The Ancient Egyptian civilizations were extremely complex, highly organized, and self-sustaining in order to be prosperous. The pharaohs of Egypt, the Egyptian religion, and the writing styles of Egypt sculpted Egypt into what we know today. The leaders of Egypt were called pharaohs, and each pharaoh had his or her own way of ruling over Egypt. The pharaohs controlled Egyptian religion, but the temples were taken care of by the priests. Hieroglyphics, the writing style for the Egyptians, was used in both the lives of the pharaohs and the priests. The pharaohs of Egypt ruled during the Pharaonic Times. Although it is unclear who the first pharaoh was, historians do know that the first pharaoh was from the Old Kingdom (James). In order …show more content…
From the beginning of the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians were a polytheistic society, meaning that they worshiped multiple gods. “The pharaoh was believed to be descended from the gods. He acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods, and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offering so that they could maintain order in the universe” (Religion). Egyptian religion was centered around the pharaoh. Temples that were built were a place for the people to worship the gods. The people believed that the gods lived in the temples, therefore only the pharaoh and the high priest were allowed to enter the temple (James). The Egyptians religion was set in stone by the pharaoh, who told the people what gods they were allowed to worship. So, when Amehnhotep IV or Ahkenaten came into power, he changed the way that the Egyptians worshiped. As mentioned above, Ahkenaten closed down all of the temples, built a temple for the Aten, and forced all of the people to worship one god. Ahkenaten was the first and only pharaoh to convert his people to worship one god. However, it was short lived. When Ahkenaten died, his son, Tutankhamen, closed down the temple for the Aten and reopened the old temples for the original gods