Religion and religious cults (groups who worship specific gods) played a central role in all aspects of ancient Egyptian society. The king, or pharaoh, was the most important figure in religion as well as in the state. His responsibilities included ensuring the prosperity and security of the state through his relationship with the gods.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the king was a divine link between humans and the gods. As a living god, he was responsible for supporting religious cults and for building and maintaining temples to the gods. Through such activities, he helped maintain order and harmony.
Because of his critical role in promoting the welfare of Egyptian society, the pharaoh was in some ways more important than any individual god. His official names and titles reflected his special relationship to the gods, particularly to the sun god Ra and the sky god Horus (HOHR-uhs). Some kings sought to gain full status as gods during their lifetimes. Others achieved that position after their deaths.
Ancient Egypt had a remarkably large and diverse pantheon, with many national, regional, and local gods and goddesses. Unlike the gods of some cultures, who lived in a special place in the heavens, Egyptian deities were thought to inhabit the temples of their cults. Daily temple rituals involved caring for the gods and providing them with food, clothing, and other necessities.
Most Egyptian religious cults centered on a temple and the daily rituals performed there. Each temple contained images of the cult’s god, generally kept in the innermost part of the building. Daily ceremonies involved clothing, feeding, and praising the god’s image. The pharaoh had overall responsibility for all cults, but the temple priests supervised the daily rituals. Although temple rituals affected the welfare of all the people, common Egyptians rarely took part in them. They attended only special festivals, which often included processions of the god’s images and reenactments of popular myths.
Egyptian gods tended to have shifting identities. Many did not have clearly defined characters, and their personalities might vary from one myth to another. Although most deities were known by certain basic associations—such as the connection of the god Ra (pronounced RAH) with the sun—these associations often overlapped with those of other gods. Some deities possessed a collection of names to go with the different sides of their personality. For example, the goddess Hathor (pronounced HATH-or), who helped the sun god, was also called the Eye of Ra. Sometimes the names and characters of two or more gods were combined to form one deity, such as the combination of the sky god Amun (pronounced AH-muhn) and Ra (sometimes Re) into Amun-Ra. The creator god Atum (pronounced AH-tuhm) merged with Ra to become Ra-Atum. Nevertheless, such deities might continue to exist separately as well as in their combined forms.
Egyptian gods also could assume different forms, often combining both human and animal features. If a deity was closely associated with a particular animal or bird, he or she might be shown in art with a human body and the head of that animal or entirely in animal form. Thus,
Horus appears with the head of a falcon, Sekhmet (pronounced SEK-met) with the head of a cat, and Set (pronounced SET) is portrayed as a donkey or huge dog. Sometimes a god was linked to several animals, each reflecting a different side of his character.
The gods were powerful and for the most part immortal (able to live forever), but their influence and knowledge had limits. Still, they had the ability to be in several places at the same time and could affect humans in many ways. Although generally benevolent, or helpful to humans, gods could bring misfortune and harm if humans failed to please them or care for them properly.
Egyptian deities were often grouped together in various ways. The earliest grouping was the ennead (pronounced EN-ee-ad), which consisted of nine gods and goddesses. The most important of these, the Great Ennead of the city of Heliopolis (pronounced hee-lee-OP-uh-luhs) in northern Egypt, contained the deities associated with creation, death, and rebirth. Another major grouping was the ogdoad (pronounced OG-doh-ad)—four pairs of male and female deities. Triads, found mainly in local centers, generally consisted of a god, a goddess, and a young deity (often male).
Although Egypt had thousands of gods and goddesses, only a few were regarded as major deities. The sun god Ra (sometimes Re) was a deity of immense power, considered to be one of the creators of the universe. The combined god Amun-Ra, a mysterious creator spirit, was the source of all life. Ra-Atum represented the evening sun that disappeared each night below the horizon and rose again at dawn. Another sun god, Aten (pronounced AHT-n), became the focus of religious reform in the 1300s BCE, when the pharaoh Akhenaten (pronounced ahk-NAHT-n) tried to make him the principal god of Egypt.
Osiris (pronounced oh-SYE-ris), Isis (pronounced EYE-sis), and Horus, who made up the best-known Egyptian triad of deities, played leading roles in some of the major Egyptian myths. Osiris, the lord of the underworld and god of death and resurrection (rebirth), was the brother and husband of Isis, a mother goddess of Egypt. Horus was their son. Osiris and Isis were the children of the earth god Geb (pronounced GEB) and the sky goddess Nut (pronounced NOOT). Set, another child of Geb and Nut, changed from a benevolent god to an evil one and murdered his brother Osiris.
One of the oldest goddesses of Egypt was the sky goddess Hathor, a mother goddess sometimes known as a deity of fertility, love, and beauty.
Egyptians believed that the first god appeared as a Benu bird, a long-legged, wading heron. WERNER FORMAN/ ART RESOURCE, NY.
Ptah (pronounced PTAH), another ancient deity, was credited in some myths with creating the world and other gods. Thoth (pronounced TOHT), a god ofwisdom and arts, was said to have invented hieroglyphics, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine, as well as to have written the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Anubis (uh-NOO-bis), a god of the dead, presided over funerals and guided dead souls through the underworld or land of the dead.
In Egyptian mythology, goddesses were sometimes much more powerful than gods. When angered, they could cause warfare and destroy those who crossed them. Among the most powerful and terrifying goddesses were Neith (pronounced NEYT) and Sekhmet. Neith, associated with hunting and warfare, gave birth to the giant snake Apophis (pronounced uh-POH-fis) when she spat into the primeval waters. During
The struggle between Horus and Set, she threatened to make the sky fall if the other gods did not take her advice for resolving the dispute. Sekhmet, portrayed as a terrifying lioness, was killed by rebellious humans during the early years after creation. The Egyptians sometimes sacrificed criminals to her, and it was thought that she used contagious diseases as her messengers.
Magic played an important role in Egyptian religion, often providing a way to avoid or control misfortune. Magical spells might include versions of myths. All gods had secret, divine names that carried magical powers. One spell told the story of how Isis discovered the secret name of Ra, which she then used to increase her own magical skills. Many spells were used to treat the bites of snakes and scorpions, generally regarded as symbols of the forces of chaos. The god Thoth, a patron of wisdom, was closely connected with magic.
World History
