1. Religion in Ancient Egypt

2. What thoughts come to mind when you hear “Egyptian religion”?

3. Most people think about:
Mummies
Pyramids
Tombs filled with elaborate goods

4. The basics on Egyptian Religion
Polytheistic- over 1000 gods and goddesses also called dieties
Divine pharaoh- Horus in life, Osiris in death
Belief in the afterlife- embalming, mummies, tombs
Very confusing! Each god represents numerous ideas, and there is quite a bit of overlapping. Some gods are local and some are national
People not afraid of gods. Instead they are comforting.

5. How are animals involved?
A number of animals held sacred importance for the Egyptians dating back to their earliest days
Many gods, when personified (shown in human form) are shown with animal & human characteristics, most often the head is the animal and the body is human
Cats, crocodiles, snakes, birds, etc

6. Pharaoh as God
Each potential pharaoh has a physical body and an inner “ka”
Once chosen as pharaoh, a ceremony is done to unite physical body with the ka
Pharaoh emerges from ceremony as a man/god

7. Temples Built for the gods as their homes
Place for festivals and communication with the gods

8. Priests Upper class and allowed to marry
Took care and commissioned statues
Ran the religious festivals
Read religious scrolls
Made predictions
Helped people in life and to enter the afterlife

9. Ra- God of Sun Lord of the universe.
Creation stories all start with him.

10. Isis- Goddess of magical powers, healing

11. Atum- God of Creation

12. Osiris- God of death, underworld

13. Horus- God of Eternal life, harvest, sky

14. Hapi- God of the Nile, flood

15. Thoth- God of the moon, writing, knowledge

16. Anubis- God of Embalming

17. Seth- God of Desert, Chaos

18. Sobek- Crocodile God

19. Ma’at- Goddess of truth, law, morality

20. The Afterlife Belief in life after death
To ensure this, the body must be preserved so that the soul has a place to live after death
Human bodies decay naturally, so preservation is needed or else....no afterlife!
This means embalming and mummification