Ancient Egyptian Religion incorporated so many different aspects; mythology, spiritualism, science, magic, medicine psychology and herbology. With so many different facets, Ancient Egyptian religion was completely integrated into the lives of every single Egyptian. The Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses made up a pantheon of over 2000, and they were all worshipped differently.
Some of the most popular Egyptian deities were Amun, Isis, Osiris, Horus, Bastet, Anubis and Hathor who were all worshipped in temples. However, other popular deities such as Ma'at, Seshat, Heka and Bes didn't have temples constructed for them, which meant religious observance of these gods was a personal and individual affair.
The complete integration of Egyptian Religion into the everyday lives of the Ancient Egyptians and the worship of many different gods for many different things meant that the disruption of the system by Akhenaten (a period is now known as the Amarna Period) would have been very upsetting.
Upholding Ma'at, or universal harmony, the Egyptians made sure to live a peaceful life in order to move on to a peaceful afterlife in the field of reeds. To move on to paradise after death, one's heart must weigh less than the white feather of truth on the scales of justice, but if its heavier your heart would be thrown to the ground and eaten by Ammut. If it was lighter, it would move on to the field of reeds and live eternally in an idealized version of life on earth.
-TIMESTAMPS- 0:00 Introduction 0:46 What was Egyptian Religion? 3:16 How were the Gods Worshipped? Formal State Religious Observances 6:25 Disruption to the Hierarchy 7:35 How were the Gods Worshipped? Informal Daily Religious Observances 10:09 Belief in the Afterlife 11:22 The 'Gateway' Sin 12:53 Images and Attributions
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Did you know that the Egyptian pantheon was huge? The ancient Egyptians worshipped over 2,000 deities.
Hello and welcome to Ancient History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today we're going to explore
the way religion was practiced in ancient Egypt and introduce the concept of the afterlife.
The religion of ancient Egypt was vast and multifaceted and I'm definitely not going to
try and explain it all today but introduce some of the main gods, the way that the Egyptians
interacted with different gods and introduce the concept of the afterlife. If you like this video
don't forget that the easiest way to support this channel is to give it a like and hit the
subscribe button. Egyptian religion was more than the modern understanding of religion as the belief
in a higher power and life after death. Back in ancient Egypt religion incorporated practices and
beliefs which people today would associate with mythology, science, medicine, spiritualism,
psychiatry, magic and herbology. Religion was based on the concept of universal harmony between
people and their gods, emphasizing gratitude and relying on what we would call magic, personified
by the god Hekka. Hekka was present in the act of creation and was the underlying principle for
Egyptian religion. He was the power which enabled the gods to perform their functions and allowed
human beings to commune with their gods. Religion was completely incorporated into the lives of the
Egyptians no matter their social class and informed every aspect of their daily routine. The gods of
ancient Egypt were perceived both as lords of creation and as familiar friends who were interested
in helping and guiding the people. They were seen not as deities who lived far off in the heavens
but gods who lived amongst the people in their everyday interactions. Trees were considered homes
for the gods and goddesses and were associated with mothering, protection and nurture. The goddess
Mart was one of the most important goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon. Mart personified the concept
of harmony and people were expected to honor and uphold this principle and recognize that their
actions affected others as well as the operation of the universe. By honoring the principle of Mart
or harmony, one would align themselves with the gods and with the forces of light against the
forces of darkness and chaos, an important alignment for the soul when one passed on to the next life.
Some of the most popular deities were Amun, Isis, Osiris, Horus, Bastet, Anubis and Hathor
and they all had temples. Some other popular deities were Mart, Bess, the dwarf god of fertility,
Hekka and Seshat, the goddess of writing and measurements, however they did not have temples.
Mart was invoked when they crowned a new king and legitimized his rule. Seshat at the opening
of a new temple and Hekka and Bess to ward off evil spirits and to bring good luck. Religious
festivals were a part of the daily lives of the Egyptian people with some large festivals such as
the beautiful festival of the Wadi for Amun and smaller festivals celebrated by towns or honoring
lesser gods. All classes of Egyptian society would attend religious festivals, the poor, the wealthy,
the ruling class and the slaves, as religion was intertwined with everybody's lives. The ancient
Egyptian clergy did not preach or conduct services but were responsible for the god in the temple.
Both men and women could be clergy and often women were priestesses for female deities
while men served males, although this wasn't always the case as can be seen with the god Amun
who was served by male priests and a powerful woman who held the title god's wife of Amun
and provided balance to the male high priest. Let's take a minute to introduce two of the most
important and recognizable deities of ancient Egypt, Amun and Isis. Amun was the ancient
Egyptian god of the sun and air and was considered the lord of all who encompassed every aspect of
creation. Amun had been growing in power in Thebes during the middle kingdom of Egypt between 2040
and 1782 BCE and after Atmosay I attributed his victory against the Hyksos to Amun,
linking him to the sun god Ra, he became Amun-Ra, creator of the universe and king of the gods.
In the new kingdom he became the most popular and widely venerated deity in Egypt and many temples
and monuments were constructed to him during that time. The goddess Isis however became the most
popular and enduring Egyptian deity whose worship extended as far as Europe. Isis was considered
the mother of every pharaoh and had many different names depending on what role she was fulfilling,
for example she was sati when she was delivering the yearly inundation of the Nile to fertilize
the land. She became the only Egyptian deity worshipped by everyone in Egypt and had both men
and women serving her. Her image was housed in a temple and people of Egypt were encouraged to
visit the temple and leave offerings and just like every other temple though only the priests
and priestesses were allowed to enter the sanctuary where the statue of the goddess resided.
Ancient Egyptian society was a hierarchy strictly established by divine will with the gods at the
This structure made sure that everyone knew their place in society and what their duties were and on
a daily basis dictated how people of different classes would address and interact with each
other. Social mobility was not encouraged because Mart, the universal harmony, was believed to be
reflected of this social structure and maintained the stability and balance. Just like the people
each god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon had their own specialty and each god and goddess played
an integral part in the people's everyday lives. This is why the choices of the pharaoh of the
18th dynasty of the new kingdom Akhenaten upset the norms of the Egyptian socio-religious structure
so greatly. During his reign which is known as the Amarna period Akhenaten moved the capital of Egypt
from Thebes to the city that he founded and named Akhetaten which is now known as Amarna or Tell el
Amarna. Akhenaten outlawed the old Egyptian religion, closed the temples, suppressed religious
practices and elevated the minor god of the sun disc Aten to supreme deity. No pharaoh before him
had told the Egyptians who to worship or how and he seems to have been pretty much hated for it.
His son the famous Tutankhamun did not share the same ideals as his father and reversed the edicts
and restored the old order. His later successor Horemheb tried to erase all evidence that
Akhenaten existed. Akhenaten's departure from tradition was so upsetting because of the nature
of Egyptian religious observance which was so ingrained in the lives of the people and was
conducted both in public and private rituals. In ancient Egypt all gods were honored but not all
gods were honored in the same way or to the same degree. There was a great diversity of worship
and much was conducted in the home in the way that the individual saw fit. The priests and
priestesses had the responsibility of the care of the statue of the deity they served and to keep
the temple and sanctuaries pure but they would not tell anybody how to worship any god. The people
believed that the gods had given them the most perfect land in the world and that they were owed
gratitude on a daily basis. Religious observance was therefore a personal individual thing. There
was communal religious worship during festivals but mostly people worshipped at shrines in their
own home. A reason to visit a temple was to ask for favors from gods or to deliver whatever
valuables had been promised for granting a favor. The gods were addressed with titles which could
show how familiar and informal their relationship to people could be. For example Hathor was known
as lady of the sycamore because she liked to hang out in sycamore trees and as lady of drunkenness
who was present at parties festivals and the after funeral feast where people would drink
a lot. We know these titles as well as the freedom people had to worship however they saw fit
from ostraca which are inscribed ceramic shards from broken pots found at places like the city
of bubastus sacred de bastet inscribed with different types of prayers offered in different
phrases suggesting each person had their own way of addressing the goddess ostraca with similar
inscriptions have been found at cemeteries and outside of temples suggesting that a general
understanding of how one approached a deity was a given but the way in which one expressed that
understanding was individual an example of the individual nature of egyptian religion is the
these women were thought to be able to see into the future and were instrumental in the healing
of physical emotional spiritual and psychological wounds and could answer questions on the afterlife
in ancient egypt the afterlife was a certainty when you died your soul would move on to another
plane leaving your body behind and you would hope for a merciful judgment and admittance
into eternal life in paradise the field of reeds which was an idealized version of one's life on
earth the principle of mart so important in life was also important after death when you died your
soul would make its way to the hall of truth and would make the negative confession which was all
the sins you did not commit in front of osiris toth anubis and the 42 judges then your heart
would be weighed on the scales of justice against the white feather of truth the feather of mart
if your heart was lighter you would continue to the field of reeds but if it was heavier
it would be thrown to the floor and devoured by the monster amut which resulted in the soul's
great death or non-existence the threat of non-existence was the greatest fear of the
ancient egyptians and one's best chance at avoiding that fate was having a heart made
light through gratitude it was believed that the sin of ingratitude led to all other kinds of
negative thoughts and behaviors by maintaining balance and harmony through gratitude and keeping
the heart as light as a feather one could enjoy a peaceful productive life on earth and look forward
to an eternal paradise after death as you can see religion played an important part in the
legitimized the rule of the king and formed the basis of social laws and social interactions
it also provided stability in life through the encouragement of harmony and balance and
provided comfort in dealing with mortality through the assurance of life after death
so do you see any correlations between the ancient egyptian religion and your faith
and do you think the egyptians vision of the afterlife influenced later visions of paradise
after death let us know down in the comments below if you like this video don't forget to
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