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Researched by Jennifer R.
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Ancient Egyptians were some of the first people to
become civilized. They were also some of the first people to establish
religion and burial. They believed in many gods, and their gods helped
explain how the earth was made, why and how the sun came up in the morning
and went down at night and much more. They originated mummification, which
is a process where a person dies, then they remove that person’s internal
organs replace where the organs were with sawdust, and then they wrap that
person in linen. And that is a quick breeze through Ancient Egyptians and
there beliefs.
There are many different gods in the Ancient Egyptian
world. The Ancient Egyptians "developed" gods (during the 4th dynasty,
around 2700-2200 BC) to explain the world around them. Such as explaining
how the sun came up…Re’ (RAH) the sun god would get in the night boat and
sail across the earth and the sun would come up and vise versa with the
night boat.
Here are some of the more important gods…Re’ the
sun god, Isis the god of birth or motherhood, Osirus the god of the dead,
Hourus son of Isis and Osirus, Ptah, Set the desert god and brother of
Isis, Osirus, and Nepthys, Nepthys sister of Isis, Osirus, and Set, Thoth
god of writing and learning, Anubis the god of mummification, Hathor, Amun-re’
and many, many more. Many of the gods had human bodies and animal heads.
Take Anubis for example, he has a human body and a jackal’s head. Many
of these gods had children. Such as Isis and Osirus they have Hourus the
falcon headed god and Hourus had four kids. Hapi, Qebsenuel, Imseti, and
Duamutef which were all guardians of the canopic jars. Gods were very important
to the Egyptians.
The underworld was where Ancient Egyptians believed
they would go when they died. Osirus was the god of the underworld. The
Egyptians believed that a person had either a Ka or a Ba inside of them
and when the person died the Ka or Ba would be released, however it would
have to have an exact look alike of itself or it would die, that’s why
they preserve mummies. A Ka was a twin of the person who died and it was
the person’s soul until the person died. The Ka would need a well-preserved
mummy or a statue of the person that died. The Ka was not allowed to go
out of the pyramid until the afterlife. The Ba was a small bird with the
head of the person who died. It was allowed to leave the pyramid and frequently
brought back a candle. If the Ka or Ba survived into the afterlife they
would be judged, this means that Anubis, the god of mummification would
lead the dead man’s Ka or Ba to have their heart weighed. There Anubis
would weigh your heart and if you had a heavy heart then the devourer of
the dead would eat your heart and your Ka or Ba would not survive, but
if you had a light heart then you would go to see Osirus, the god of the
dead. Thoth, the god of writing, would write this down on papyrus reed.
If you were good when you went to see Osirus he’d accuse you of various
different crimes and you would say if you committed these crimes or not
and if you told the truth he’d write true of speech and you would go on
to the rest of the underworld of lakes of fire, executioners, torturers,
and monsters, where you would need different spells and hymns to defeat
these horrible things. These spells all put together are called the book
of the dead, the underworld was another very important part of Ancient
Egyptians lives.
The Egyptians mummified mummies to preserve them
for the Ka and the Ba. But also so spells could not be used against the
mummy in the afterlife. After death the body was taken to the embalmers.
They cleaned and shaved most of the body hair as an act of purification.
They left the facial hair and head hair. They cut along the left side of
the abdomen and took out the internal organs. Sometimes they broke a bone
behind their nose to enable them to remove the brain with a hook through
their nose. Then they filled the body with sawdust and wrapped it in linen.
They then placed all the internal organs in four canopic jars. Hapi, the
baboon headed god, who was a canopic jar, was to watch over the lungs,
Quebesnuel, the falcon headed god, was a canopic jar, and he was to look
over the intestines, Imseti, the human god, was a canopic jar, and he protected
the liver, and Duamutef, the jackal headed god, who was also a canopic
jar was, to be with the stomach. After the embalming was done Anubis was
to come and check over the body. When it was time for the burial the family
put food, cloths, jewlery, and sometimes even pets and servants to accompany
the dead man in the afterlife. Then the family hired mourners to come and
throw dust in their hair and cry at the funeral. Then a man who was wearing
the mask of Anubis held up the coffin while the family cried the oldest
son burned incense, and the priests said spells and preformed the opening
of the mouth ceremony, which would enable the mummy to eat in the afterlife.
The Ancient Egyptians had a system of writing called
hieroglyphics. It was a series of symbols represent letters, things or
words. Here is the Egyptian alphabet a vulture made the sound A as in AH,
an arm and hand made the sound A as in BARK, a foot made the sound B as
in BAT, a placenta made the sound CH as in LOCH Ness Monster, an animal
belly makes the sound CK as in LOCK, a rope makes the sound CH as in CHAIR,
a hand makes the sound D as in DIRT, a snake DJ as in EDGE, two reed leaves
make the sound EE as in SEE, a horned snake makes the sound F as in FAT,
a stool makes the sound G as in GOLD, a courtyard makes the sound H as
in HUT, a twisted flax makes the sound H as in HA, a reed leaf makes the
sound I as in SIT, a basket with a handle makes the sound K as in KITTEN,
an owl makes the sound M as in MUMMY, water makes the sound N as in NO,
a mat makes the sound P as in PUPPY, a hillside makes the sound QU as in
QUICK, a folded cloth and a door bolt makes the sound S as in SIT, a pool
makes the sound SH as in SHOE, a loaf of bread makes the sound T as in
TART, a baby quail makes the sound W as in WON, and two reed leaves make
the sound Y as in YES.
The Egyptians told stories to entertain as well as to keep themselves
busy and to explain the world around them. Here is a story about the first
nine gods.
Shu and Tefnut were the first children of
the sun god Re’ they married and had twins. The oldest twin’s name was
Geb and he was the god of the earth and the other twin was Nut who was
the goddess of the sky. Geb and Nut loved each other and hugged each other
for many years. The sky embraced the earth and nothing could live because
there was no space.
Soon Re’ told Shu, Nut and Geb’s father, to separate the sky from the
earth so things could live and grow. Shu the god of air stepped on Geb
and held him underneath feet and he lifted Nut high above Geb. But Nut
was pregnant so Re’ cursed her so she could not give birth to her baby
on any day of the year. Then Re’ decided to make other things. One of these
things was Thoth the god of writing. Thoth looked up at Nut and felt sorry
for her. So he invented the game of draughts with time as the stake. Thoth
won five days with the game. Normally the year was three hundred and sixty
days long but since Thoth won five days the year became three hundred and
sixty five days long. So Nut could give birth to her children on these
days. On the first day she had Osirus, on the second day she bore Haroeris,
on the third day came Set, on the fourth day she had Isis and on the last
day she had Nepthys.
Osirus and Isis were married. As were Set
and Nepthys but they never loved each other. Isis was brave and did magic
while Nepthys was wise and gentle. Osirus was attractive while Set was
ugly and coldhearted and couldn't forgive Osirus for being destined to
be king. Re’ with all his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren
was very happy. Last Re’ created plants, beast, and man. That was the story
of the nine gods and how the earth was formed.
Here is a story that explains some things but entertains
as well. It’s called the murder of Osirus. Re’ made many children and when
he made Osirus he made him the king of Egypt. Set was jealous for he wanted
to be king. Set decided to murder Osirus. He held a large banquet and at
the banquet Set started talking about a marvelous chest that he had gotten.
So he got everyone drunk and called for the chest. The guards brought the
chest out and set said that anyone who could fit perfectly in the chest
could have it. Many people tried to lie down in it but they were either
to short or to tall. Set knew that Osirus was the only man that could fit
in the chest because he paid one of Osirus’s servants to find out Osirus’s
measurements and Set had made the chest according to the his measurements.
When all of the other people had failed they all asked Osirus to try, and
being the trusting man Osirus was he lie down in the box.
Everyone saw that he fit exactly. Suddenly the lid
to the chest was slammed down over Osirus and the bolts were nailed in.
Set sealed the chest with lead and Osirus died. Then Set’s guards took
the chest and threw it in the Nile River hoping it would drift out to the
ocean and never ever be seen again. Then Set told a horrible lie that Osirus
had suddenly died in his sleep and crowned himself king.
Isis was very sad when she heard the news
so she cut off some of her hair and put on widow’s clothes. Then she went
out to look for her husband’s body. She went to many far off villages asking
around for her husband’s body she heard many different stories but learned
nothing helpful, finally she talked to some kids who had seen the chest
thrown into the river and floating downstream. Goddess Isis followed that
branch of the river until it met the ocean.
Every couple days she found someone who had
seen the chest floating north so she went north. Isis left Egypt and soon
came to the kingdom of King Byblos. There people were talking of nothing
but a large tree that had sprung up near the shore of the river.
Osirus’s coffin had drifted into the roots of the great tree and was tangled
in them. The king’s body strengthened the tree and it grew in one night
into a very tall well-rounded tree. When King Byblos heard this he ordered
his carpenters to cut down the tree and use it to build a pillar for his
palace. So the carpenters did as they were told and cut down the tree and
no one thought that a god's body would be tangled in its roots.
When Isis heard about the tree she marched to the
city of Byblos and sat down next to a fountain. When some maids of the
queen came out to draw water from the fountain they asked Isis who she
was and she told them she was an Egyptian hairdresser and she did the maids
hair and breathed on their skin to make them smell marvelous. When the
maids went back into the palace everyone asked who did their wonderful
hairstyles and who made the divine perfume they were wearing and they told
them about the Egyptian woman and the queen sent for her. The goddess plaited
the queen’s hair and the queen loved it and asked Isis to stay at the palace
for a little while and be her hairdresser. Queen Athenais grew fond of
Isis and made her the nurse to the young prince of Byblos.
Every night when the palace was asleep Isis
went to the room with pillar with Osirus’s coffin in it and cried over
him. In the day she watched the baby prince. Isis loved the baby prince
and decided to make him immortal. One night she took the baby to the room
with the pillar in it and started a fire. She chanted spells and laid the
baby in the fire. The fire burned away the prince’s mortality but Isis
turned herself into a swallow and flew around the pillar. The crackling
fire awaked Queen Athenais so she got up to see what it was.
When she saw her baby in the flames she screamed
and at once Isis turned back into a woman told the queen who she was, and
told her that now her child would never be immortal. The queen felt horrible
and asked Isis how she could make it up to her. Isis asked if she could
have the pillar and the queen told her she could. So Isis took the pillar
out of the room and called for the carpenters to cut Osirus’ coffin out
of the pillar. Isis was given the best boat the king had and the coffin
was carried aboard.
When they got to the Egyptian coast Isis had the coffin taken
ashore and opened. Osirus’ body looked just like it was asleep and Isis
hugged it crying unstoppably. Isis closed the coffin and set sail again.
Until she got to Lower Egypt. One night she was sleeping and Set came to
Lower Egypt and found the coffin. He was afraid so he took Osirus’ body
and cut it into fourteen pieces then he threw the pieces all over Egypt,
sure Isis would never find them all.
When Isis found out that her husband’s body was
gone she called for her sister Nepthys to help her find her husband pieces.
Even though Set was her husband she loved Isis and Osirus more so they
set out to find Osirus. For many years the desperate Goddesses looked for
the pieces finding one of them every once in a while. Finally all of the
pieces were found and Isis worked many spells to make Osirus whole again.
Isis tried every spell she knew to make Osirus come back to life and she
was able to make him become alive long enough to make her promised son.
Then Osirus was really dead but his spirit lived on and he was made god
of the underworld. Soon after Isis bore her falcon-headed child and named
him Hourus. And Isis lived on raising him until he would be old enough
to avenge Osirus.
There are many types of curses in the Egyptian
world. There are tomb curses which basically say if you awaken this mummy
you’ll die, there are the magic text curses which are like the book of
the dead and all the spells and hymns inside of it and like the writings
on tomb walls, and there are the "beware" curses that say don’t do this
or don’t do that or something really bad will happen to you.
The Egyptians had tough times throughout their
lives so they decided that they needed someone to make decisions so they
elected a pharaoh. The very first pharaoh was King Menes also known as
Narmer. The last pharaoh was King Tutankhamen. The pharaohs ruled in dynasties
and periods. There were twenty-one dynasties and lots of periods. The periods
were the early dynastic period, the old kingdom period, the first intermediate
period, the middle kingdom period, the second intermediate period, the
new kingdom period, the third intermediate period, the late dynastic period,
the Greek period, the roman conquest period, and the Moslem conquest period.
King Tutankhamen was probably the most well known pharaoh of them all.
He started his reign at age nine and died around when he was seventeen
or eighteen. Another pharaoh was Akhenaten he was another well-known pharaoh
because he banished many of the gods. King Tutankhamen brought back all
these gods when he ruled and Akhanaten became hated and all of his temples
were torn down. Another pharaoh was Ramses the great. He ruled over Egypt
for sixty-seven years. He built more monuments and more statues than any
of the other pharaohs.
The Egyptians had many priests. One of the
more famous ones was Imotep, the high priest of the sun god. He saved many
people’s lives and performed many curses. He also designed the very first
pyramid. He was eventually turned into a god. There were many other priests
also.
Egypt had a very long line of history stating
from the very first dynasty to the very last period. Before there were
ever pharaohs in Egypt, in the early stone age people in Egypt lived in
areas high above sea level near the Nile from the Delta to Aswan. Beginning
in 5000 B.C. settlers came to Egypt from Palestine and Syria, from the
Libyan tribes, and Nubia in the South. Before 3000 BC traders from Iraq
also came to Egypt, and some stayed. Soon these settlers began to grow
crops and domesticate cattle. They built villages. Then they decided they
needed someone to run all of their villages, so they elected a pharaoh.
And then they started the dynasties which went on for about 4,000 years
until the very last period. Egypt was invaded by foreigners several times
in 1000 BC The invaders included the Sudanese, the Persians, and the Macedonians
under Alexander the Great. In 30 BC Egypt was passed into Roman hands and
slowly churches replaced the temples. The Arab invasion of the 7th century
AD turned Egypt into a Muslim country, how it is today.
Many people predict that there will be many
more tombs found and many more mummies, old jewelry, gold, and a lot more
things found in the future in Egypt. Egyptologists hope to find many more
old pharaohs that they have heard of in ancient writings.
That was the report on Ancient Egypt and it’s religion
and believes. I hope you enjoyed it because I know I sure did.
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