Religion in Ancient Egypt

Very early Egyptian religions were animistic. A doctrine that believes all natural objects and the universe itself have souls. As a result, they associated certain animals, birds, trees, stones, or natural forces with spirits. This started with very localized or regional gods. However, due to similarities between the deities many merged.

Fetishism and symbolism played a great part in Egyptian religions. They believed that certain animals and objects possessed magical powers. Therefore, reproductions and symbolic representations of them would possess similar magical powers. Additionally, likenesses of the gods provided a conduit for the people to speak to them. For the ancient Egyptians, pictures, images, symbols, and statues were crucial to their communication and understanding. While most of the population was unable to read or write, they could understand what certain symbols represented and meant. This is particularly evident when we consider the Egyptian form of writing, Hieroglyphs.

In the Predynastic Period, tent-shrines were created and dedicated to the gods Anubis, Min, and the mother goddess. Hundreds of local totem gods also existed. Many with similar appearance and qualities. In the southern part of Egypt, bull and cow worship was emerging.

During the Early Dynastic Period, local authorities erected temples to many gods. The main deities were local gods in addition to the Solar deities such as Re and Atum. The main gods of royal kingship were Seth and Horus with most of the kings, (pharaohs), incorporating their name(s). Towards the end of the period the Solar Cult at Heliopolis began to gain power.

During the Old Kingdom, Re rose to power as the "ruler of the gods." The creation myth involving Re took precedence over all others. Sun temples were constructed by state cult centers and had a special connection with Astrology and Astronomy. Pyramids were constructed and represented an expression of Solar worship.

During the First Intermediate Period, there was a decline of the Solar Cult and attention to civil uprising allowed a different god to gain more power.

During the Middle Kingdom, Osiris dominated the after-world and Re declined as state god. Montu became patron god of the warrior kings that re-united Egypt. After, Amun was elevated to the position of "ruler of the gods." Pyramids continued to be built although more effort was going into temple building. Especially at Karnak where Amun was relocated. Mortuary temples became the primary architecture related to the after-world and took the form of cult temples.

During the Second Intermediate Period – There was a brief resurgence of Seth during the reign of King Apophis. Re re-emerged in the very south around Nubia. Eventually, both became subordinate to Amun.

During the New Kingdom, Amun was again "ruler of the gods" and more powerful than before. His wife, Mut, was the original goddess of Waset (Thebes). Their son was Khonsu. Seth remained popular in the North and two 18th Dynasty kings took his name. Seti and Seti II. During this period, the kings were buried in the Valley of the Kings or in other tombs which were cut form rock. Briefly, the Aten rose as the supreme deity during the reign of Amenhotep IV a.k.a. Akhenaten. Solar temples to the Aten were built at Amarna, Akhenaten's new capital city. Surprisingly, or not so surprising, Akhenaten vanished from Egyptian history with little trace. Amun was restored as "ruler of the gods" by Akhenaten's son, the "boy king," Tutankhamun. Massive temple complexes continued to be built in Karnak and Luxor. Worship of the Ka of the dead king became highly popular and was prominent in many temples. In the Nubian rock cut temples of Rameses II, a statue of himself, as Osiris, was placed as the main god.

In the Third Intermediate Period, temples became more parochial and private. Local temples had control of their local area and vice versa.

The Late Period and Graeco-Roman Period, gave rise to individual cults especially to Horus, Thoth (who was related to Hermes and became the three fold Hermes (Hermes-Trismegistus), Isis and Amun-Re. The King cult of Alexander the Great also became popular. Religion had become more esoteric and secretive. Rituals and even the sacred texts themselves became hidden. New hieroglyphs were created that were only relevant within specific temples making it impossible for an outsider to read their texts.

Through all this, the ancient Egyptian religion managed to survive for thousands of years with a strong belief in a good and moral life on earth as a major means of attaining an afterlife. (A concept that is reflected in most modern religions).

The brief period of religious reform associated with the pharaoh Akhenaten, introduced the world to a belief in a single god. Akhenaten's doctrines may have been the impetus for the monotheistic religion developed by the Hebrews that surfaced in the Middle East shortly thereafter. It, in turn, gave rise to Christianity.

Certain ancient religious concepts and imagery survive in the Coptic Church, a Christian church that still exists in Egypt today. These concepts and imagery include the Virgin suckling the infant Jesus, based on ancient Egyptian images of Isis and her son Horus; the crux ansata, a Coptic cross derived from the ankh, (the ancient Egyptian word for life); and an association of the four evangelists with the four sons of Horus.

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