Organized religion was started in Mesopotamia and Egypt over five thousand years ago. Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world-views and ethics that brings a group of people to give a purpose to their lives. Art is a medium through which we are able to see the way that a group of people lived their lives and what things were important to them. Mesopotamians were very interested in ensuring that they would grow their crops successfully and they did so by praying to and worshiping their gods. We can see this through their art and architecture that was dedicated to their gods. The Egyptians were very focused on ensuring that their loved ones lived successful afterlives and this can be seen in the tombs an the methods of burial. We can …show more content…
Although we have only found the mummy of one pharaoh, we have found many tombs and many mummies of other Egyptians. When looking at the Funerary Temple of Hapshetsut and King Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus we are able to really see how important it was in Egypt’s belief systems to honor the dead and give them a proper afterlife (Wolinski). Many tombs were filled with jewels, clothes, and even mummified animals. All of these things were thought to be used by the dead in their afterlife and ensure that their souls would remain happy and bless those who were still alive. We can see the importance of the kings and pharaohs for the Egyptian people through their religion in the ways that they did all that they could to ensure that the dead lived happily. The idea of afterlife is important to the Egyptians because in this time period people had very short life spans, therefore they valued the idea that they would be given another opportunity to live their lives that lasted longer than their earth