Egyptian gods, religion, and afterlife explained

One of the things we love about studying ancient Egypt is just how weird and different they are to ourselves and our society. This is probably most clearly seen as something like their religious beliefs. Religion appears to have played an important part in the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Many temples, shrines and religious items have survived from their time, which gives us the impression that they sincerely believed that supernatural forces played an important role in their day-to-day lives. In this video, we'll explain the key features of ancient Egyptian religion, explore some of the most important gods, explain how temples functioned and examine what they believed about the afterlife. One of the most obvious things to note about Egyptian society was that it was polytheistic. This means that they believed in and worshipped more than one god. In fact, there are so many gods worshipped by the Egyptians, we still don't know exactly how many gods there were. We have evidence for hundreds of different deities. Some of the names of these gods are still well known today, including Ra, Osiris, Amun, Isis, Anubis and Horus. In fact, even the pharaoh himself was considered to be one of the gods, namely Horus, during his time in power. Then, after a pharaoh's death, Egyptians believed he became another god, Osiris, in the afterlife. Each of the Egyptian gods were considered to have power over different parts of the natural world. For example, the god Ra was associated with the sun. Other Egyptian gods were considered to be sacred to a particular city, village or region in Egypt. For example, the god Amun was considered to be the main god of the city of Thebes. Unlike us, the ancient Egyptians didn't separate religion from everyday life. Instead, they believed that the gods existed everywhere. When they felt the wind on their skin, they thought it was a god. When they saw the water of the Nile, they believed it was also a god. Therefore, religion and religious belief was central to their existence. Egyptians believed that the gods were responsible for the outcome of the seasons, the harvests, and even how well people's lives turned out. They thought it was important, therefore, that the gods were kept happy by regular sacrifices and religious rituals. One of the things that strikes us as odd about the Egyptian gods is that they are often pictured as half-human, half-animal beings. It seems that the Egyptians believed that the character traits of certain gods were best illustrated using particular animals. For example, if a god was considered dangerous or powerful in war, they would be shown as part lion. As a result, animals such as birds, lions, cats, crocodiles, and dogs were some of the most commonly depicted. Depictions of the Egyptian gods were everywhere, on temples, tombs, palaces, in letters and official inscriptions. As a result, we know that some of the gods were more important and popular than others. Here are just some of the most common and influential gods. Horus was the god of the sky and hunting. While the pharaoh was alive, he was considered to be Horus himself. This god was depicted as half-man, half-falcon. Osiris was the god of mummification and the underworld. He was painted as a man with green skin and dressed in mummy wrappings. The god Ra was associated with the sun. He was often shown as a half-man, half-falcon creature. One of the most important gods during the New Kingdom was Amun. He was the god of the air, and his sacred city was Thebes. He was shown as a man with two large feathers on his head. The goddess Maat was concerned with issues of justice and social order. She was drawn as a woman with a white feather on her head. Pharaohs took great care to show that they honoured Maat. Sekhmet was one of the war gods. She was shown as half-woman, half-lioness. Anubis was the god of the underworld and mummification, often depicted with a jackal head. Thoth was the god of writing, wisdom and learning. His imagery showed him with the head of an ibis, and he was a favourite god of the ancient Egyptian scribes. Finally, Hathor was the goddess of love and beauty. Painted as a half-woman, half-cow figure, she was the most important fertility goddess throughout Egyptian history. Due to the central importance of the gods to the everyday lives of the ancient Egyptians, temples and priests became important elements in Egyptian society. It was believed that the religious ceremonies and yearly festivals would keep the gods happy with humanity, and in return, they would guarantee the success of Egypt. Young men would enter the priesthood and study for many years to ensure that they understood all of the things they needed to do to please the gods. Aside from the sacrifices and prayers, some of the most experienced priests had the honour of treating the statues of the gods like real people. This involved bathing the god as well as dressing and feeding it. The more experienced the priests were, the higher they rose through the ranks of the priesthood. Each of the major temples had a high priest who was the most powerful of them all, and who often met with the pharaoh on important occasions. Theoretically, the pharaoh himself was thought to be the high priest of all the temples in Egypt, and that by his participation in religious rituals, the gods would be most pleased. However, the pharaoh could not physically be present in all the temples every day, so the high priest acted on his behalf. All Egyptian towns had many temples dedicated to a range of different gods. Since each god was important to particular parts of a person's life, or was linked with something in nature, people wanted to be able to worship as many gods as they could, when they wanted to. The most famous temple in all of ancient Egypt was the temple of Karnak, located in the city of Thebes. Many pharaohs over many centuries poured a fortune into expanding and beautifying this temple, in order to honour the god Amun. Eventually, Karnak became so large and economically powerful, that it was essentially an entire city by itself, run by the priesthood of Amun. Egyptians seemed to have taken a particular interest in what would happen to them after death. Based upon the decorations in many tombs, it appears that they believed that the afterlife was similar to the life a person lived on earth. For example, many paintings depicting the next world show people farming, playing sports and relaxing with family, just as when they were alive on earth. The Egyptians believed that how someone acted during their life determined how likely they were to survive an initial judgment by the gods. Those that were honest in life were considered to be the most likely to enter into a positive afterlife. However, the Egyptians believed that in order to live after death, the body of the dead person had to be preserved. This is why mummification was developed, as a way of protecting the body from decay. On top of this, they thought that the body still needed food and drink in the afterlife, plus tools and servants as well as many other items. Due to this, the ancient Egyptians developed the habit of burying people with as many goods as possible, just in case they needed it in the afterlife. The Egyptian people believed in a great judgment scene that would occur when someone died, where the gods met the deceased person in a place called the Hall of Truth. During this judgment, Anubis, the god of the dead, would weigh the heart of the dead person on one side of a set of scales. On the other side of the scale was a feather of Maat. If the feather weighed more than the heart, it indicated that the person led a good life, because their heart was light from having no guilt or blame stored up from their time on earth. As a result, the person could enter the afterlife. However, if the heart was heavier than the feather of Maat, the person had failed the test and their soul was eaten by the monster god called Amit, which was depicted as a half-lion, half-crocodile creature. I hope you found this video informative. If you'd like to know more about ancient Egypt, please check out the links below or visit historieskills.com. I'll see you again in the next video.