Egyptian Mythology is the religion of ancient Egypt. The Egyptian faith was based on a collection of ancient myths, nature worship, and many deities. The most interesting and famous of these myths are a divine hierarchy that is developed and the creation of the earth is explained.
According to the Egyptian’s idea of creation, only the ocean existed at first. Then Ra, which is the sun, came out of an egg or a flower, and it appeared on the surface of the water. Ra had four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere. They stood on Geb, who became the earth, and raised up Nut, who became the sky. Ra ruled over all. Geb and Nut later had two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife. Set, however, hated his brother and killed him. Isis then embalmed her husband’s body with the help of the god Anubis, who became the god of embalming. The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who became king of the netherworld, the land of the dead. Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Set in a great battle and became king of the earth.
From this myth of creation came the idea of the ennead, a group of nine divinities, and the triad, consisting of a divine father, mother, and son. Every local temple in Egypt had its own ennead and triad. The most important ennead, was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren. This group was worshiped at Heliopolis, which was the center of sun worship. Some of the local gods were taken over from foreign religions like the animal gods of prehistoric Africa. Other important divinities included the gods Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu, and Hapi, and the goddesses Hathor, Mut, Neit, and Sekhet. Their importance increased with the political power of the localities where they were worshiped. As the religion became more involved, true deities were sometimes confused with human beings who had been glorified after death. During the 5th Dynasty the pharaohs began to claim divine ancestry and from that time on were worshiped as sons of Ra. Minor gods were also given places in local divine hierarchies.
The Essay on Socrates Gods Worshipped By The State These Men
Socrates (470-399 BC) Socrates was born to a poor Athenian family in 470 BC He spent most of his time teaching others. One of his pupils was Plato. Socrates was a believer in absolute truth rather than relative truth. His main interest was the process by which people learned how to think for themselves. He would usually talk to whoever would take the time to listen. He asked many questions and ...
The Egyptian gods were represented with human torsos and human or animal heads. Sometimes the animal or bird showed the characteristics of the god. Ra, had the head of a hawk, and the hawk was sacred to him because of its swift flight across the sky. Because of the gods that they were attached, the sacred animals were venerated, but they were never worshiped until the decadent 26th Dynasty. The gods were also represented by symbols, such as the sun disk and hawk wings that were worn on the headdress of the pharaoh.
Burying the dead was important in Egypt, and Egyptian funerary rituals and equipment eventually became the most complex the world has ever known. The Egyptians believed that the vital life force was composed of several psychical elements, of which the most important was the ka. The ka, a duplicate of the body, accompanied the body throughout life and, after death, departed from the body to take its place in the kingdom of the dead. The ka, however, could not exist without the body. Every effort had to be made to preserve the corpse. Bodies were embalmed and mummified according to a traditional method. In addition, wood or stone replicas of the body were put into the tomb incase the mummy was destroyed. The greater the number of statue duplicates in their tomb, the more chances the dead person had of resurrection. As a final protection, extremely complex tombs were made to protect the corpse and its items. After leaving the tomb, the souls of the dead supposedly were tormented by many dangers, and the tombs were furnished with a copy of the Book of the Dead. A Part of this book contains charms designed to overcome these dangers. After arriving in the kingdom of the dead, the ka was judged by Osiris, who was the king of the dead, and 42 demon assistants.
The Term Paper on Egypt God Egyptian Egyptians
Introduction Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest cultures that ever came being. Their religion, morals, literature, and structured society were most characteristic of it. Egyptian mythology is something of a tangled web. This is partly because the culture is so ancient, and partly because each city had its own set of deities, whose personalities often merge as their cults age. In addition, the ...
The Book of the Dead also contains instructions for proper conduct before these judges. If the judges decided the deceased had been a sinner, the ka was condemned to hunger and thirst or to be torn to pieces by horrible executioners. If the decision was favorable, the ka went to the heavenly realm of the fields of Yaru, where grain grew 12 ft high and existence was a glorified version of life on earth. All the necessities for this afterlife, from furniture to reading materials were put into the tombs. As a payment for the afterlife and his compassionate protection, Osiris required the dead to perform tasks for him, like working in the grain fields. Even this duty could be prevented by placing small statutes, called ushabtis, into the tomb to serve as substitutes for the deceased.
In conclusion, Egyptian mythology was unorganized and yet very complex. Egyptians prided their lives on worshiping their gods, and pharaohs.
