The Ancient Egyptian Religion

The Egyptians told many stories about the creation of the world. Most of them start by imagining a time when there was nothing but the Waters of Chaos. In some stories the first thing to emerge from the water is a blue lotus whose petals hide the infant sun god. Others start with the Primeval Mound, the first dry land, rising above the waters. To the mound comes a phoenix or hawk or goose called the Great Cackler who lays the world egg. Egyptian gods and goddesses (deities) were all forms of the Creator but they took on identities of their own. Some had special areas of interest: Thoth was a god of wisdom and writing, and Hathor a goddess of love and death.

Sacred Creatures

The deities were often shown in human form wearing distinctive headdresses and carrying sacred symbols. Some deities had several forms. The god Sobek could appear as a crocodile or, as a man with the head of a crocodile. The goddess Hathor might be shown as a beautiful woman, as the head of a woman with cow's ears, or as a cow or cow-headed woman.

The sun god had numerous forms, some of them worshipped as separate gods. The rising sun was Khepri, shown as a scarab-beetle, the noonday sun was Horus, the hawk god, and the setting sun was Atum, shown as a ram-headed man.

Late in Egyptian history the cult of sacred animals became very important. Creatures such as the ibises sacred to Thoth or the crocodiles sacred to Sobek lived in temples and were given elaborate burials when they died.

Egyptian Temples: Palaces of the Gods

A temple was the palace of the deity who lived in the cult statue. The statue was hidden inside a shrine or sanctuary, the holiest part of the temple. Every morning the chief priest entered the sanctuary and opened the shrine. Many rituals were performed, including clothing and perfuming the statue and presenting a meal. In return for these offerings the gods were asked to keep Egypt safe and prosperous.

Ordinary people could not watch the daily ritual but they did join in festivals. At these festivles, divine statues were carried outside the temple so the gods might "speak" to the people.

Some temples were centers of learning, artists and craftsmen made a wide range of goods in temple workshops. The major temples were state-controlled so the goods were distributed by the government. Kings gave estates, ships and slaves to support temples. In the 12th century BC the temple of Amon at Karnak had over 100,000 people working for it.

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