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Ancient Egypt, The Sun, And Egyptian Beliefs In The World

Decent Essays
Ancient Egypt is one of the earliest civilizations in the world. Beginning with their Predynastic Period in circa 5000 BCE, the Egyptians began to cultivate their way of life. Independently ruling until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, the Egyptians continued to influence and be influenced by other cultures, like the Greeks and Romans. However, unlike the Greeks, the Egyptians incorporated their religious thinking into everyday life, believing that the sky was the heavens and the sun, moon, and stars were gods. During the thousands of years the ancient Egyptians lived, they developed calendars and constellations that inspired later calendars until the calendar that is used today was created. The ancient Egyptians used astronomy to create calendars, believing that the sun and the stars were their gods. The Egyptians did not believe that the sun and stars were bodies in space, instead believing that they were gods that lived in the sky during the day and died each time they left the sky. The sun, moon, and stars would travel through their afterlife, called the Duat, and be born again each time they reappeared (Parker, 55-56). They had the same constellations as the Greeks, except they believed them to be Egyptian gods (Chatley, 123-124). For example, the Sun was believed to be the god Ra, and Sirius was the goddess Sopdet or Sothis with her appearance coinciding with the rise and fall of the Nile (Parker, 52). The planets that are visible from Earth were
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