Religion - Ancient History: Egypt

The ancient Egyptians never travelled outside of Egypt if they could help it. This is a result of their religious beliefs which taught that any Egyptian who was buried outside of Egypt would cease to exist and would not be able to access eternal life or the underworld.

The ancient Egyptian concept of Ma’at was a central component of their religious belief. It is probably best translated as “harmony and justice,” although it has been variously translated as “truth,” “honor,” “order,” and “morality.” Ma’at served as a guiding rule for how Egyptians were supposed to behave - it encourages harmony, morality, and the preservation of justice.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is one of the most famous literary works that has survived from ancient Egypt. It is a series of spells that seem intended to guide an individual through their journey to the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians were fairly obsessed with the afterlife and had a great many rituals and ceremonies associated with ensuring safe passage to the underworld.

Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for so long that the status of the various Gods in the Egyptian pantheon fluctuated dramatically. Ra, for a long time viewed as the chief God and the Creator, was replaced by Amun (or merged into Amun-Ra) when the Theban Egyptians conquered the Hyksos. Amun was the primary God worshipped by the people of Thebes and so became the chief deity after Thebes led the reunification of Egypt. This demonstrates how politics and regional identity affected the status of Egyptian Gods.

The greatest and most productive era of temple building in Ancient Egypt came about during the New Kingdom, particularly once the Theban rulers established themselves as the civilization’s Eighteenth Dynasty. By this time, pyramids had fallen out of fashion; most pharaohs considered them to be archaic, albeit impressive, structures, but they desired grander, more diverse, and more integrated places of burial. Religious worship also became much more centralized during this time, so that more and more temples were built to serve as places where citizens could worship in unity, while also getting a glimpse of the reigning religious class and the current ruling dynasty’s elaborate expanse of power.

Throughout the New Kingdom, as more and more temples were being built, gradually a sort of system of temple classification developed. According to this unofficial and yet ubiquitous pattern, there existed two primary kinds of temples: divine and mortuary. Divine temples were those in which a deity or deities were worshipped on a regular basis, through ritual acts carried out by resident priests and/or the visiting pharaoh. While this same system was practiced in mortuary temples as well, the deceased pharaoh who had commissioned this second type of temple would be deified and worshipped alongside the more traditional gods and goddesses. Some mortuary temples also encouraged the worship of deceased royal ancestors, who were believed to be worldly incarnations and/or relatives of the divine pantheon. Both divine and mortuary temples were typically built along an East-West axis, towards the Nile and the horizon.

The most important institution in every Ancient Egyptian temple was the funerary cult. According to Ancient Egyptian religious teachings, the various gods and goddesses had the same basic physical needs as their human worshippers, and so just as each temple served as a god or goddess’s home, each temple also had a funerary cult whose job it was to provide for the resident deity. Comprised of specially trained priests, priestesses, assistants, and devotees, the primary responsibility of these funerary cults was to keep each god and goddess both physically and spiritually satiated. The deities’ physical needs were attended to with daily offerings of food and drink, while their spiritual needs were nourished through the performance of sacred rituals.

The heart of every Ancient Egyptian temple was the sanctuary, a small room always located at the very deepest part of the temple’s interior. Temple architectural standards dictated that the ceiling of every temple would drop lower and lower as the building stretched onward, so that the sanctuary’s ceiling would be the lowest. A similar method was applied to temple floors; as the temple expanded inward, the floor rose higher and higher, reaching its zenith in the sanctuary chamber. The heavily sacred nature of the sanctuary was due to its sole purpose: to house the “naos,” or the sculptural image of the god or goddess to whom the temple was dedicated. Therefore, access to the sanctuary chamber was highly restricted at all times; only the main priest/priestess of each temple and the currently-reigning pharaoh were ever allowed to enter.

The God Thoth was the ancient Egyptian deity associated with writing and knowledge. As such, he was the natural benefactor of ancient Egyptian scribes and other government officials. He was said to be married to the Goddess Ma’at (the divine personification of order and justice) and thus, was present for the judgment of the dead.

Heka is a God in the ancient Egyptian pantheon and the divine personification of magic. The ancient Egyptians believed that magic had been created by the God Atum, when he created the universe. Heka was worshipped by ancient Egyptians who were sick or injured and desired a magical remedy. To the ancient Egyptians, there was no real distinction between magic and scientific understanding, and both were forces to be used against sickness and misfortune.

The ancient Egyptians tended to describe the God Amun as “hidden,” “unknowable,” or “esoteric.” His name literally means “hidden,” and this was his primary characteristic. The worship of Amun originated in Thebes and spread around the rest of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom. During this time period, Amun was fused with Ra to form Amun-Ra.

The temples of Karnak and Luxor were both temple complexes founded in the Upper Egyptian city of Thebes. As such, they are both associated with the worship of the chief Theban God, Amun. In the latter Pharaonic period, when Pharaonic authority resided in Thebes, the God Amun was fused with Ra to form Amun-Ra, the ultimate deity in the Egyptian pantheon. Karnak and Luxor were both centers of worship throughout the dynastic period.

The ancient Egyptians generally understood the universe of pre-creation as the exact opposite of their own world. To early Egyptian theologians, the universe before creation was defined by inertia, darkness, and uncertainty. This was in complete contrast to their own world, which they viewed as defined by activity, light, and order.

Though the crocodiles were feared, hippos were considered even more deadly. The belief here was the association of hippos with the evil god Seth. Hippos were also capable of capsizing boats along the Nile.

Amun and Ptah are both considered to be the creator god's in some way. Amun is associated with fertility, while Ptah is associated craftsman, architects and artists. Horus is the sky god and Isis is a guardian and magician, and the wife of Osiris.

The scarab beetle was considered sacred to Egyptians. They represented life after death and even the resurrection. They are popular today as they are seen belonging in pieces of jewelry.

The priesthood was an important part of Egyptian society. Priests generally held their positions for life and could even pass on their position to favored sons. Priests were important because they carried out the daily rituals that the Egyptians believed were required to placate and satisfy their various Gods. Priests generally carried out rituals on behalf of kings and rulers and were imbued by Pharaohs with the power to represent Pharaonic authority to the Gods. Many temples restricted access to their inner sanctums and only allowed high-ranking priests inside.

In Egyptian cosmology, the last event of creation is the first sunrise in history. The Egyptians believed that the Sun was an incarnation of the ultimate divinity and that the history of the world began with the first sunrise after creation.

The Karnak Temple Complex was built over the course of ancient Egyptian history (beginning in the Middle Kingdom). It was constructed adjacent to the city of Thebes and reflects the religious traditions of the Thebans. Karnak contains three main precincts: the largest one is dedicated to the chief deity of Theban religion, Amun; the two smaller precincts are dedicated to Mut (Amun’s partner) and Montu (a deity associated with warfare).