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Religion in Ancient Egypt

Religion in Ancient Egypt. How Religion Affected Egyptian Political, Legal, and Creative Thought. Impact of Geography on Religion: The Nile. Rose and the land was covered with water; the Nile subsided and land, now full of life was ready to be sewn and produce crops

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Religion in Ancient Egypt

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  1. Religion in Ancient Egypt How Religion Affected Egyptian Political, Legal, and Creative Thought

  2. Impact of Geography on Religion:The Nile • Rose and the land was covered with water; the Nile subsided and land, now full of life was ready to be sewn and produce crops • Consequently, Egyptians accepted water as the beginning of everything • Water revered in the form of a creator-god named Atum, who emerged from the first hill that rose from the water • Atum was “the perfect one” that created the earth and sky, who later had children

  3. Impact of Geography on Religion:Climate • From the Old Stone Age man had buried the dead, and early Egyptians did too • Hot, dry climate meant that body did not rot, but desiccated and remained a wholly recognizable corpse • Consequently developed unparalleled emphasis on continued existence of physical body after death • Sun also recognized as another great life-giving force (hence Sun-god Re)

  4. The Development of Deities • Atum ejected from his being Shu (air) and Tefenet (moisture) (the sun itself) • Atum also known as Ra • Separated sky (Nut) from the earth (Geb) • Geb and Nut had children: the gods Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys • Anubus born out of love between Nephthys and Osiris—helped Isis by embalming king’s body • Local gods, such as Amon (Thebes) began to emerge during Middle Kingdom

  5. Nut (goddess of the sky and heavens) is depicted with her husband-brother Geb. Together they bore 5 children (Osiris, Horus the Elder, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys

  6. Religious Beliefs • Aside from their physical body, each person had a ka, ba, and akh • Ka is a person’s spiritual duplicate, which was stored in the heart and separated from the body at death • Ba is essentially the person’s character or personality; left the body at death; depicted as a human-headed bird • Akh is the form the person would exist in in the afterlife (through spells said over the mummy)

  7. Religion and Political Thought • Concept of the god-king was central • Pharaoh believed to be the earthly embodiment of the god Horus (son of Amon-Re) • Partial divinity of king helped to ensure stability since the word of the king would be considered the word of the gods • The Pharaoh owned all of the land in Egypt, the people, and their possessions

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