What were the ancient beliefs, and how did they affect the Egyptian's lives?
Process of mummification and embalming:
The Egyptians culture and religion is very interesting. For example, the Egyptians were one of the only nations to ever use mummification and embalming. To embalm a body first all organs where removed from the body, except for the heart. Egyptians believed the heart was a necessity to go to the afterlife. Since the brain had to be removed safely, the Egyptians had to break the nose of the body and then take out the brain piece by piece with a hook up the nose. Next, the body was laid under salt for a period of days. This salt absorbed all of the moister from the body. Then,they used resins, cassia, cedar oil, myrrh, cassia, and palm wine. This like the salt preserved the body and prevented decay. The next step was to dry out the organs and put them in containers. The mummy would take these to the after-life with him. Finally, the mummy would be rapped in linen cloth and put into many very fancy and decorated coffins, and then buried in a tomb. The Egyptians believed that the dead body would go to the dreaded underworld to be tested to see if he was worthy enough to enter the blissful afterlife. If he passed the tests he was accepted by the god Osiris, and if not he was to stay in the underworld. Egyptians went into death with an open mind, hoping to enter the afterlife. They thought the afterlife was even better than the life they just lived. Since the afterlife was a huge part of Egyptian mythology, having the tradition of mummification and embalming was very sacred and made the Egyptians have a strong belief in their religion. Why and how the Egyptian pyramids were built, and how it connected to their belief system:
Furthermore, another big part of ancient Egyptian religion was the Great Pyramids of Giza. These pyramids were built using massive blocks of rock. Since the works could not move them, they used teams of works to pull one block at a time up a ramp. Then they would place these rocks around the square foundation. When the first layer was done, they went up to the next layer. The pyramids were built very carefully into a pyramid shape, under the advisory of Egyptian architects. Slowly, these massive pyramids began to take shape and finally they were completed. The biggest pyramid, also known as the great pyramid was built under pharo Khufu. This pyramid is the largest of the tree, and stands 138 meters tall. These Pyramids were mainly built to provide tombs for kings and queen of Egypt. This connects to the belief of an afterlife because they believed that when you die you go to the afterlife, and kings/queens needed a tomb to go their in. The pyramids of Egypt were amazing structures that affected the religion of Egypt drastically. |
This is another picture of the great Pyramids of Giza
This is another picture of an embalmer embalming the dead body of an egyptian
Egyptian gods and goddesses:
Another part of the Egyptian religion was their gods. Some examples of their gods are Ra, Nephthys, Nekhbet, Nut, and Osiris. These gods are stood for different things in their life. These gods played a big role in Egyptian culture because it gave them a line of principles and a religion to be a part of. In addition according to Historyforkids.net, "these gods probably generated due to the Egyptians surroundings." For example, the sun was a major part of their life, so naturally they would have a sun god. The gods and goddesses of Egypt played a big role in the civilizations development. These gods/goddesses helped base how the Egyptians thought about life and how they lived their life. How did religion affect every aspect of ancient Egyptian life:Religion affects every aspect of an Egyptians life in many ways. For example, religion gave the Egyptians something to believe in. This made Egyptians work hard to please their gods. This way work got done faster. Another way religion affected ancient Egyptian life is the belief in the afterlife. The afterlife made Egyptians not depressed to die. This gave the Egyptians something not to get depressed about. By not having this sadness in their lives, they were able to move on knowing that they will go to a good place. Religion affected their lives in these ways and many more.
Characteristics of the Egyptian belief system:The Egyptian belief system had many different characteristics. Some of the characteristics of their belief system are many gods and goddesses(polytheism), an afterlife, tales and stories of their past, a pharo to lead the people of Egypt, and they believed cats were holy animals from the cat goddess Baset. Penalties for killing a cat were severe. Egypt had many interesting aspects of the belief system.
This is a picture of Anhur, the god of war and patron of the Egyptian army and hunters. He is often shown a man with a lion head.
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This is a picture of an Egyptian body getting washed. After being washed, this body will undergo the rest of the embalming process.
This is the picture of the most important god in Egyptian religion, Ra the sun god.
This is the god Osiris. He is the god of the underworld and the afterlife. He is also the one judges whether or not the dead person is allowed in the blissful afterlife.
This is a primary picture of the goddess Nut. She is the goddess of sky and stars.
This is a picture of the goddess Nephthys. She is the goddess of funerary. She is often shown protecting tombs of the dead.
This is a picture of the creation goddess. She can take the form of a woman with a cobra head, or just a normal snake.
This is a picture of the goddess Anuket. She is the goddess of the Nile river. Without her, the Egyptians believed they would die because there would be no Nile to support life.
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