Given the importance of the Nile, one might think that the principal Egyptian deity would be the god of the river, but that honor went to a god who represented the other great natural force in the life of Egypt: the sun. Ra, the sun god and king of the gods, had come from Nun, a state of disorder that preceded the creation of the world. The light Ra brought to the Earth gave life. But Ra disappeared each night. Some worshipers believed he was born each day, then got older as he traveled across the sky, until he died when he went below the horizon. Ra was usually depicted with a sun-like disk, much like a halo but flat, over his head. In southern Egypt, there was a similar god named Amon, and eventually his identity was joined with Ra's to make Amon-Ra, the supreme god.
Ra's children were twins, a boy named Shu (pronounced like "shoe") and a girl named Tefnut (TEFF-noot). Shu ruled over the air, holding up the sky, and Tefnut helped him. The strain of this task caused her to shed tears, which provided the morning dew. Just as the royalty of Egypt tended to marry their relatives, the same was true of the gods: Shu and Tefnut produced two children, Geb and Nut (like Tefnut, rhymes with "loot"). The two were born holding one another, so Ra commanded Shu to separate them; Geb became the sky, and Nut the earth.
Geb and Nut had two sons and two daughters. The most notable of these was the son Osiris, who educated the Egyptians in agriculture and city-building. He married his sister Isis, goddess of the home, and was murdered by their brother Set, who threw Osiris's body into the Nile. Later Isis rescued Osiris with the help of Nephthys (NEFF-thiss), Set's twin sister. Yet Osiris decided to stay in the land of the dead, or the underworld, and became the god of that region. The Egyptians believed that like Ra, he remained in a constant
Ematician, a master builder, and a renowned wise man. Ironically it was he, and not Zoser, who would come to be glorified by successive generations, who worshiped him as a god because of his great genius.
Imhotep built a structure composed of six mastabas on top of one another, each smaller than the one below. This became the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, built in the town of Saqqara (suh-CAR-uh) near Memphis. The Step Pyramid stood some 200 feet, or twenty stories high. Around it was an elabo-
State of death and rebirth, symbolized by the yearly rise and fall of the Nile.
Osiris was usually depicted as a pharaoh (or king), with an Egyptian crown and the other emblems carried by the pharaoh. Isis usually had angel-like wings. Above her head a moon disk like Ra's sun disk, surrounded by cow's horns. The evil god Set was usually seen with the head of a crocodile or that of a monster.
As the god of the relatively more barren southern half of Egypt, Set desired the fertile lands ruled by Osiris, and this led to the murder of his brother. With Osiris dead, Set began to mistreat his sisters Isis and Nephthys. Nephthys was also Set's wife and became the goddess of mourning.
While Osiris was alive, Nephthys had disguised herself as Isis and had a child with him, and though Isis later found out, she was not angry with her sister. This child was Anubis (uh-NEW-biss), god of the dead, who helped prepare bodies for the afterlife. He was typically shown with the body of a man and the head of a jackal or dog.
Osiris also had a son by Isis, Horus, who was born weak and became more vulnerable still when he lost his father and had to be raised by his mother. He was often tormented by his wicked uncle Set. But Osiris came back to life periodically to teach Horus how to fight, and eventually Horus—depicted as a man with the head of a falcon, and the sun and moon for eyes—became a powerful warrior. Later he defeated Set in battle. Ra forced Set into the desert, where he ruled over a kingdom of sand, rocks, and scorpions.
These were some of the principal gods and goddesses, but there were many, many more. Each geographical area had its own deities. There were hundreds of gods, each of which had its own temple and priests.
Rate walled complex that included a temple as well as buildings that looked like temples but were not. They had false doors and could not be entered, a tactic to fool grave robbers. There was also a long court on which King Zoser, watched by crowds from all over Egypt, once ran a course to prove to his subjects that he was physically fit. This was perhaps the world's first recorded spectator sporting event.
The pharaohs that followed Zoser built step pyramids modeled on Imhotep's, and from these later structures it is clear
Bent pyramid at Dashur.
Corbis/Marilyn Bridges. Reproduced by permission.
That building techniques developed and improved over time. Not until Sneferu (SNEFF-eh-roo), who built four pyramids between 2575 and 2551 b. c., did the smooth-sided pyramid make its first appearance. The most well-known of these is the “Bent Pyramid,” which was originally intended to be very steep; but halfway up, the builders changed the angle. Various reasons have been given for this: Either the pyramid had to be completed in a hurry or (more likely) the builders began to find cracks in it caused by the extremely steep angle. Whatever the reason, the Bent Pyramid is an unusual-looking structure.
World History
