Religion - Ancient History: Egypt

During the Late Period, the ritual marriage of the Gods Hathor and Horus became one of the most important Egyptian festivals. A depiction of Hathor was taken from her temple to the temple of Horus (a journey of dozens of miles). They were then “married” in a ritual celebration.

Hapi was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile, which was itself called the arrival of Hapi. Hapi was also a deity associated with birds and fish. Aker was the god of the earth and the horizon, and Anhur was the god of war and hunting.

Originally, the Memphis Triad consisted of: Ptah (the god of Creation, architecture, and craftsmen), Sekhmet (the goddess of fire, war, and medicine, and Ptah’s wife), and Nefertem (the god of healing and beauty and the son of Ptah and Sekhmet). Together, this family of deities was worshipped as a linked group in the capital city’s temple, with offerings made to each separately and collectively. Around 525 BCE, however, the Triad morphed slightly; the Old Kingdom architect and healer Imhotep, who had been worshipped as an increasingly popular deity after his death, displaced Nefertem as the Triad’s third member. So popular and fixed was this belief that many Egyptians referred to Imhotep as the son of Ptah.

The ancient Egyptian practice of incubation became popular during the Late Period and may have been practiced in various forms in earlier periods of Egyptian history. Incubation involved an individual spending the night in a temple. The individual expected a God to visit him in his sleep and reveal a prophetic vision.

Animal cults became popular during the Late Period, because many Egyptian deities were zoomorphic (that is, represented as animals). As such, the worship of certain animals, as conduits to the divine, may be understood as a sort of inevitable process.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the Gods were made of gold, and their bones made from silver. Gold is found in relative abundance in Egypt and was highly valued even early in Egyptian history. Silver, on the other hand, was extremely rare in ancient Egypt and generally had to be imported.

Ptah is the God of creation in the tradition of Memphis. He is also the God of craftsmen. This relates to how the Memphians understood cosmology. Unlike the rest of the ancient Egyptians, the Memphians believed that Ptah acted as a sort of intermediary. It was Ptah who carried out the wishes and constructions ordained by the Gods.

Apep was a deity known as the "enemy of Ra." Ra was the sun god, and a central positive figure in Ancient Egyptian religion. Apep was a deity who was actually negatively worshipped, meaning that adherents worshipped Apep in order to avoid his wrath. A great deal of religious iconography discovered from this period depicted Apep's battles with Ra.

Amun was a deity of major importance in the Egyptian pantheon, worshipped as far back as the Old Kingdom. During the 11th Dynasty, he replaced Montu as the patron deity of Thebes, at times the capital city of Egypt. Amun was eventually fused with the sun god Ra, becoming Amun-Ra. He is often depicted as the king of all the gods.

The ancient Egyptian God Bes was associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Many Egyptians wore amulets, dedicated to certain Gods, to provide protection and good fortune. As Bes is associated with pregnancy and childbirth, it is reasonable to conclude that a pregnant woman would be most likely to wear an amulet dedicated to him.

During the Old Kingdom, it was generally understood that only kings and other powerful rulers could attain immortality or access the afterlife. This changed during the First Intermediate Period, however, as more and more Egyptians were offered access to the afterlife through earthly religious devotion. This is reflected in Coffin Texts, which were much more widely used in Egyptian society than the earlier Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom.

The Egyptians believed that a deceased person merged with the God of the Underworld, Osiris. They referred to the deceased as “Osiris (name of deceased).” So, for example, a man named Amenhotep who had died would be called “Osiris Amenhotep” to reflect his acquired divinity upon his death.

The worship of Amun is associated with Thebes, specifically the great temples of Karnak and Luxor. During the Second Intermediate Period, and continuing into the New Kingdom, Amun rapidly ascended to the top of the Egyptian pantheon. Thebes was the center of political and religious authority in Egypt during this time period and the ascendancy of Amun both caused and reinforced this status.

Theban theology taught that all the various Gods were merely incarnations or functions of the God Amun. The Thebans understood Amun to be hidden and unknowable, and that only he could exist outside of creation and therefore only he could have created the world. He was also said to have created all the other Gods as incarnations of his own divine authority. Specifically, the God Amun is described as being made of three parts: Ra, the Sun God; Ptah, the intermediary; and Amun, the hidden. The Thebans believed that these three were merely incarnations or functions of the same God. This is very similar to the concept of the holy trinity of Christianity and many scholars have speculated that the theology of Amun might have influenced or informed early Christian theology.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the Gods were made of gold, and their bones made from silver. Gold is found in relative abundance in Egypt and was highly valued even early in Egyptian history. Silver, on the other hand, was extremely rare in ancient Egypt and generally had to be imported.

Ptah is the God of creation in the tradition of Memphis. He is also the God of craftsmen. This relates to how the Memphians understood cosmology. Unlike the rest of the ancient Egyptians, the Memphians believed that Ptah acted as a sort of intermediary. It was Ptah who carried out the wishes and constructions ordained by the Gods.

Apep was a deity known as the "enemy of Ra." Ra was the sun god, and a central positive figure in Ancient Egyptian religion. Apep was a deity who was actually negatively worshipped, meaning that adherents worshipped Apep in order to avoid his wrath. A great deal of religious iconography discovered from this period depicted Apep's battles with Ra.

Amun was a deity of major importance in the Egyptian pantheon, worshipped as far back as the Old Kingdom. During the 11th Dynasty, he replaced Montu as the patron deity of Thebes, at times the capital city of Egypt. Amun was eventually fused with the sun god Ra, becoming Amun-Ra. He is often depicted as the king of all the gods.

The ancient Egyptian God Bes was associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Many Egyptians wore amulets, dedicated to certain Gods, to provide protection and good fortune. As Bes is associated with pregnancy and childbirth, it is reasonable to conclude that a pregnant woman would be most likely to wear an amulet dedicated to him.

During the Old Kingdom, it was generally understood that only kings and other powerful rulers could attain immortality or access the afterlife. This changed during the First Intermediate Period, however, as more and more Egyptians were offered access to the afterlife through earthly religious devotion. This is reflected in Coffin Texts, which were much more widely used in Egyptian society than the earlier Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom.