Throughout all of Earth’s entire documented history, the ancient Egyptian people were considered to be the most religious settlement ever. Ancient Egypt was located beside the Nile River because the Nile River annually flooded, fertilizing the nearby soil. Both ancient Egypt as well as the Nile River are located in the northeast corner of Africa. While the great Egyptian settlement thrived in Africa, ancient Egypt survived through many conflicts and lasted from 3100 B.C.E. till 350 C.E.. One reason why ancient Egypt survived for thousands of years is because they were led by an almighty pharaoh. Pharaohs were considered to be half god and half human. In addition, Egyptians worshipped many different gods representing different aspects of life, …show more content…
Since the Egyptians were extremely religious and polytheistic they believed in 114 varying gods. The foremost and important of which was Ra or Re, the god symbolizing the sun. Ra is also referred as being the supreme creator of everything in existence. Plus, Ra held many manifestations, or forms, representing the time of day. Ra was also very associated with the god of the sky and hunting, Horus. According to Egyptian mythology, Ra created two gods named Shu and Tefnut. Shu, being the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, produced two other gods, Nut and Geb. Before Nut became separated into the sky and Geb became the Earth, they engendered many other well-known gods who were Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Osiris represented the Duat or Underworld, Isis was the goddess of the moon, Seth symbolized evil, and Nephthys was depicted as the goddess of healing, yet decay. Ra, Shu, Tefnut, Nut, Geb, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys constructed the Nine Deities or the Ennead. The Nine Deities were believed to be the greatest, most powerful gods in Egyptian religion. These gods were brought into the Ennead, a group of nine, by priests from Heliopolis Egypt. Since ancient Egyptians were polytheistic they believed in many gods that symbolized many aspects of …show more content…
These temples were taken care by purifies temple priests. All Egyptian temples were holy sanctuaries, but every individual temple contained a statue of the god it symbolized. The gods were believed to live in those statue. However, most priests only worked as a priest for three months a year. In addition, Egyptians worshipped their gods, proving their faith in actions. For example, priests often would sacrifice goats cows, sheep, bird meat, grain, fruit, vegetable, milk, wine, and or honey. The gods supposedly “absorbed the essence” of the offerings. This was to satisfy the gods. One example of how the ancient Egyptians devoted the majority of their life to religion (making them the most religious settlement ever), especially the afterlife, is that they believed that once one perished, after the complex process of mummification, jid ot her soul would travel to the Duat or the Underworld. One’s mummy was buried with survival tools because if his or her heart was not pure and eaten by a crocodile warrior in the Duat, they would live an eternal afterlife. Worshipping gods and goddesses through rituals was crucial because it directly linked itself to ancient Egyptian everyday