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Ancient Egyptian Gods and Godesses. By: Taylor Spotswood. Egyptian gods guide the human race to paradise. They had human forms but were much more powerful. Egyptians belief system was part totemism, polytheism, and part ancestor worship.
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Ancient Egyptian Gods and Godesses By: Taylor Spotswood
Egyptian gods guide the human race to paradise. They had human forms but were much more powerful. • Egyptians belief system was part totemism, polytheism, and part ancestor worship. • Many of their gods lived invisibly in the mortal world while acting through sacred things. • In Egypt not everyone believed in or worshipped the same gods. • Local areas, nomes, sometimes had special gods only known by that region. • Each god had 5 names associated with an element, celestial bodies, or a descritve statement about the god.
Common Gods • Amaunet- female counterpart to Amon • Amon- associated with wind and hidden things; became known as Amon-Re at Thebes • Re- sun god; becomes a national god and combined with Amon in the 5th Dynasty • Nut- mother of sun, moon heavenly bodies • Min- god of fertility joined together with Amon and Horus • Horus- sky-god; 1 of the earliest royal gods; the great sphinx is considered to be of him • Isis- mother of Horus, sister and companion of Osiris There are many other gods also worshiped in Egypt.
Priests • Priests were directly under the king in religious matters because their duty was to take care of the images of the gods. • They prepared the statues or images for religious festivals. • Later on they were considered the voices of the oracles, and oracles were thought to be the peak decision of the gods. • Priests were thought to be what one would consider a wizard. They were hardly ever by people, excluding the king, unless reading texts of performing rituals.
Kings • In pre-dynastic times kings were thought to be gods. By the 3rd Dynasty kinfgs supposedly became transformed into gods. • Future kings had 2 aspects to themselves: 1. his physical being 2. his “ka”/ spiritual counterpart • 1st Dynasty- the king Menes united upper and lower Egypt. At the capital Memphis he dedicated a temple to the god Ptah. All beliefs at that time were altered to coordinate this and almost all myths about gods came from this.
Citations “Egyptian Mythology.” Egypt: Gods of Ancient Egypt Main Menu. 1996. http://ww.touregypt.net/gods1.htm (6 Oct. 2005).