Similarities Between Ancient Egyptian Gods And Afterlife

Nonetheless, during the 12th Dynasty, there was a temple built for Amun’s worship and toward the end of the 18th Dynasty, Amun’s status increased even more and he became known as “…the great royal deity who was “Father of the Gods” and ruler of Egypt and the people of its empire (Rosalie 104).

Ancient Egyptian religion was very different than most others. Ancient Egyptians were Polytheistic and they had over 4,000 gods that they worshipped. The most common gods that were worshipped were the Sun god, Re (The Sun god has many other names as well.) and Osiris, the god of the dead and ruler of the underworld. They believed that Re sailed across the sky in a boat.

In ancient Egyptian the relationship between humans and deities developed a well-established relationship seen throughout area during the time period. The people believed in divine power whether it was Ptah, Atum, or both. They were respectable, obedient and fearful of the deities because they believed the deities to have immense power. The relationship between the two was dynamic. The relationship between the divine and humans in ancient Egypt is analogous to a parent-child relationship, in that the deities were believed to have created the humans, the humans were obedient to the deities much like a child is to their parent, and finally, that the deities provide protection and shelter for humans when things go wrong.

Amenhotep IV commenced his reign in 1353 BCE and was of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. When Amenhotep IV came to power, the priests of Amun had been gradually growing in power and were almost equal with the royal house in terms of wealth and influence. During the 5th year of his reign he outlawed the ancient religion which was centered on the worship and offerings to many Gods in particular those of the composite deity Ra-Amun-Horus (Ra- daytime sun, Amun- underworld sun, - Horus- the sunrise). He then changed his name to Akhenaten, proclaiming himself to be the living incarnation of the all-powerful, single deity known as ‘Aten’ (The visible sun). Traditionally, as described in the Coffin Texts of the Middle kingdom, the ‘Aten’ was the name for the sun-disk and in the "Story of Sinuhe", Amenemhat I is described to have soared into the sky, uniting with the Aten, his creator. The early stages of "Atenism" was as a henotheistic religion (devotion to a single god but recognising the existence of others), but quickly developed into a monotheistic system where the worship of all other Gods was banned, including the making and worship of idols, allowing only the rayed sun-disk to be displayed as a representation of ‘God’, for the ‘Aten' was the sole deity. Ordinary people could not worship the Aten

The Egyptians believed in an afterlife similar to the Romans. This was that the afterlife was just a continuation of the life on Earth. Both civilizations believed that there was more to be found beyond death. This is why they both cared so much about the way the dead person was buried. Unlike Rome, Egypt started to mummify people so they could be preserved. Although, mummification was not the only burial ritual. Bodies were also placed in coffins, much like the Romans. It was once believed that the Romans did not care about the outcome of a person once they died. This is entirely untrue because their funerary practices and ceremonies were well thought out and showed planing for the inevitable afterlife. This was shown through the exaggerated time the family spent on the funeral and how the ceremonies displayed thoughts of

We follow the contemporary religions because we believe that they talk about the real almighty god(s). Therefore, without any second thought, many of us ignore the significance and the influence of the ancient gods and religions in our lives. Most religious people will strongly deny the existence of ancient gods because if otherwise, they would be in war with their own religious beliefs. Therefore, without worrying about the truth, people assume that everything that contradicts with their beliefs must be false. Think about the god(s) you currently believe in. Recall some of the core beliefs of your religion. It is possible that our religious beliefs would have convinced us that the ancient gods did not exist or that they were false gods. While

Did you know that there were over 2,000 gods and goddesses in Ancient Egypt? Some gods had the body of a human and the head of an animal. When I read that, I was shocked! I would’ve never guessed that there would be so many gods in Egypt. In addition, I found the idea of an animal head stuck to a human body disgusting! I just didn’t believe this, so I decided to find out for myself.

The ancient Egyptians had specific views on the afterlife, which they showed in their art and architectural work. They are noted for their extensive beliefs regarding the soul of the dead that they would spend time and effort in constructing quality funerary objects. Funerary objects of which those who were alive would be conscious of, especially since the objects were involved in rituals the living would take part in. During the middle kingdom, Egyptians would do a pilgrimage to Abydos in upper Egypt to participate in a festival that honored Osiris, God of the underworld. Stelae would be displayed in chapels in the city that partook in the celebration of Osiris. (http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544320) Amongst those stelae was the Stela of the Steward Mentuwoser (figure 1), which depicted a funerary banquet to an honorary official during the second intermediate period of the twelve dynasty. Senusret I presented this painted limestone stela to Mentuwoser while he was alive in order to show his appreciation for his work, and to ensure him that the presence of his image during a festival would bring upon nourishment and rebirth of his ka, an individuals spiritual entity.

Amun-Re is often referred to as the most important and powerful god of Ancient Egypt. Amun-Re was the god of the sun. “Amun-Re is the main name of the sun god, but also has three different names in which describe the phases of life that Amun-Re goes through each day.”(Budge, Pg. 92) When examining the ancient Egyptian god Amun-Re, four main points must be understood, including: the origin of Amun-Re, the characteristics of Amun-Re, how Amun-Re was worshiped, and how Amun-Re impacted Egyptian life.

My first Egyptian god i researched is Khepri. Khepri was the god of creation, the movement of the sun, and rebirth. Khepri’s appearance was a man with the head of a scarab beetle. The scarab beetle lays eggs in piles of dung and then they roll the ball of dung until the eggs are ready to hatch, when the beetles were ready to hatch they crawled out of the ball of dung. The ancient Egyptians did not know where these beetles came from, they thought they came out of no where. This is in accordance with the belief that there gods came from out of no where. In some ancient Egyptian stories Khepri was connected with the ancient god named Atum. He was also connected with the god of sun Ra.

Egyptians revered Ra as the god who created everything. the Sun God, Ra was a powerful deity and a central god of the Egyptian pantheon. The ancient Egyptians worshiped Ra more than any other god and pharaohs often connected themselves with Ra in their efforts to be seen as the earthly embodiment of the Sun God.. Although Ra was highly revered and devoutly worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, there is a story to suggest he eventually grew weak. In the Legend of Ra, Isis and the Snake, as Ra grew old.

Osiris was one of the most famous Egyptian gods. This was because he was the god of the dead and was the God who opened up the door to the Afterlife. The afterlife was a real place in the eyes of the Ancient Egyptians. It was a heavenly place where you would live for eternity. This was a very complex place that has certain procedures that needed to be held for the pharaohs rebirthing and eternity.

Lucas Chen Professor Chrissanthos World History 10 July 15, 2015 From the death and beyond and back- Egyptian belief of afterlife In the year 1999, one of my favorite childhood movie, the mummy, came out, and it was a blockbuster. Modern archeologist and society have always been attracted by Egyptian culture. Not considering the impact of Egyptian empire culture in history, people are interest about Egyptian culture because of the magnificent pyramid and mysterious mummies. From the view of people today, these archeological discovery are for amusement, but for the ancient Egyptians these are what they live for.

Egypt is considered to be the origin of all religions that are followed to this day. Historians have researched the development of Ancient Egyptian religion for centuries, and noticed that there are many correlations to the Christian religion. Questions have arisen as to how true or divine the Christian religion is believed to be or is it just a copy off of the Ancient Egyptian religion? Observing the relations or similarities between the two religions, the essential ideas of Christianity came primarily from the Egyptian religion, examples such as the life events, teachings, and the Ten

In societies around the world people follow a certain religion. They believe either in a single deity or many deities. In Ancient Greek and Egypt they believed in many deities. Many included females. Ancient Egyptian and Greek societies had similar female goddesses despite distance. But although they had similarities they also have differences between them.