Ancient Egyptian Religion :: essays research papers

Ancient Egyptian Religion Religion guided every verbal expression of Egyptian life. Egyptian devotion was based onpolytheism, or the worship of many deities, except for during the reign of Akenaton. TheEgyptians had as many as 2000 gods and goddesses. Some, such as Amun, wereworshipped throughout the whole country, while others had only a local following. Oftengods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal. For example, Horus, the sky god, had the subject of a hawk, and body of a human. Theyconsidered animals such as the bull, the cat, and the crocodile to be holy. Their two chiefgods were Amon-Ra and Osiris. Amon-Ra was believed to be the sun god and the lordof the universe. Osiris was the god of the underworld. Stories about him turnaround the idea of immortality. Osiris was the god that made a peaceful afterlifepossible. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" contains the major ideas and beliefs in theancient Egyptian religion. Because their religion stress ed an afterlife, Egyptians devotedmuch time and wealth to preparing for survival in the next world. The Egyptians had many tales about how the world began. According to one legend, itstarted with an ocean in darkness. Then a mound of dry land rose up and the sun godRe appeared. He created light and all things. Another adjustment has the sun God emergingfrom a sacred blue lotus that grew out of the mud, while a third version has himappearing as a scarab beetle on the eastern horizon. Temples were considered dwelling places for the gods. They were everywhere. Eachcity had a temple built for the god of that city. The purpose of the temple was to be acosmic center by which men had communication with the gods. As the priests becamemore powerful, tombs became a part of great temples. Shown below is a typical temple pig out plan with the purposes of each section given. The priests duty was to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests hadmany duties such as funeral rites, te aching school, supervising the artists and works, andadvising people on problems. Death and Funerals The Egyptians sawing machine death as a transitional stage in the progress to a better life in thenext world. They believed they could only reach their well(p) potential after death. Eachperson was thought to have three souls, the "ka," the "ba," and the "akh." For these tofunction properly, it was considered essential for the body to survive intact.