Download ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION General Remarks Most people

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ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION
General Remarks
Most people today in Europe and the United States put religion in a
separate compartment from the rest of their life activities. To ancient
Egyptians this was unthinkable. Religious rituals permeated their whole life
socially, politically, and economically. Art for them was an expression of
their religious symbolism. Literature and philosophy were suffused with
religious teachings. Mankind’s life from the flooding of the Nile to the death
of a cat depended entirely on the attitude of the deities. Roots of Ancient
Egyptian religion occurred even before the advent of the rulers or pharaohs.
In the beginning each city or area appears to have had its local deities. The
unification of Upper and Lower Egypt fused gods and goddesses as well as
the political structure.
Elements of Egyptian Religion: Animistic, Zoomorphistic &
Anthropomorphic type of deities
Throughout their thousands of years of history Egyptians were
polytheistic in their beliefs, with always more deities added. It is estimated
that some 2000 deities were worshiped throughout the history of Ancient
Egypt. Like most all ancient civilizations, people in Egypt worshipped the
natural elements or what is today deemed animism, including the sun, Nile
River, etc. Then their gods and goddesses frequently were represented in
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animal form or what is formally called zoomorphic worship. Egyptians were
either in awe of the power of an animal or admired their nurturing
characteristics. The ferocity of a lion, strength of a crocodile or the tender
care of a cow for her calf, were transformed into deities. As societies
became more sophisticated and the awe of nature diminished, the Egyptian
deities were more anthropomorphic than zoomorphic, but traditions do not
cease easily, and combinations of nature, animal and mankind became
divine.
Some of their gods and goddesses were even shown as half-human
half-animal in statues/paintings. For instance, the ferocity of a lion, led to
the goddess Sekhmet, who usually had the head of a lion and the body of a
woman. Sekhmet was responsible for ensuring the ancient Egyptians carried
out their religious duties to the deities faithfully. The god of learning and
wisdom, Thoth, was depicted as a baboon or ibis, or then into a man with a
head of one of the animals. Hathor, goddess of love and childbirth turned
into a beautiful goddess, but she was also shown as a cow, where the
pharaoh suckled from her teats, as a woman with cow ears or horns too.
Anubis became the judge of the dead and god of mummification. He was
shown as a jackal or pharaoh dog, as a man with a jackal head, and
undoubtedly the main practitioner of mummification put on a mask
replicating Anubis to oversee the entire funeral process. At times live
animals associated with deities were kept in temples, and lived in pampered
luxury. As the ancient Egyptians domesticated the cat to kill the rodents,
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since grain was so important as a food source, the cat or cat-headed
goddess appeared as one of their important deities.
Creation Myths
Ancient Egypt’s creation myths evolved over time, and showed
complexity of their ideas. Initially Nut (many other spellings of her name)
created the sun, moon, and mankind. There are many painted ceilings in
the Valley of the Kings’ tombs that show her swallowing the sun disks as it
goes through its 24-hour cycle. In other myths the god Ptah was given
credit for conceiving the universe through masturbation and thought. Ptah’s
words were he “created through thought and words…all the divine order
really came into being through what the heart thought and the tongue
commanded…after he had made everything Ptah rested.”
Ra, the sun god
also received credit from the ancient Egyptians for his creator role.1
Religious Rituals
Many rituals developed over the centuries for the worshiping of their
deities. Temples were built for a specific god or goddess. Many temples
were like small cities that had schools, workshops, libraries, granaries, and
storerooms. The most important room was the sanctuary where the deity
lived. Each morning a celibate, circumcised priest, newly shaved and
washed entered this sanctuary. Taking the statue of the god out of its
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The other names for Ra were Re, Amon-Re, Amun, etc.
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shrine, the priest sprinkled water on it, changed its clothing, offered it food
and drink, and then put it back into the shrine. Leaving the doors open until
evening, the priest exited. Women served as part-time priestesses, and
even performing the same functions as the priests. Mostly, the priestesses
encouraged people to worship a particular deity by singing, playing a musical
instrument, and dancing, swinging a sistrum or castanets. People brought
various offerings to the gods in the form of votive tablets inscribed with ears
on them so that the gods would hear their prayers.
Temple at Karnak
The great temple complex known as Karnak in what today is Luxor,
was the most sacred worship center for Ra.2 There are a considerable
number of myths that relate how important the sun god was to the Ancient
Egyptians beginning with the Old Kingdom, and this is clearly seen in this
two hundred and fifty acre site. By the New Kingdom, each pharaoh was
adding his or her special touch to this impressive temple. Queen Hatshepsut
added two obelisks to the entrance and Ramses II added a dual row of ramhead sphinxes. Impressive twelve feet in diameter columns that are nearly
80 feet high are in the Hypostyle hall. These were painted bright colors, and
were not monochromatic as it looks today.
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It is believed to be the largest religious edifice ever built and the Hypostyle Hall itself could contain most
medieval cathedrals.
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Monotheism under Akhenaton and Nefertiti
Under the rule of Akhenaton, he decided to only worship the sun god, Aton,
and prohibit the worship of the other deities, even going as far as shutting
down the many other temples to the other deities. Together with his famous
wife Nefertiti, then moved the capital of ancient Egypt to Akhenaton or
Amarna. Some scholars suggest that Nefertiti was a Hittite princess and she
brought with her to Egypt the concept of worshipping Arinna, the sun
goddess of the Hittites. All these efforts were in vain for during the reign of
his successor, King Tutankhamen, Egypt returned to polytheism.
Egyptian Trinity: Osiris, Isis, and Horus
Perhaps the most notable aspect of ancient Egyptian religion was the
worship of the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Osiris and Isis were husband
and wife, brother and sister. He was worshiped at Abydos, where pilgrims
went to see his mummified head, and miracles would sometimes ensue.
Osiris is clearly recognized as the first mummy with a plumed crown, and
the crook and flail, symbols of his office. He was not only the god of the Nile
and god of resurrection, but Osiris’ own death and resurrection, were
promises of immortality for the ancient Egyptians. He died each year, and
his wife, Isis, would bring him back to life. As Osiris had triumphed over
death, so too would individuals who worshiped him. They too would have
everlasting life. The stories or myths that relate these events are complex
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and changing, but the main theme is that after Osiris was killed by his evil
brother Seth, Isis searched for him and finally located his many body parts
and put them back together. Unfortunately, his male organ was missing so
Isis assumed wings and hovered over him, thus immaculately conceiving
their son, Horus. Isis was the chief female goddess in ancient Egyptian
religion. She had many symbols that represented her various powers and
duties. Sometimes on her head was a sycamore throne, that indicated new
pharaohs needed to receive her permission to become recognized as a
legitimate pharaoh. Other times she had the sun disc surrounded by cow
horns.
Her wing span image according to art historians became the
iconography for angels, and when she is shown nursing baby Horus, again
these scholars attest that this is the original image that will ultimately lead
to the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. In paranoiac Egypt she stood for
many other things too: teaching agriculture, the healing arts, instituting
marriage, magical arts, and perhaps what was the single-most admired trait
of Isis was her role as sorrowing wife and devoted mother. According to
legends Isis’ tears that she shed over her slain husband caused the Nile
River to flood each year.
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Long after the fall of Egypt, temples were
dedicated to Osiris and Isis all over the Mediterranean region in Greece and
Rome, but mainly to Isis. The famous island of Philae with its major temple
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There are so many different myths connected with this trinity, but all have most items in common
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to Isis was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, although the
original one was built circa 2500 B.C.E.
Horus as the son of Osiris and Isis was shown as a hawk or as a man
with a hawk head. He lost his eye to his evil uncle Seth and that is now the
symbol for modern pharmacies. Pharaohs were identified with Horus the son
when alive and then after their death with Osiris the father.
The pharaohs
had an extremely important role in ancient Egyptian religion. The New
Testament injunction “Render to Caesar those things that are Caesar’s and
to God the Things that are God’s” would have meant nothing to the
Egyptians. The pharaoh was considered the child of the sun god Re or Ra,
and Horus in human form. The pharaoh was not simply a mediator between
the deities and the Egyptian people, but he was a guarantee to them that
the gods cared for them. “O Atum, what is my duration of life?” The deity
replies “Thou art destined for millions and millions of years, a lifetime of
millions.”
The Pyramids: Their design and Construction
Undoubtedly, the most famous part of ancient Egyptian religion is their
burial customs. To provide for their lifetime of millions of years, the
pharaohs designed tombs and mortuary temples that would last forever.
The Egyptian people willingly labored to build these monuments for their
rulers. Why this happened was that the laborers believed their own well-
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being inextricably tied to that of their rulers. If the pharaohs journey well to
their eternal home, then life on earth would flourish. These grand edifices
such as the pyramids were not built by slaves, but by workers who identified
themselves as: “vigorous team,” “enduring team,” “craftsman gang.” This
construction took place during the summer when the Nile was flooded,
easing the placement of the stones. These workers were paid in a variety of
ways, including beer, and provided good accommodations and food. The
majority of the pyramids were built during the Old Kingdom as tombs for the
pharaohs during a span of just five hundred years. About eighty pyramids
survive today. The first pyramid was the step pyramid of the Pharaoh
Zoser. His architect, doctor, and chief counselor, Imhotep, inaugurated this
design.
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Originally the tomb was a mastaba, a raised rectangular tomb, but
it is believed that between Imhotep and Zoser they conceived the idea to put
smaller succeeding mastabas on top of each other to construct the pyramidal
shape. A necessary addition to the tomb was a mortuary temple where the
bereaved people could pay their respects regularly. It is here that the first
columns appeared, denying the ancient Greeks of this honor.
For the construction techniques of building the complete pyramid,
there are lots of interesting hypotheses, but as there are no illustrations of
this in the painted tombs or on surviving papyri. Scholars and amateurs
alike generate theories, from outer space aliens’ work to pyramids made out
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The Ancient Greeks will elevate Imhotep to the god of medicine,, Aesculapius.
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of concrete. Anyone that has been to Egypt, however, will give the ancient
Egyptians themselves credit for these, the only one of the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient world still standing. Limestone quarries were close to the
pyramids, so during the flooding of the Nile in the summer, the water came
right up to the site, allowing for the unloading of these giant blocks. As
granite was six hundred miles away it was used sparingly. As the ancient
Egyptians had only copper, water, and wood, ramps and causeways were
built from mud bricks, not wood scaffolding as shown in Disney’s The Prince
of Egypt. As the ancient Egyptians had no wheels at the time, wooden
sledges must have been used. The latest theory is that these pyramids were
built from the inside out. What is remarkable is how level these giant
pyramids are. The greatest pyramid of Cheops is only half an inch from
being completely level. Most of the pyramids were solid, and the burial
chamber was then carved out so grave robbers could not find the tombs.
There was a series of labyrinthine passages, false doors, and dummy
chambers. The pharaohs were buried with gold, jewelry and household
objects. Only the Tomb of King Tutankhamen was not robbed during
antiquity.
The pyramid of Cheops or Khufu was built in twenty years between
circa 2580-2560 B.C.E.
It is nearly five hundred feet high and the base
covers nearly fifteen acres. Originally covered with polished white
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limestone, it was stripped over the years to build buildings in Cairo in the
Middle Ages. Probably 100,000 men worked on this.
Some Amazing Observations
Some amazing observations have been offered using the Hebrew or
Egyptian cubit (18 or 21 inches), which is the distance between a person’s
elbow and finger tips. The baseline of this pyramid of Cheops when using
the cubit measures 365.2422 cubits, the exact number of days in the solar
year. When you double this figure and divide the result by the height of the
pyramid, you arrive at the number 3.14159, which is the figure for pi. For
every ten feet you go up the side of the pyramid you rise only nine feet in
altitude. If you multiply the height of the pyramid by ten to the ninth power,
you get 91,840,000, or the same distance from the earth to the sun.
The other significant pyramid at Giza is the one for the pharaoh
Chephren, and it still has some of the original limestone casing on the top.
Chephren was the son of Cheops, and it is thought that he had the Sphinx
built in his image. Of the thousands of Sphinx statues in Egypt this one at
Giza is the largest. It was originally covered with plaster and painted with
bright colors just like the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. From the earliest period
of Egyptian history it was customary to represent the Pharaoh as a lion to
symbolize his strength and divine role. This huge sphinx was carved from a
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natural bluff and is sixty-six feet tall. The sphinx wears the Uranus or cobra
headdress, the symbol of sovereignty over Lower Egypt.
Valley of the Kings Queen Hatshepsut
Over time, the expense of building pyramids overwhelmed the
Egyptians, and they moved the burials of their pharaohs to the Valley of the
Kings on the West Bank of the Nile opposite Karnak, and the capital at
Thebes. All of the tombs were robbed during antiquity with the exception of
King Tutankhamen’s. Perhaps the most impressive mortuary temple was the
great temple of Queen Hatshepsut, now called Deir El Bahari. She was the
first effective woman ruler, and her reign was from 1490-1468 b.c.e. As the
daughter of a pharaoh, wife, and step-mother, she served originally as
regent for her stepson, Tuthmoses III, but as he was quite young, she
assumed the throne herself, claiming that her father was the sun god Ra.
Many of the sculptures of her show that she posed and dressed as if she
were a man, but we also have found her sculptures and paintings as a
female. After much research and excavation, Hatshepsut has achieved an
impressive record of accomplishments for ancient Egypt. She ordered a
trading expedition to the land of Punt (Ethiopia today) that brought back
invaluable plants of myrrh and frankincense, and other items that stimulated
the ancient Egyptian economy. Recent research credits her with revising
and establishing the main religious tenets of ancient Egypt that were
followed for the next one thousand and five hundred years. She also had
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the two obelisks built for the entrance to Karnak that much later were
referred to as Cleopatra’s needles. These obelisks had hieroglyphic
inscriptions detailing her accomplishments for her people. In ordering the
building of her mortuary temple at Deir El Bahari, it is now recognized as the
largest edifice ever built by a female ruler in history. Uncovered now are the
carvings on the walls, showing her accomplishments, including the trade
mission to Punt, and even show her pregnant. After her death, her step-son
tried to wipe out any memory of Hatshepsut by eliminating her statues,
cartouches and paintings.
Pharaoh Ramses II
Perhaps the most successful of all the pharaohs that ruled ancient
Egypt was Ramses II, 1290-1224 B.C.E. He had the longest reign, sixtyseven years, and lived to be eighty-seven. While he had over two hundred
wives and concubines, and over one hundred and fifty children, his favorite
wife was Nefertari.
Recent excavations in the Valley of the Kings have
found tombs of fifty of his sons. We do have his mummified body now
residing in the Cairo Museum. Known as a conqueror and builder of
thousands of sculptures, he might be most famous for some people to
believe that he was the pharaoh that gained an infamous reputation as the
oppressor of the Hebrews under Moses. His major battles were against the
Hittites. At the famous battle of Kadesh in the Near East, both the Egyptians
and Hittites agreed to a truce, and signed the first peace treaty in history
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that also had a proviso that they would collaborate against the growing
threat of the Assyrians. Throughout Egypt are thousands of his likeness in
sculpture, including the famous site at Abu Simbel, that was moved there
when the Aswan Dam was constructed. Four colossal statues of Ramses
were built and next to his mortuary temple was a lesser sized temple to
Nefertari.
It is, however, a minor pharaoh, King Tutankhamen that has received
the most publicity today because of his tomb that survived centuries of
grave robbers, and was only discovered in 1922. He ruled after Akhenaton
and brought back polytheistic religious worship to the ancient Egyptians.
From Natural Desiccation to Mummification
The ancient Egyptians placed great emphasis on the preservation of
their dead in reasonably lifelike form. It is believed that this belief probably
originated from the observation of the natural preservative effects of burials
in shallow sand-filled graves in the desert, a practice the earliest Egyptians
used. Some must have been uncovered by jackals or pharaoh dogs, and to
stop this desecration of the remains, their burial methods were altered.
Mummification using a variety of methods now took place instead of the
natural desecration of the body. Over time the ancient Egyptian beliefs saw
mummification as a life-giving process. If the body fell to pieces it would be
as if the person had never existed. The “jackal” was turned into the god
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Anubis, who became the god of mummification.
The chief priest or
embalmer would wear the mask of Anubis, overseeing the mummification
process. As the person had both a soul or ka, and a physical vitality or ba,
as long as the body remained, the soul would live for eternity. Since it was
not known by the ancient Egyptians how well the soul would function in the
afterlife without the physical body or ba, mummification was the solution to
this dilemma. Depending on the family finances, mummification could be
simple or elaborate. Over the centuries the process changed from wrapping
the corpse in resin-soaked linen, where the body decomposed, but the
wrappings retained the appearance of the body, to more complex processes.
Natron salts that were found locally in Lower Egypt were used as the
dehydrating agent. As the new kingdom progressed, mummification was at
its apex, which meant that even the hair and fingernails were preserved.
The entire process took a long time, and included eventually the following
elements: the brain was reduced to liquid through the nostrils and emptied
out of the body as the Egyptians did not recognize the value of the brain.
Next came a slit that was cut in the left side of the body, and the internal
organs and blood were removed. The four main internal organs (the liver,
stomach, intestines, and lungs were preserved in four canoptic jars made for
this purpose. Then the body was stuffed with natron salts to dry it out.
Then when the body was sufficiently dry they stuffed it with spices and sand.
Then linen strips were wrapped around the body held in place by resin or
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gum. That way the body could be kept indefinitely. It is estimated that
mummification was used for almost three thousand years, and even adopted
by invaders to Egypt like the ancient Greeks and Romans.5
Judgment of the Deceased Person
The final stage was the judgment of the deceased person. Osiris was
the chief judge and lord of the underworld. The heart of the person was
then placed on one of the scales and on the other one was a feather of Maat
(who was the goddess of justice) was placed. If the person had committed
sins, then the heart would be heavy with these burdens, and it would weigh
more than the feather of truth. If this happened then the deceased was
eaten by a baboon. Otherwise eternal life was guaranteed. For those
families who could afford more surety, carved scarabs were placed between
the various layers of linen6 that were inscribed with all the good deeds done
by the deceased and an admonishment to the heart to not admit any evil
actions done by the deceased.
Once the usual 70-day mummification process was completed, the
funeral took place. Official mourners together with relatives and friends
buried the body. In the tomb was placed food, beverage, and other
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There are many fascinating sources on mummies. It is estimated that over 730 million people and animals were
mummified. Over 30,000 mummies have been found and analyzed. In the early modern period royalty and others
used ground up mummies for cures. Even the American Bag Company got its start using the brown linen
wrappings to make bags – hence brown paper sacks today. In the 19th century when Britain was building the
Egyptian railroad system, the workers used mummies as cross ties for the tracks. In the 19th century every
museum in the world had an Egyptian mummy.
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Eventually the most elaborate wrappings were up to three miles in length
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perceived-necessary items that the deceased would need in the afterlife.
Later on these objects were painted on the tombs and the deceased had the
magic key to turning these into real items. Included over time were
inscriptions in hieroglyphic symbols that had prayers and incantations
needed by the deceased. Eventually these were compiled into what is now
called The Book of the Dead.
Mummification of Animals
People were not the only ones mummified in ancient Egypt. Many
different animals were mummified, especially cats as by circa 2000 b.c.e.
the cat was domesticated to catch snakes and rodents, a job that originally
belonged to the Mongoose, but it had been hunted to extinction. The
penalty for killing a cat was death, and in a fire cats were the first beings to
be rescued from the house. The entire household would go into mourning
when the cat died and was mummified. Bastet became the cat goddess, and
had her special temple site in Lower Egypt. There are huge cat cemeteries
throughout Egypt with the one at Thebes containing hundreds of thousands
of mummified cats.
Conclusion
In summary of ancient Egyptian religion, it is evident that many of
their traditions survived throughout the centuries into modern times. A few
of these are the use of mourners at funerals, leaving of food offerings at the
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burial or mortuary sites, saying prayers at regular intervals, and burning of
incense to eliminate the unpleasant odors. In doctrinal matters it has been
suggested that the Egyptian triad of gods: Osiris, Isis and Horus, influenced
the concepts of the Christian trinity, and the imagery of Isis nursing baby
Horus transferred to Christianity also.