Egypt

Encampment at the Nile

Egyptian Dynasties

Written records of Egypt began around 3100 BCE. The source of their trade, commerce, development, etc was the Nile. They invented hieroglyphics and left written records about their religious practices.

Worldview

Worldview

The sky, earth, river and sun are sources of life and symbolized them using the forms of human, animals and human-animal combinations. The sun was the highest god and had different names depending on the time of day.

Egyptian Deities

THE ENNEAD: Ra, Geb, Nut, Shu, Tefnut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephythys.Images: http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptgods.html

Osiris and Isis

Osiris and Isis were husband and wife deities and represented the "self-renewing vitality in nature."

Horus - The Offspring of the Gods

Horus was the off-spring of Isis and Osiris and was symbolized by the falcon and was king of the gods.

The Composite

Amon-Re, a composite of Ra, was symbolized by a headdress of the noon sun.

Aton Aton, the sun and

symbolized by a disk, was declared by Pharaoh Akhenaton as the only god.

Hathor – The Creator The Creator of Earth

– The creator of the earth was a female deity who had a female body and the head of a cow; her name was Hathor.

Maat - Truth

The Truth– Mayet, (Maat) symbolized by a feather, was the

the goddess of order and truth.

Egyptians’ Admired Traits

Egyptians admired traits of the animals and thus used them to symbolize their gods. The Egyptians "honored" dependability.

Rituals and Symbols

Rituals and Symbols

“The Egyptian temple represented the mansion of god, his home on earth. The priests cared for the gods as if ‘literally alive.’” The pharaoh was the intermediary between the god and the people. The high priests performed priestly duties.

Life After Death

Life After Death

Immortality includes common people and not just royalty. It was a complicated process. There is "ka, a spiritual form that mirrored the body." Its physical needs were met after death with food and offerings. Ba was the spirit that flew like a bird to heaven. A person could be recreated through the mummified process and funeral rites.

Judgment & Afterlife

Each person's works had to be judged and therefore that person appeared before Mayet “in the kingdom of Osiris.” If one’s works were judged a good one went to “heaven.”

Heaven was a place filled with plenty of food and one could go in and out as one pleased.

Relationship to Other Religions

Impact on Western Cultures

Relationship to Other Religions

Ancient Egyptian religion has had a tremendous impact on Western civilization. It was admired by the Greeks and Romans and many stories can trace their origins to ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian religion has influenced Judaism and Christianity.