Ancient Polytheistic Religion Compared to Judaism Essay

Judaism and Christianity are key religions in the history of our world, and are still around today. Both of these religions are monotheistic, believing in only YHWH, the God of Abraham. However, if we look deeper, there are many more similarities and differences in these two religions. Some things that are comparable are their political figures, their holy works, and social beliefs.

Ancient Egypt is the origin to one of the most intricate belief systems in the world. This polytheistic religion was composed of various beliefs and rituals. Polytheistic means that they believed in many deities. All of which were linked to the common theme of immortality. Religion laid the foundation for all aspects of Egyptian lives, political structure, cultural achievement and art. Their religion consisted of up 2000 gods and goddess. Only some were worshiped universally throughout Egypt. They were often represented as being half human and half animal. As an example, the Egyptian god Anubis was half man and half jackal. He is associated with mummification and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. Egyptian religion was oriented toward people 's’ attainment of immortality signified by mummification/preservation of the dead.

The HIttites were one of the great empires of the Middle East during 1400- 1200 BC. THey rested within the lands of modern Turkey and Syria. They adopted some of the traditions of Mesopotamia (i.e. cuneiform writing). Widely known for their use and manufacturing of iron, the Hittites were also famous for their chariot building. The Hittite empire soon fell to the Assyrians.

Ancient Egyptian civilization was based on religion. Their belief in the rebirth after death became their driving force behind their funeral practices. Death was simply a temporary interruption, rather than an end to life, and that eternal life could be ensured by means of worship to the gods, preservation of the physical form thru mummification, substantial ceremonies and detailed burial policies and procedures. Even though many today have varying views of an afterlife, many of the funerary practices that originated in Egypt can be seen in present day funeral services.

The Ancient Egyptians everyday lives really showed through in their beliefs and religion. They were polytheistic and believed in over 2,000 gods including Re, the sun god, Osiris, the god of death, and Isis, the goddess of maternity who also resembled the ideal mother and wife. To them, their pharaohs were not just pharaohs, they were the actual gods themselves. They also believed in the afterlife. When they died it was really just a continuation of their regular life. The god Anubis weighed their souls, if it was lighter than a feather, they were free to pass into the afterlife, any heavier and the Devourer of Souls would eat it. The Egyptians would also mummify their pharaohs to preserve their bodies for the afterlife. The process was very

The Egyptians believed very much in life after death. As Taylor states in Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, “It is often observed that they appear to have devoted greater efforts and resources to preparing for the afterlife than to creating a convenient environment for living” (Taylor, 2001:12). The Egyptians viewed life on earth as one stage and death as the beginning of another. They believed that, “human existence did not end with death and that survival of the body played a part in the new life” (Taylor, 2001:12). One of the key elements in the Egyptian culture and religion was the preservation of the body. The body was the most important aspect because it was like a portal through which an individual could continue to live

Ancient Egyptians were polytheistic, which is the belief in more than one god. Every religion has its

Judaism and Christianity are both monotheistic religions, meaning they both believe in only one god.

Egypt had a different religion from Mesopotamia. While Egypt believed in the pharoahs and how they had eternal life, the Mesopotamians feared their gods they believed that everything bad came from their god. The egyptians started the process of mummification to preserve the bodies for the beginning of the afterlife, they would remove every organ from the body of the person and wrap them up, they placed the bodies in tombs and inside a pyramids. “On this tomb they would place something called a Negative Confession, which portrays the deceased person

Egyptians viewed the afterlife in a very positive way - they believed if they lived by the standards of “Ma’at”, they would end up in the “Happy Field of Food” or “Field of Offerings” in the afterlife. “Ma’at”, simply put, composed of acting in ways that are truthful, harmonious, moral, balanced, and orderly. In simple terms, Egyptians believed that if they acted with morality, they would have a happy afterlife with no hunger or pain. Mesopotamians had a much darker view of life after death: they believed they would spend eternity in the “House of Dust” with other tortured souls. Mesopotamian gods were not moral or truthful - they cheated, lied, stole, etc., and Mesopotamians believed that humans were created simply because the gods grew tired of working. Mesopotamians worshipped their gods because they believed if they worshipped enough, they may receive blessings or justice, but this was not guaranteed.

Egypt has the Nile river, the pyramids. But does anyone think about the thoughts and actions of the people except for boring old historians? The people of Egypt had a specific way of worshipping their gods and goddesses, called polytheism. A certain goddess or god such as Bastet were important to the people and their decisions. They also had an interesting way of preserving the dead, called mummification.

The life of the Egyptians was centered around religion and what would face them in the afterlife. To sum up the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians, it consisted of the belief that they would freely be able to walk the same earth and that the use of rituals from the book of the dead would help to do so. The Egyptians once believed in an afterlife of luxury, similar to their

The most notable feature of their religion was the aspect of the afterlife. Egyptians believed that with proper burial and mummification, you were to go on to the afterlife and live among the gods and the dead. People worshipped the gods regularly by providing animal sacrifices and attending services carried out by a priest. Most Egyptian portrayals of gods was a human body with animal head such as the one shown of Anubis (above) . Osiris (left) is the sun god of Egypt and they believed that every pharaoh was part of Osiris and would live with him in the afterlife.

Judaism as well as its offshoot and formation into the Christian religion both place great emphasis on the notion of their monotheistic God as revealed in the early scriptures. To them God has revealed Himself as the one Lord of all. Evident in the first Commandment that was

At the end of the Second Temple period, many sects of Judaic belief began arising with the growing imposition of the Hellenistic beliefs of the conquering Greeks. Some of these sects arose in accordance with the newly prominent Hellenism, and others formed strongly in opposition to these foreign beliefs. The three main groups that appeared during this period were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The biggest conflicts arose very prominently between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.