Opposite Watering the Desert
An Egyptian farmer chops cane along an irrigation ditch that channels water from the Nile River. Ancient Egyptian engineers maintained a massive, interconnected irrigation system throughout the empire.
TO THE EGYPTIANS, RELIGION AND MAGIC WERE “TWIN sisters.” For the average person, religion meant everyday offerings and devotions honoring local deities and familiar household gods, and a deep-seated belief in the power of magical rituals, spells, charms, and protective amulets. Over the course of Egyptian history, Egyptians worshiped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses, mostly minor local deities known only in one region or village. When a city became important, so did its gods and goddesses. Egyptians were more likely to adopt foreign deities than to persecute their worshipers. They were remarkably tolerant, especially compared to other ancient peoples.
There were no universal truths, no fixed religious doctrines. The contradictions in their many views of the universe and multiple creation stories did not bother them a bit. Religion was magical, not logical. In Ancient Egypt: Its Culture and History, J. E. Manchip calls Egyptian religion “a huge, intricate mosaic with thousands of pieces.”
The king and other high priests took care of the great matters: keeping the world running smoothly and maintaining ma’at in the universe. Their daily rituals ensured that the sun would rise, the inundation would occur on schedule, and crops would grow. The average family’s religion was focused on humbler matters: ensuring the health and safety of children and animals, protecting the home, ensuring fertility, gaining protection from everyday dangers and troublesome spirits, and getting safely through pregnancy and childbirth. One religious story loved by king and peasant alike was the legend of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, retold in the box on page 94.
Every home had shrines to Bes, Taweret, or Bastet, fierce protectors of homes, babies, and women in childbirth. Families placed statues of
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