourners 18
cartonnage 6, 30 mummies 5, 14, 20, 22, 24, 26, T
coffins 16, 18,29,31 27, 28, 29 temples 14, 24
mummification (process of) 5, 6, Thoth 19,31
D 14, 15, 22, 29 tombs 11, 14, 16, 18, 19,20,21.
Duamutef 10, 11 mummy wrappings 5, 6, 14-15, 24, 26, 28, 30
22, 26, 27 tomb robbers 22-23
tools 8, 16, 18, 19,20
embalming 6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 14, N Tutankhamun 28, 29
24, 25, 30 natron 6,7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 31
eyes 12, 13 Nile, River 5, 28 u
underworld 20, 21
o
finger and toe stalls 14, 31 oils 6, 12, 13,29 V
frankincense 13, 22 onions 13 votive offerings 24, 3
18,22 opening-of-the-mouth ceremony
funerals
18, 19 w
G wabet 8,31
gods 5, 6, 9, 10, 16, 19, 24 P weighing-of-the-heart ceremony
gold 6, 15, 17, 22 paints 16, 26 11, 19
palm wine 10, 13
H perfumes 6
hair 12 per nefer 12,31
Hapy 10, 11 pharaohs 5, 15, 28, 29

32

Hi n
 BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 05055 905 1

 m\

jm VoulJn'f Vai>t to Be a"

et ready... as a wealthy ancient Egyptian, you are about

to drop dead! To enter the afterlife, your body must go
through extraordinary processes to become a

mummy.

T<f Tip 5 frem Exf erp>-

• Use a hook to pull the mummy's brain out through his nose!
• Make from onions.
false eyes
• Stuff the body with rags and sawdust for a realistic looking mummy.

• Use frankincense to make the mummy smell sweet.

Place magic amulets among the wrappings for protection in the afterlife.

flNTHIS SERIES:
rofrian Gladiator
ISBN 0-531-16206-0
Slave in Ancient Greece 90000
Viking Explorer

780531 "162064
A FRANKLIN WATTS BOOK