ENH251: Ancient Egypt
Religion
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Guided every aspect of ancient Egyptian life
Based on polytheism—the worship of many deities—except for during the reign of
Akhenaton.
Built temples for the god of the city
Early Beliefs
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Oldest form of religious worship—animal worship
Deities gradually humanized as civilization advanced
Animals associated with certain gods
Relationship between a god and his animal varied greatly. Occasionally a god was a
composite of various animals, such as Taurt, who had the head of a hippopotamus,
the back and tail of a crocodile, and the claws of a lion.
Conceived of the earth as a disk, with the flat plains of Egypt as the center and the
mountainous foreign lands as the rim surrounding and supporting the disk
Several systems of cosmic deities arose to explain natural phenomenon.
most widely accepted explanation of the creation was that the sun-god, called either
Ra or Atum, appeared out of primeval chaos and created the air-god Shu and his
wife Tefnut, to whom were born the sky-goddess Nut and the earth-god Geb, who in
turn bore Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys
Major Cults
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Most important of the many forms of Egyptian worship were the cults of Osiris and of
Ra
Osiris was especially important as king and judge of the dead, but he was identified
as well with the waters of the Nile, with the grain yield of the earth, with the moon,
and even with the sun. A bountiful and loving king, Osiris was the protector of all,
the poor and the rich. His myth, portraying the highest ideals of family devotion,
expressed aspirations that were close to the people. His murder by his brother Set,
and his restoration to life by his wife Isis made him the great symbol of the eternal
persistence of life. The revenge exacted by his son and successor Horus showed the
triumph of good over evil.
worship of Ra, the great sun-god, chief of the cosmic deities, more closely related to
the fate of the royal house than to that of the people
one of the most important cults in ancient Egypt
pyramid (his symbol) became the design of the monumental tombs of the Egyptian
kings
thought of as a living power, whose daily cycle of birth, journey, and death was a
fundamental theme in Egyptian life
other most prominent Egyptian god was Amon, eventually Egypt’s greatest god,
united with Ra as Amon Ra.
Life After Death
 populace found its expression of religious feeling in the funerary cults
 dead were provided with food and drink, weapons, and toiletry articles
 Tombs visited by the family, who brought new offerings
 Proper precautions and care for the dead mandatory to insure immortality
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strongly believed in life after death
hoped not only to extend life beyond the grave, but to become part of the perennial
life of nature
two most important concepts concerning the afterlife were the ka and the ba.
o ka -- a kind of double or other self, not an element of the personality, but a
detached part of the self which was sometimes said to guide the fortunes of
the individual in life
o When people died they were said to join with their ka.
o ba is perhaps loosely identifiable as the soul of a person, the manifestation of
an individual after death, usually thought to be represented in the form of a
bird
o also believed in the concept of akh, which was the transformation of some of
the noble dead into eternal objects
 noblest were often conceived of as being transformed into stars,
joining in the changeless rhythm of the universe.
Ancient Egyptian Gods
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as many as 2000 gods and goddesses
some, such as Amun, worshipped throughout the whole country, others had only a
local following
Often represented as part human and part animal
o Horus, the sky god, had the head of a hawk, and body of a human. They
considered
o animals such as the bull, the cat, and the crocodile considered holy
o two chief gods -- Amon-Ra and Osiris
 Amon-Ra-- the sun god and the lord of the universe
 Osiris -- god of the underworld; idea of immortality; peaceful afterlife
 "Book of the Dead" -- major ideas and beliefs in the ancient Egyptian
religion
 stressed an afterlife
 devoted much time and wealth preparing for survival in the
next world
Book of the Dead
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Book of the Dead -- a group of funerary chapters which began to appear in ancient
Egypt around 1600 BC. in the Pyramid Texts carved inside pyramid walls
Middle Kingdom more Spells added; texts written in hieratic, not in hieroglyphics,
within the wooden coffins known as Coffin Texts
ancient texts commissioned by the deceased before their death, and were the
deceased's guide Book to a happy afterlife
o intended to be read by the deceased during their journey into the underworld
o enabled the Dead to overcome obstacles of the underworld and not lose their
way
o taught passwords, gave clues, and revealed routes that would allow to answer
questions and navigate around hazards
o grant the help and protection of the gods while proclaiming the deceased's
identity with the gods to attain an afterlife of bliss in the Fields of Reeds
texts divided into individual Spells or chapters, two hundred in total, though no one
papyrus contains them all
Mummification
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mummy is the corpse of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death
made by embalming, which was a process used to preserve the dead
related to beliefs concerning the afterlife and was undertaken to safeguard the fate
of the soul
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method of preparing the body varied with the social status of the deceased
religious reasons, some animals were also mummified -- sacred bulls, baboons, cats,
birds, and crocodiles
art of Egyptian mummification consisted of many steps
o the corpse washed and ritually purified
o remove the deceased person's inner organs; individually wrapped and placed
in canopic jars
o brain removed through the nose using long hooks; considered unimportant, it
was probably thrown away
o best preserved mummies are of the pharoahs and their relatives
Source: Aldokkan [http://www.aldokkan.com/religion/mummy.htm]