Religion

= Ancient Egyptian Religion = Ancient Egyptian religion covers the wide variety of religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over 3,000 years ago until the adoption of Christianity some time in the early centuries A.D. The Egyptians initially had many deities which represented different forces of nature. These deities were worshiped with prayers and offerings in temples and even in household shrines. The Egyptians believed that everything that happened, depended on the attitude of the deities. Egyptian religious beliefs also included the divinity of the pharaoh and the belief of the afterlife. 

**Funerary Texts:**
The following texts that are listed are the oldest and best preserved. These types of texts are written in vertical columns instead of horizontal lines, like we are used to.
 * 1) **The __Pyramid Texts__ (Old Kingdom)[| ¹]:** This is a collection of rituals and magical texts found in hieroglyphs inscribed on the walls of the burial chamber, ant-chamber, and other rooms and corridors inside the royal pyramids of the 5th Dynasty. Most of the texts start with "Dd-mdw" which means "words to say," and this brings Egyptologists to refer to them as "utterances" or "spells." There are about one thousand spells that range in length from a few words to several pages when translated. There are three categories in which all of these "spells" fall under. The first category is **offering rituals**. These are to be recited during the presentation of individual offerings. The deceased is usually addressed as Osiris and the offering is referred to as the Eye of Horus. These are usually short and contain a "pun" on the name of what is being offered. These rituals are designed to "wpt r" ("open the mouth") of the deceased so that they can recover their senses and power in the afterlife before the offerings were presented. The second category is **resurrection rituals**. These texts are long that are also supposed to be recited to the deceased. These are found in the antechamber and burial chambers. These were recited with the intent to release the soul, or "ba" from the deceased so that it could begin its daily cycle. It is believed that at night the spirit of the deceased stays with the mummy, and during the day it remains among the living as a spirit, or "akh." The third and final category are **personal spells**. These texts lined the walls of all of the other rooms and corridors of the royal tombs, and they had to be spoken by the deceased's soul as it made its way through the night toward its rebirth at dawn. Interestingly enough, these texts were originally written in the first person, but they were eventually edited into the third person for each tomb. The name of the deceased was substituted for the original first-person pronouns.
 * 2) **The __Coffin Texts__ (First Intermediate Kingdom & Middle Kingdom):** The __Coffin Texts__ were written as early as the 8th Dynasty (First Intermediary Period) and the sources were mainly the later cemeteries of the monarchs of Middle Egypt in the 12th Dynasty. These texts were written on either papyrus or wood coffins and in the early form of Middle Egyptian text, which was mostly cursive hieroglyphs or sometimes hieratic. During the First Intermediate Period, the officials began to inscribe the Resurrection Rituals and some of the Personal Spells (**see __Pyramid Texts__**) on the walls of their own burial chambers and coffins. These texts tended to be found along with some new spells which were known as the __Coffin Texts__, which contained almost 1,200 spells. Most of them were personal spells written in the first person which were meant to give the soul safe passage from their tomb to their new spiritual life. Unlike the __Pyramid Texts__, these spells included illustrations. The __Coffin Texts__ also contained a new category of funerary text, the "Books of the Netherworld." These were texts that described the various places in "Duat" (the netherworld), along with the words that the soul needed to know to pass safely through them. One of these guides is called __The Book of Two Ways__ which was illustrated with a map of the regions described. The __Coffin Texts__ eliminated the royal exclusivity of the __Pyramid Texts__, because every deceased person had a soul and not just royalty. The main idea was the same as in the __Pyramid Texts__, but some new motifs were added, such as transformation spells and the importance of the scarab beetle, reunion spells, battle spells against Apophis (the large serpent and enemy of Re), and the Judgment of the Dead.
 * 3) **The __Book of the Dead__ (Second Intermediate Kingdom):** This was known to the Egyptians as "prt m hrw" or "coming forth by day," and it included a hundred or more spells of the personal type, called chapters, and it also included all of the spells from the earlier texts. These texts were generally written in cursive hieroglyphs on papyrus. It's main purpose was to help the deceased to overcome the obstacles found in the underworld and not to lose their way. It did this by providing passwords, giving clues, and revealing routes that would allow the deceased to navigate around hazards. It also granted the help and protection from the gods while "proclaiming the deceased's identity with the gods to attain an afterlife bliss in the Field of Reeds." [|²]

**Devotional Texts:**

 * 1) **Hymns:** The majority of devotional texts were hymns. These were the most carefully composed of all the literary forms that have been found in Egypt. The key concept in the texts was the act of worship, "dwA," and praise, "iAiw." The hymns were exclusively devoted to praising a particular god or goddess and occasionally the hymns asked the god or goddess for intercession, favors, or blessings. These hymns were the main way that the theologians transmitted their thoughts to the gods and goddesses.
 * 2) **Prayers:** All of the Egyptians felt that their gods and goddesses were accessible through private prayer and devotions. During the New Kingdom, the Egyptians believed that even Amun heard everyone's prayers and he was the most unreachable of all the gods and goddesses.

Gods and Goddesses
From the beginning, the Egyptians worshiped gods that were "luminous beings that walked the earth, guiding the human race to Paradise". [|³] The gods had human form but were much more powerful than humans could ever be. They did however have the same emotions as humans; they could get angry, despaired, fall in love, fight with one another, and have children. Like all gods in other religions, these gods were feared by their people. Also, like the Greek and Roman gods, the Egyptian gods seemed to be created for storytelling. The stories of the gods were meant to educate, entertain, and show morals for the people. In the stories, the gods seemed more human. The ancient Egyptian belief system was part totemism, part polytheism, and part ancestor worship. For reference, **totemism** is a belief in totems or in kinship through common affiliation to a totem, which is a venerated emblem or symbol. Unlike Greek and Roman gods, Egyptian gods lived among their people, though they were invisible to them, instead of on a mountain (like Mount Olympus). Since they were invisible, the gods acted through different things, like sacred sites, items, animals, or even chosen people. Alongside the gods were the spirits of the deceased. If they were remembered and honored, then they could aid and guide the living from the afterlife.

**[Module 13]** In this article, //Egypt's Ageless Goddess,//⁴ the author Jennifer Pinkowski recounts her visit to the shrine dedicated to the ancient Egyptian goddess Mut. This shrine was located at Karnak. Mut was ancient Egypt's mother and protector, the wife of Amun, the chief god, and the mother of the moon god Khonsu. The archaeological site was being excavated by teams sponsored by both the Brooklyn museum and Johns Hopkins University. The main purpose of the project was to combine excavation, conservation, and restoration to illuminate the site's history and to protect the monuments from the rising water table. They discovered that for over 1,600 years rulers have built, rebuilt, expanded, restored, and maintained the temple, which is the only temple in all of Egypt exclusively dedicated to Mut. This article is actually very interesting and informational. I figured it wouldnt' give me much information Egyptian deities in general since it's focused only on Mut, but I learned a lot. This article is perfect for someone who wants to learn about Egyptian deities and why they were so important.

 There are //many// gods and goddesses, so I picked out a handful to represent visually that are probably more well-known.









Religious Ceremonies & Centers
**[Module 10/11]** Cults were the official structure that was used to worship the gods. This structure included the priests who carried out the rituals and the center of the Egyptian cult was the temple, which was a sacred area enclosed by a wall that kept the profane from entering. They Egyptians called this temple hwt-ntr, which means "house of the gods." One section of the temple was devoted to worldly needs. Inside the sanctuary was the cult statue, which served as the dwelling for the god, or gods, that were worshiped in that cult center. The cult rituals were actually a dialogue between the gods and in turn, the king acted in the divine performance as a god. Many of the temples prior to the New Kingdom don't appear to have survived. This is attributed to the use of perishable materials. During the New Kingdom and later on however, the Egyptians built enormous stone temples, which is where we get the majority of our information on the cults.

In regards to temples, Karnak is one of the more well known ones. In order to see Karnak on Google Earth, please download/open the link below.

media type="youtube" key="90d2TBIgGew" height="340" width="560" align="right"Karnak is said to be the "mother of all religious buildings." [|⁵] It is the largest religious building ever made and it is the place of pilgrimage for almost 4,000 years. Karnak covers about 200 acres and just the area of the sacred enclosure of Amon is 61 acres and could hold at least ten average sized European cathedrals. The great temple at the center of Karnak is so large that even Saint Peter's Basilica and the Notre Dame Cathedral would be lost inside it's walls. The Hypostly hall is the largest room of any religious building int he world and has 134 columns total. Besides the main sanctuary, there are also many smaller temples and a very large lake that is considered sacred. The lake was used during festivals when images of the gods would sail across it on golden barges. Karnak was built as the home for the god Amun, who was pretty insignificant until the 12th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of Egypt. It was also the home of a flock of geese that were dedicated to Amun.

The Afterlife
The Egyptians believed that their Afterlife was a perfect existence and was a place of complete bliss, delight, and peace. It was often referred to as the Field of Rushes or the Field of Offerings. The Egyptians were preoccupied by death and believed that after death they would go to the Underworld, which was a land of many dangers and had a slue of tests that everyone would have to pass before they could go to the Afterlife.[|⁶] They believed that the soul of the deceased was perishable and at great risk because of this. Therefore, the tomb, the process of mummification, rituals, and magic spells were used to promote the well-being and ensure the preservation of the deceased and the elements of the soul, called the Ka, Ba, and Ahk. Once the deceased completed the journey through the underworld, they would have to face a day of judgment at the Hall of the Two Truths. Anubis would lead the deceased to this place and present the deceased in front of forty-two judges and gods. Scales were used to weigh the deceased's heart, which contained the deeds of their lifetime, against the feather of truth. This feather of truth symbolized the goddess of justice, Maat. Either the deceased would be granted entrance into the Afterlife, or they would be sent to the Devourer of the Dead. If the deceased was found worth of moving on to the Afterlife, they were greeted by Osiris and allowed to enter into the Afterlife. The Pharaoh would be able to join the gods and all others would be able to enter Everlasting Paradise. Here, the life of the deceased was depicted, but without the problems and the deceased would be able to join his/her ancestors and loved ones. They would continue to work the same job they had before they had died, but it wasn't seen as a hardship. The Egyptians provided for their time in the Afterlife by putting things in their tombs that they would need and that reflected their lifestyle, and if an item was too large to fit inside of the tomb, it was drawn onto the walls of the tomb instead.