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Religion guided every aspect of ancient Egyptian life. Egyptian Religion was based on polytheism, or the worship of many deities, except for during the reign of Akhenaton.
The Egyptians had many tales about how the Creation of the world
Temples were considered dwelling places for the gods. They were everywhere. Each city had a temple built for the god of that city. The purpose of the temple was to be a cosmic center by which men had communication with the gods. As the priests became more powerful, tombs became a part of great temples. The priests duty was to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests had many duties such as funeral rites, teaching school, supervising the artists and works, and advising people on problems.
Early Beliefs
Probably the oldest form of religious worship in Egypt was animal worship. Early predynastic tribes venerated their own particular gods, who were usually embodied in a particular animal. Sometimes a whole species of animal was sacred, as cats at Bubastis; at other times only individual animals of certain types were worshiped, as the Apis bull at Memphis. As Egyptian civilization advanced, deities were gradually humanized. Many were represented with human bodies (although they retained animal heads) and other human characteristics and attributes. The wolf Ophois became a god of war, and the ibis Thoth became a patron of learning and the arts.
We do not know precisely how or why certain animals became associated with certain gods. Moreover, the relationship between a god and his animal varied greatly. The god Thoth was not only identified with the ibis, but also with the baboon and with the moon. Occasionally a god was a composite of various animals, such as Taurt, who had the head of a hippopotamus, the back and tail of a crocodile, and the claws of a lion.
Just as a god could represent various natural phenomena, so could a single phenomenon be given different explanations. The ancient Egyptian conceived of the earth as a disk, with the flat plains of Egypt as the center and the mountainous foreign lands as the rim surrounding and supporting the disk. Below were the deep waters of the underworld, and above was the plain of the sky. Several systems of cosmic deities arose to explain this natural phenomenon. Some attributed the creation of the world to the ram-god Khnum, who styled the universe on his potter’s wheel. Others said that creation was a spiritual and not a physical act, and that the divine thought of Ptah shaped the universe.
Perhaps the most widely accepted explanation of the creation was that the sun-god, called either Ra or Atum, appeared out of primeval chaos and created the air-god Shu and his wife Tefnut, to whom were born the sky-goddess Nut and the earth-god Geb, who in turn bore Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Some early cosmological myths represented the heavens as a great, star-studded cow, sometimes called Hathor or Athor, curving above the earth. Regardless of the different creation myths and ranking of gods, it is clear that the ancient Egyptian venerated many deities, that those gods were inherent in nature, and that they enabled the Egyptian to correlate human, natural, and divine life.

Development of a National Religion
At the end of the predynastic period (c.3200 B.C), when a combined state was created, a national religion apparently grew out of the various primitive tribal and local religions, but still there were great inconsistencies and variations as various priesthoods attempted to systematize the gods and their myths. Changes in the political power of various localities also changed the status of the gods. In that way Amon became Egypt’s most prominent deity, and by similar shifts of power Suchos, Bast, and Neith rose to importance. Some scholars have believed that the history of Egyptian religion was a sort of war of the gods, with the dominance of a god following directly the political dominance of a city or region. Others have pointed out that the national prominence of gods often centered in obscure cities or regions that never had political power. Nevertheless, shifts and changes did occur, making for new identifications and associations.
Egyptian religion was remarkable for its reconciliation and union of conflicting beliefs. Some scholars have held, in fact, that the syncretism of Egyptian religion reveals a basic trend toward monotheism. But only during the reign of Ikhnaton, who based his theology on the solar god Aton and denied recognition to all but that god, was a monotheistic cult actually established. That unique cult apparently proved unsatisfactory to the ancient Egyptians; after Ikhnaton’s death, polytheism was restored.

The Major Cults
The most important of the many forms of Egyptian worship were the cults of Osiris and of Ra. Osiris was especially important as king and judge of the dead, but he was identified as well with the waters of the Nile, with the grain yield of the earth, with the moon, and even with the sun. A bountiful and loving king, Osiris was the protector of all, the poor and the rich. His myth, portraying the highest ideals of family devotion, expressed aspirations that were close to the people. His murder by his brother Set, and his restoration to life by his wife Isis made him the great symbol of the eternal persistence of life. The revenge exacted by his son and successor Horus showed the triumph of good over evil.
The worship of Ra, the great sun-god, chief of the cosmic deities, was perhaps more closely related to the fate of the royal house than to that of the people, but his cult was nevertheless one of the most important in ancient Egypt. His symbol the pyramid became the design of the monumental tombs of the Egyptian kings. Ra was said, in fact, to be the direct ancestor of the kings of Egypt, and in certain hymns was even addressed as a dead king. But he was more specifically thought of as a living power, whose daily cycle of birth, journey, and death was a fundamental theme in Egyptian life. Besides Osiris and Ra the other most prominent Egyptian god was Amon. By the XIX dynasty he was Egypt’s greatest god, united with Ra as Amon Ra.

The Role of the King
Most scholars have concluded that, in later times at least, there was no close personal tie between the individual Egyptian and the gods, that the gods remained aloof, that their relationship to humans was indirect, communicated to him by means of the king. There was no established book or set of teachings, as the Bible or the Qur’an, and few prescribed conditions of behavior or conduct. Humans were guided essentially by human wisdom and trusted in their belief in the goodness of the gods and of their divine son, the king. An important concept in Egyptian life was the idea of maat [justice]. Although the Egyptian was entirely subservient to the state, the king had the duty of translating the will of the gods. The universe had been created by bringing order and justice to replace primeval chaos, and only through the continuance of order and justice could the universe survive. The law of nature, of society, and of the gods was an organic whole, and it was the duty of the king to administer that law, which was guided by the concept of maat. As Egypt flourished, so did the state cult. As the pharaohs grew more powerful, they poured riches into the state cult and built huge and splendid temples to their gods. The priesthoods thus grew very powerful.

Life after Death
The populace found its expression of religious feeling in the funerary cults. The great body of mortuary texts has, in fact, provided us with much that we know of ancient Egypt, particularly of belief in the afterlife. The dead were provided with food and drink, weapons, and toiletry articles. Tombs were often visited by the family, who brought new offerings. Proper precautions and care for the dead were mandatory to insure immortality. Although the ancient Egyptians strongly believed in life after death, the idea of passing from life on earth to life in the hereafter was somewhat obscure, and the concepts concerning the afterlife were complex.
The ancient Egyptian, however, hoped not only to extend life beyond the grave, but to become part of the perennial life of nature. The two most important concepts concerning the afterlife were the ka and the ba. The ka was a kind of double or other self, not an element of the personality, but a detached part of the self which was sometimes said to guide the fortunes of the individual in life, like the Roman genius, but was clearly most associated with a person’s fortunes in the hereafter. When people died they were said to join with their ka. More important perhaps than the ka was the concept of the ba. The ba is perhaps loosely identifiable as the soul of a person. More specifically the ba was the manifestation of an individual after death, usually thought to be represented in the form of a bird. The Egyptians also believed in the concept of akh, which was the transformation of some of the noble dead into eternal objects. The noblest were often conceived of as being transformed into stars, thus joining in the changeless rhythm of the universe.

In ancient times each Egyptian city or region had its own god and worshipped many others. Read on to learn a few general things about ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.
Who did they worship? . . . The ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods. Sometimes it's hard for us to tell who was who! These gods and goddesses often represented the natural world, for example the sky, earth, wind, or sun. They took the form of animals or combined animal and human forms.

Official religion . . . From ancient Egyptian writings we know that religion was very important in their society. The pharaoh
performed rituals to the gods so that the world would be in harmony and to assure bountiful crops. These official state ceremonies were performed in temples throughout Egypt, but most Egyptians did not participate.
Religion everyday . . . Popular religion took other forms. People used magical charms or amulets to ward off danger. They also worshipped popular gods and goddesses to help them with life events such as childbirth.

....an overview...
One of the most interesting aspects of ancient Egypt is its religion. The depth of Egyptian thinking and the rich imagination displayed in the creation of ideas and images of the gods and goddesses are beyond compare. In elaborating their beliefs, the Egyptians were working on the cosmic plane, searching for an understanding of the most basic laws of the universe.

They developed the first thought forms of the Godhead - the beginnings of a religion. Their beliefs evolved slowly over the centuries and gradually developed into a comprehensive world view shared by the people of the Nile.

Religion is the glue that binds local communities into nationhood and creates common understandings and shared values that are essential to the growth of a civilization. No religion is fully formed at its inception. By looking at ancient Egypt, one can see how belief systems evolved to become the driving force of cultural expressions. In the early stages of human thought, the concept of God did not exist. Our early ancestors were concerned about natural phenomena and the powers that controlled these phenomena; they did not worship a personalized form of God. This stage of religious development is referred to as "magical".

In Egypt, before the concept of God existed, magical power was encapsulated in the hieroglyph of a sceptre (or rod or staff). This is one of the most enduring symbols of divine power, ever present in images of the pharaohs and the gods.

As human society evolved, people gradually gained a degree of personal identity. With a higher sense of individuality, humans began to conceive the gods in a personalized form. This stage in development is called "mythical". In Egypt, this process began during the late prehistoric period, when writing was being invented and myths were being formulated.

At that stage, every Egyptian town had its own particular deity, manifested in a material fetish or a god represented in the shape of an animal, such as a cat-goddess, cobra-goddess, ibis-god or jackal-god. As the pantheon grew in cohesiveness, these gods and goddesses were given human bodies and credited with human attributes and activities. The temples in the major cities throughout the land were constructed to venerate local gods. During the New Kingdom, these temples honoured a triad of gods based on the pattern established by the mythical family of Osiris, Isis and Horus.

Like all religions, that of ancient Egypt was complex. It evolved over the centuries from one that emphasized local deities into a national religion with a smaller number of principal deities. Some theologians think that Egypt was moving towards a monotheistic faith in a single creator, symbolized by the sun god. There was no single belief system, but the Egyptians shared a common understanding about the creation of the world and the possibility of reverting to chaos if the destructive forces of the universe were unleashed.

The ancient Egyptians interpreted every occurrence of everyday life with a god. Those forces that were important in their lives included the annual cycle of the Nile Rivers flood, the enormous size and unchanging dryness of the surrounding desert; and the daily cycle of the suns appearance in the east, gradual movement across the sky , and eventual disappearance in the west. They also included birth and death and many other everyday occurrences. The ancient Egyptians developed a world in which these and other events and conditions were important to the actions of many Gods and Goddesses.

The Pharaohs of Egypt Were Worshipped like Gods

The rulers of ancient Egypt were called pharaohs They were worshiped as God- kings. Pharaohs were thought to be Gods and provided a link between the Egyptian people and their Gods. Egypt was usually ruled by a man, although a few women did rule in their own right. The pharaoh took part in many ceremonies. They had to dress, eat and even wash in a special way, and every day they went to the temple to offer food to their ancestors. They were expected to be physically strong, expert at hunting and able to lead the army to victory in battle. Their subjects thought the God-kings controlled the flowing and flooding of the Nile and the growth of crops, as well as the countrys success in foreign trade. The pharaohs continued to be worshipped even after they had died and joined the God Osiris in the kingdom of the dead.

The pharaohs had temples built, made sacrifices, and performed rituals so that the Gods would not be angry and that the Nile would rise each year. These ceremonies were performed in temples through Egypt, but most Egyptians did not participate.
When the Egyptian pharaohs died, they were treated to ceremonies that said that they joined the Gods. They continued to be worshipped even after they had died and joined the God Osiris in the Kingdom of the dead.

Peasants could also rise to the status of a God. Imhotep designed the first pyramid called the Step Pyramid. He gained importance as he became the pharaohs architect and eventually he gained the status of a God.

Religion was very important to Egyptian society.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped hundreds of Gods. Some, such as the Sun-God Re or Amun-Re, were honored by everyone throughout the land in festivals. These festivals lasted for a month in the flood season when farmers did no work in the fields. In addition, each of the 42 regions, called nones, adopted a different God to look after its affairs. At home, people turned to lesser Gods for help with everyday problems. Popular religion took other forms. People used magical charms or amulets to ward off danger. They also worshipped popular Gods and Goddesses to help with with life events such as childbirth. Many Gods were depicted as husband and wife, such as Bastet the cat, Goddess of love and joy - or as human figurines with the heads of animals and birds , such as ibis- headed Thoth, God of knowledge. The Gods also had families. Osiris and Isis were husband and wife with a son named Horus.

Why Are There So Many Egyptian Gods?

In ancient times each Egyptian city or region had its own God and worshipped many others. These Gods and Goddesses often represented the world around them, for example the sky, earth, wind or sun would be something that the ancient Egyptians worshipped.

Early in Egyptian history, Lower (north) and Upper (south) Egypt were united under one ruler. This union resulted in the merging of several cultural traditions. Ancient Egyptian civilization existed for more than three thousand years, and the Gods and Goddesses and their myths gradually changed over time as a result of new ideas, with other peoples and changing cultural values. There became many versions of the stories about Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. In ancient Egypt there were never any rules as to which God was the greatest. In some cases a God or goddess was adored throughout the country. In other cases, a God was only well known in a certain area of the land. Some cities worshipped a certain group of Gods and another city worshipped another group. When a city became important, so did its Gods. Eventually,as one region became more important or another became less so, the Gods and Goddesses gained or declined in their importance.

Gods and Goddesses

The Egyptians believed the universe and all events that occurred within it were governed by the will of gods. The gods embodied not only all natural phenomena but also abstract concepts such as justice, kingship, protection, and truth. Led by the king, Egyptians performed rituals and made offerings to gain the favor of gods and spirits.

Consequently, gods and goddesses feature prominently in Egyptian art. They are identified by symbolic animal features and spectacular headdresses signifying power. Many are depicted wearing headdresses with a solar disk. Ostrich feathers, animal horns, and the uraeus also frequently appeared. Isis and her sister, Nepthys, are identified by the hieroglyphs for their names that they wear on top of their heads. Usually the deities hold an ankh and a scepter. When in human form, the gods are shown wearing a false beard with a curved tip.

Thoth

Amun

Anubis

Osiris

Isis

Hathor

Seth

Sakhmet

Heh (Eternity)

Horus

Nephthys

Bes

Horus as a Falcon

Taweret

Thoth as a Baboon

Of Animals, Gods & Men

Working with the Egyptian Gods

Egyptian magick and culture has something of a special place in western occultism, and one of the most powerful and dominant features of the Egyptian deities is that most are anthropomorphic. Obviously there are exceptions, the most obvious being deities such as Isis and Osiris, but even these have little known elements of lycanthropy in their backgrounds, waiting to be revealed. So how does one work with the different deities, and what energies do the differing animal headed deities represent?

Beetle

Synonymous with the Sun and the Sun God (Atum then Ra), the scarab (a translation of Khephri) beetle was thought to have been born from a ball of dung, without recourse to the sexual process. The scarab pushed the sun through the night in a ball of dung. Also depicted as a beetle headed man, Khephri was strongly associated with good luck and magickal power, being the creator "He who becomes" (the other translation of the word Khephri). A good force to work with during difficult times ("the dark night of the soul") to change the direction of events, or when you seem to be having a run of bad luck.

Cat/Lioness

The cat and lioness were particularly sacred in ancient Egypt, and there is a strong degree of sharing of aspect between the most common Goddesses Bast and Sekhmet. Bast was originally portrayed as a lioness headed Goddess, and it was only around 1,000 BC that she became commonly depicted as cat headed. Bast is the protective mother, sensual and strong, fertile and even orgiastic. To the Egyptians Felines represented sexuality and sensuality, and it is perhaps in these roles that these Goddesses can give us the most, embodying as they do the power of the unrestricted feminine.

Sekhmet is more a purifying fire Goddess feared by all demons, and on one occasion She had to be made drunk by the Gods to stop Her slaying humanity on a rampage after killing demons; Sekhmet also ruled plague and pestilence, and so could be appealed to for healing diseases. Bast also displays a warrior side of course, in some versions of the myth She slays the serpent Apep when it threatens Ra on his journey through the twelve hours of the night. Tefnut and Mut were also lioness headed Goddesses Tefnut being the Goddess of moisture, who was thought to protect sleepers through the night (hence the carvings of lions on beds), and Mut often being interchanged with Bast and Sekhmet (it is worth noting Mut also had a vulture form).

Crocodile

The crocodile headed God Sebek, was a God of Water, associated with the Nile. He was also in some versions of the Osiris myth the final resting place of Osiris' phallus after it was thrown in the Nile. In this sense he could be seen as the necessary agent of change, an agent of the primal forces requiring change, as manifested by Osiris changing from being a fertility deity of the land to the ruler of the Underworld. Sebek represented the might of the Pharaoh, and in this we can perhaps see the continuation of the divine king as representative of the deities, in their more primal form. Sebek could be seen as the acceptance and integration of the shadow.

Jackal/Wolf

The jackal and wolf headed deities are a very common feature throughout Egyptian history, and are usually associated with the underworld and war. Early deities like the wolf headed Sed and Khenti Amenti became assimilated into deities with stronger cults (i.e. Anup [Anubis], and in the case of Khenti Amenti subsequently into Osiris as one of his titles). The jackal and wolf would be called to as guardians and openers of the ways (the translation of Wepwawet, another jackal headed deity, twinned with Anup the pair representing north and south Egypt), and the association with war can be seen in light of this, as the protector of the Pharaoh and peoples.

Anup was also viewed very much as a deity of magick, and there is a very strong polarity and sharing of roles with Jahuti found throughout Egyptian texts (a good example being the sharing of the titles Hery Seshta Master of Secrets, and Ur Hekau Mighty One of Magick, also shared with Isis, and misrepresented by Kenneth Grant as originating with Hekate). Anup is the best known of the jackal headed deities, and is certainly one of the oldest archetypes in the Egyptian culture there are cave carvings from c. 30,000 BC of fertility scenes showing a copulating couple, with the man wearing a jackal head and tail, as well as much later images of priests wearing large and cumbersome looking masks, with their eyes being barely visible just below the snout. This is possibly the most frequently represented, and certainly the oldest recorded use of masks in Egyptian magick and culture.

Sirius, the dog star, was sacred to Anup and Isis (being a binary star this is not surprising), and Anup (symbolised by the invisible Sirius B circling Sirius A) was often portrayed as protector of Isis, being one of the deities who accompanied Her on the quest for the parts of Osiris (along with Jahuti and Horus the Elder). In the Jumilhac Papyrus, a very interesting version of this myth is given, for when Set comes to steal the body Isis has so painfully gathered together and reconstituted with Anup and Jahuti's help, Isis assumes Anup's form, and bites Set, driving him away (Isis also turns into a kite on occasion to perform magick, and copulate with the corpse of Osiris another shapechange showing anthropomorphic roots). Combining this with the suggestion being made by some Egyptologists now that Osiris was originally a wolf headed deity, who changed to being seen as human in form, and we have a clear pointer to animal aspects behind the human form of these deities.

Cow

The cow is a major influence in Egyptian theology. The most well known cow goddess is Hathor, but Nuit like Hathor was depicted as the cosmic cow, and Hesat (whose name means milk) the mother of Anup in early papyri, was also a cow goddess. Hathor is a goddess of many aspects. She is often considered to be conjoined with Sekhmet as two aspects of the same. She is a protectress in the underworld, a goddess of love, music and dance, and cosmic mother. She is also depicted as the seven Hathors in the underworld, the mistresses of fate. She is also a goddess of healing, it was Hathor who restored Horus' sight to him after he lost his eyes. As can be seen, Hathor can be worked with for many things, for she is both bountiful and benevolent (unless treated with disrespect).

Frog

The goddess Hekat was like Tauret a protector of women in childbirth (which is not surprising considering the higher level of deaths in childbirth then and hence the importance of enlisting the help of the goddess) and also a protector of the home. It has been suggested that Hekate was derived from Hekat, though I feel this is unlikely, given the considerable difference in the significance and natures of the deities.

Falcon/Hawk

The falcon/hawk is a symbol of power, light and royalty. Both Horus and Ra, the ruler gods, were hawk-headed. Khonsu, the moon god, was also hawk headed. Khonsu was a deity of healing and also exorcism. The eyes of Horus were the sun and moon. As a bird of prey, it is not surprising that Horus was Lord of the Sky. Hawk deities aid clarity of vision of purpose, giving the insight and power to overcome obstacles.

Hippopotamus

The goddess Tauret was a hippopotamus deity, and this animal is also sacred to Set. Interestingly, like Set, Tauret is often depicted as a composite deity - with the head of a hippopotamus, arms and legs of a lion, tail of a crocodile and breasts of a woman (Plutarch suggests Tauret was a consort of Set). She protects women in childbirth, detering any malevolent influences by her ferocious appearance and power. She also has a cosmic aspect as a deity of the sky, sharing this role with the cow goddesses. A good deity to work with for empowerment (for women) and removal of preconceptions.

Ibis

Sacred to Jahuti (Thoth), the ibis was revered in Egypt. Jahuti is a deity of power and mystery. He has a strong lunar nature, and is concerned with knowledge, speech, magick, healing and much more. In some versions of the Egyptian myths it was Jahuti who created the egg which gave birth to the universe. A staunch advocate of truth, Jahuti checked the balance in the underworld to announce the virtue (or otherwise) of the souls. Jahuti is often considered the patron of magick, hence the (dubious) suggestion of the tarot as originating in Egypt (the Book of Thoth), and also of healing, the caduceus having become the symbol of the medical profession. Jahuti aids all who seek truth, wisdom and knowledge.

Ram

Strongly associated with creator gods, both Khnum (the potter god) and Amun/Ra have ram-headed forms. The ram was seen as a strong force, creative (as shown by the large phallus of Khnum) and powerful, a bringer of fertility. The distinguishing feature between depictions of the deities is that Khnum was always depicted with wavy horns, whereas Amun was shown with curving horns. These gods are energisers, good for empowerment and creativity, and also male potency.

The Set Creature

Resembling an anteater with a truncated snout, the exact nature of this creature is still hotly debated amongst Egyptologists. What we can say is that Set has repeatedly been mistakenly identified with "evil". Set is the dark principle balancing the light of Horus. Although they fight for sovereignty, it is Set who kills Apophis when all the other gods have been hypnotised, and also Set who holds the celestial ladder for Horus to ascend to the heavens. There has been suggestion that Set was originally a female deity, as all the names of Egyptian deities which end with "t" are for goddesses (the other exception being Wepwawet, who may also have been female anyway).

Set represented the hot desert winds, and the amoral and harsh aspects of nature. As such it is not surprising that many attempts were made to placate Set, and one of the Pharaoh's names was always a name dedicated to Set. Set burns away dross, and could be seen as the fire of transmutation, showing us the pain of loss but also the beauty of growth and change. If his methods seem drastic, they are effective and rapid. Set has much to teach anyone with ears to listen.

Ancient Egyptian Religion
There was no single, unified system of religious belief in Ancient Egypt. There was a wide and unsystematic collection of beliefs and practices, which varied by location, social class, and over the 3000 years generally referred to collectively as ‘Ancient Egypt�? Indeed, there is evidence that the practices of the poor would have been quite different to those of the wealthy, ruling class. The role of animals in Ancient Egyptian religion is complicated by all of these factors.

Animals and Religion
Animals were used in Ancient Egyptian religious art to illustrate characteristics of the gods. However, the Egyptians did not worship animals and the depictions were not literal. For example, Horus was depicted as a falcon because he was believed to have falcon-like qualities, not because he was thought to be a bird and the goddess Bastet, linked to childrearing, was often represented as a cat.

For the majority of Ancient Egyptian religious history, the association of an animal with a deity did not make the species sacred nor did it prevent them from being farmed or hunted. However, in later periods some animal species did come to be seen as sacred. Representations of gods and goddesses were created to serve specific functions and the depiction of a deity as an animal was a device to convey attributes of the deity.

Several animals might depict one god, thereby revealing different aspects of their character. For example, Thoth was shown as both a baboon and an ibis. Equally, the same animal could be associated with several gods. For example, the lioness image could highlight the warlike, and unpredictable nature of the goddess Sekhmet but could also reveal the fiercely protective, gentle mothering aspects of the godesses Bastet, Mut, and Hathor. Gods that were sometimes shown in animal form were also often depicted as human, part-animal, heavenly bodies, inanimate objects, or were indicated simply by their name in hieroglyphs.

Animals Cults
Animal statues and images were used both as a focus for rituals and as physical manifestations of deities. For a few gods, cults developed where living animals became the focus of worship, fulfilling the same function as artistic representations. The best-known example is the Apis Bull, which was believed to act as a physical receptacle for the non-physical essence, the ba, of the god Ptah. There was only one Apis Bull at any time. While alive it formed the focus for the worship of Ptah at his temple in Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt located near modern Cairo. When it died the bull was mummified, buried with great ceremony, and another bull was selected to take its place.

Between 3000 and 2000 years ago major changes took place in Ancient Egyptian society, including many to popular religion. The link between a species of animal and the cult of a particular god became much stronger than it had been in earlier times. The animals linked to some gods came to be viewed as sacred. Herodotus, a Greek who visited Egypt before 2400 years ago, stated that anyone who intentionally killed a sacred animal was put to death. Even accidental killings could be punished. This resulted in examples of extreme behaviour, such as the account by Diodorus of a Roman visitor who accidentally killed a cat and was lynched by an angry mob despite the Pharaohs attempts to intervene. Animal statues and mummified animals were donated as votive offerings to the deity they represented or to which they were linked.
Mummification of Animals
The Ancient Egyptians mummified animals for three main reasons. A few animals were beloved pets mummified by their owners, perhaps in the hope that they could join them in the next life. Some animals were mummified and placed in tombs to provide a food source for the deceased in the next life. However, the majority of animals were mummified for religious reasons unconnected with human burial. The belief that certain species were sacred led to large numbers of animals being kept at temples. Visitors to the temples were able to pay for the mummification of an animal. In return, the visitor hoped to receive the favour of the god. For example, cats were sacred to the goddess Bastet who was closely linked to childbirth and rearing children.

The offering of a mummified cat at her temple might have been thought to help with childbirth or protect a child. It was also believed that these mummified animals could reveal the future and deliver answers to particular problems. The god Sobek was associated with the crocodile
and mummified crocodiles like the example shown here were offered in
a similar way. A whole industry grew up around these animal cults, with animal keepers, animal embalmers, priests tending to pilgrims, and labourers building the cemeteries and catacombs in which thousands of these animals were buried. Mummified crocodile, ancient Egypt
PRM 1908.64.4

Cats in Egyptian Religion
The cat was domesticated in Egypt between about 4000 and 3500 years ago. Once domesticated, cats were valued both as house pets and as killers of vermin but were not immediately linked to any particular deities. The protective aspect of the vermin-catching cat soon gave it a place in the everyday religion of ordinary people. Over time these characteristics led to associations with several gods. The male cat became closely linked to the sun god. The female cat, the image of the goddess Bastet, seems to have been closely linked to fertility and child rearing concerns. Statues of Bast (or Bastet) as a cat-headed woman often show kittens at her feet. Bastet rose to great prominence between 3000 and 2000 years ago, forming part of the general increase in animal cults. Representations of the goddess Bastet provide a good example of the fluid and complex nature of the role of animals in Ancient Egyptian religion and society. Offerings of cat statuettes and mummified cats, as shown here, were presented at temples. Some of the cat-shaped statues were actually elaborate coffins designed to hold mummified cats. Cat cemeteries filled with these mummies have been found throughout Egypt, for example at Bubastis, Saqqara, Thebes, and Beni Hasan. In apparent contrast to the prohibition against killing cats, it does not appear that these mummified cats were old house pets, preserved after their natural deaths. Modern x-ray evidence shows cats were deliberately killed, often while still quite young, suggesting that the cats were bred specifically for this purpose. At least in part, these practices seem to have been encouraged by Egyptian rulers for economic reasons. The ‘sacred animal industry�? supplied considerable employment and also provided tax income to the Pharaohs.

Mummified cat, ancient Egypt

The Essential Egyptian View of The Self

The primary concepts of ancient Egyptian philosophy are expressed through a jargon of the soul. The terminology of these nine elements of the living human individual was known by every citizen of the ancient Nile culture, yet this knowledge survives in the modern world only in the form of the curious superstition of The Cat's Nine Lives. Sigmund Freud divided the human psyche into three parts -- id, ego, and superego -- and this awareness revolutionized our modern view of being human. Carl Jung divided psyche into four parts -- ego, shadow, self, and anim -- taking that revolution immeasurably further. In ancient Egypt psyche was divided into nine parts, or layers of being -- the akh, sekhem, ib, khat, shuit, ren, ba, ka, sahu. It was a revolution of thought by which they built an empire out of the mud, using pen and paper, string, rocks, and conversation. The goal of all these divisions of psyche -- three, four, or nine -- is self-awareness and natural self-control. The only significant difference between Egyptian psychological teaching and modern Western psychology is the place and function of the soul in the economy of the human psyche. The ancients did not question the existence of the divine soul; their entire civilization was built on belief in the soul's absolute reality and its absolute divinity. From ancient Egypt we learn that identity is the divinity of the soul.

1. AKH the divine substance of the human soul
2. SEKHEM the energy pattern of the divine spirit, the song of the soul
3. IB: the life-force, territory of the heart
4. KHAT: the soul's container, that which decays, "I stink therefore I am."
5. SHUIT: the living shadow, proof of reality
6. REN: the magic of your name, divine identity
7. BA: the you whom only you can know, the inside of the mask
8. KA: the you as others know you, the outside of the mask
9. SAHU: the natural boundary of the psychic self, horizon of the divine self

The Duality of Egypt.

This concept of duality, life and death, chaos and harmony, coloured much of the ancient Egyptian way of thinking and can be seen in the history of Egypt. If you think of the history as a series of peaks and troughs, with the peaks representing life and the troughs as death.

So life would be the Old Kingdom, the time of the unification, the Pyramids, and the foundations of its religious beliefs, this was always considered by the Egyptians themselves to be their golden age, and in later periods often copied the Old Kingdom model. Then we have the First Intermediate Period, with its time of unrest, civil wars, invasions, and political insecurity so this I see as being the death aspect of Atum-Ra.

Next comes The Middle Kingdom, again a period of life, expansion, stability and prosperity, followed by another period of instability in the Second Intermediate Period. The New Kingdom (the Empire Period) again is a period of life and stability and expansion, which is once again followed by a period of decline in the 21st-25th Dynasties (sometimes called the Third Intermediate Period), there followed a brief period of the former glories of Egypt in the Saite Period (26th Dynasty). After this Egypt is ruled by Foreign Kings.

The Nile could be seen in a life/death aspect, for as Heredotus quotes “Egypt is the gift of the Nile�? I would probably take that further, in that the Nile represents the lifeblood of Egypt. I would also say that the civilisation that emerged from the Nile valley could never have happened without the Nile. Yet the Nile itself as well as being a thing of life could also be destructive and a bringer of death, such as crocodiles, the hippopotamus and the river itself. The Nile displays this dualistic quality that the ancient Egyptians saw in all things, too much or too little in the annual floods would represent a life or death situation.

The actual land of Egypt also reflects the two aspects of Ra, from the life giving silts deposited each year, the cultivated strips of land either side of the Nile (The Black Land) and the desert (Deshret the Red Land), a place of inhospitable terrain, a place of emptiness, it was also the places were the dead were buried, as the land that the people lived on was required for the growing of crops. So the desert is in contrast to the busy and ordered world of the ancient Egyptians.

There are places in Egypt were it is possible to stand with one foot in the desert and the other in the cultivated area, so this aspect of Ra was clearly visible throughout Egypt, this contrasting view of the land of Egypt most certainly helped to shape the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. These ideas of life/death were inseparable for the ancient Egyptians whose view on life was coloured by the very landscape itself.

The life and death aspects of Ra can be seen through the various cosmologies, the primeval mound was where the sun was born, with the association with Atum, Re-Atum is said to be the coming of the light to disperse the darkness of the Nu. The course of the sun during the day could be seen as the life of man, when it sets in the west, it begins its travels in the Underworld, which could be seen as man’s death and the journey in the afterlife.

Re was the sun god who travelled through the skies in a boat, sinking down into the Underworld each night in the West before emerging in the East at dawn to bring light. The deceased is sometimes thought to join with Re on his sky barque and become one with the endless cosmic cycle.

Many symbols were used by the ancient Egyptians, some of their associations and meanings are totally lost to us, but others such as; In the bird of light, the Benu Bird, the Ibis, the lotus flower, the temple lakes, scarab beetles etc show that they were acutely aware of the dual aspects of all creation, life and death.

The scarab beetle was perhaps the most favoured of all amulets; the sacred beetle symbol represented all of the mystical connotations and links between earth, death and resurrection.

The tombs and monuments were built to last forever, literal Houses of Eternity, and as such were built in durable materials such as stone. Everything else, the Palaces of the King, nobles and homes of the general populace was considered replaceable and were built in materials that were easily reusable, such as mud bricks and wood etc.

They also reflect the ancient Egyptian belief of what they had in life so they would have in the afterlife; the concept of eternity gave rise to the mortuary rituals and to the religious philosophy.

So much of our view of the ancient Egyptian way of life is coloured by what buildings and monuments survive. We know more about the Egyptians in death than we do about their lives.

Yet eternity was not a vague place, they believed they would dwell in paradise, in areas graced by lakes and gardens, one ancient name for it was nuheh, but it was also called shenu. Such a belief in eternity gave the ancient Egyptians such exuberance for life that even foreign travellers such as Heredotus and Plutarch commented on it.

This symbolism of life, death and rebirth is also acted out each day, in the Rite of The House of Morning, which was conducted each day. Priests and courtiers would attend and the king was washed in water from the local temple lake to symbolise his primordial rebirth.

This duality also existed within political structure of ancient Egypt; it was also divided into two separate areas; The North, Lower Egypt �?The Delta Area, which comes from the Greek, faces the Mediterranean, is feed by two main branches of the Nile; and The South, Upper Egypt, is hemmed in by the desert.

Before the unification of Egypt, there also existed 2 kingdoms, the Red Land (the Delta) and the White Land (The South), these were political entities, not to be confused with the Red Land �?The Deshert and the Black Land. The Northern Kingdom is Lower Egypt and the Southern Kingdom is Upper Egypt.

Egypt is a country of contrasts between the cultivated areas and the deserts and between the North and South. The political contrasts in Egypt can clearly be seen, during the Heb Sed festivals, mock battles took place between the Followers of Horus and the Followers of Set, probably based on the early dynastic struggles between the two Kingdoms.

Homework Exercises

Lesson 5 Egyptology

1) What does polytheism mean?

2) What was the purpose of the temple?

3) What was the oldest form of worship in Egypt?

4) Why was Osiris an important God?

5) Why was the worship of Ra (Re) important?

6) There was no close personal tie between the individual Egyptian and the gods, that the gods remained aloof, that their relationship to humans was indirect, so how did mere mortals worship?

7) What is maat?

8) The terminology of these nine elements of the soul of the living human individual was known by every citizen of the ancient Nile culture..do you know them? What were they?

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