How did Ancient Egyptian religion work?

The ancient Egyptians were polytheistic, which means they believed in multiple gods.

These gods would often take on human form and were thought to control various aspects of the natural world such as the sun, moon, rivers, agriculture, and so on.

There were also goddesses who represented concepts such as love, wisdom, and war. 

Not all of the Egyptian gods and goddesses were treated with the same respect or reverence in all parts of Egypt.

Some of them were only important in certain villages or in particular family households.

Some examples are Taweret (the goddess of childbirth who was in the same of a hippopotamus), Bes (the bearded dwarf god of fertility), and Bastet (the cat goddess).

These kinds of gods were typically not important enough to have their own temples or priests, so they common people build their own household shrines to honour these deities.

Some other gods were important in particular local regions, so could have small temples with priests.

Some of these include Hathor (the cow-headed goddess of fertility at Dendera), Horus (the falcon-headed god at Edfu), and Khnum (the ram-headed god at Elephantine). 

However, a few select divinities were so important that their worship was endorsed by the government, who build vast temples to them throughout Egypt, and paid for priests to staff their complexes full-time.

Each of these gods used to only be regionally important, but over time were elevated in prominence.

These kinds of gods are the most famous because so many remains of their temples have been found.

These include the gods Atum (the creator sun-god who originated from Heliopolis), Ptah (the creator god who originated from Memphis), and Amun (the supreme god who originated from Thebes). 

The Egyptians believed that the gods and goddesses both inhabited the physical world of everyday life, as well as the spiritual world.

Some of the gods, like Anubis and Osiris, also existed in a place called the Duat.

The Duat was the underworld in Egyptian religious belief. This was a dark and dangerous place that was thought to be located beneath the earth.

In order to reach the afterlife, one had to pass through the Duat.

The Egyptians did not have a single story to explain the creation of the world. Instead, different gods seemed to have been considered the 'creator god' at different times throughout the history of Egypt.

Each of the important religious sites tended to have its own version of the myth in which their particular god played a major role.

Despite the competing versions of the creation story, a standard myth seemed to develop over time.

In it, the Egyptians believed that the gods had created the world out of chaos. At first, there was only darkness and water.

Then, the god Atum rose up out of the water and created land. The ben-ben, or 'sacred mound' was thought to be the first piece of land that Atum created.

He also created Shu (the god of air) and Tefnut (the goddess of moisture). Shu and Tefnut then gave birth to Geb (the god of earth) and Nut (the goddess of sky).

These four gods represented the basic elements of creation: earth, air, and water. Atum then created humans out of his own body.

He blew life into them, and they began to live.

The most important group of gods in Ancient Egyptian religion was known as the Ennead.

This group consisted of nine gods who were thought to be responsible for the creation and maintenance of the universe.

The Ennead included Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. These gods were often depicted in art as human beings with the heads of animals.

One of the most important stories in Ancient Egyptian religion was the story of Osiris.

Osiris was a god who represented fertility and agriculture, and the divine king of Egypt.

He was married to his sister, the goddess Isis. Seth (Osiris' brother) was jealous of Osiris' kingship and wanted to rule Egypt himself.

As a result, Seth killed Osiris, cutting his body into pieces and scattering them across Egypt.

The distraught Isis, along with her sister, Nephthys (who was Seth’s wife), wanted to honour and bury Osiris' body, so they travelled throughout the land and collected all of the pieces back together again.

The god Ra directed Anubis, god of embalming, and Thoth, god of wisdom and magic, to help the two goddesses.

Anubis wrapped Osiris' body in bandages (to represent mummification), and Thoth taught Isis specific magic words to recite over her husband's remains.

Once the words were spoken, Osiris came back to life. However, Osiris could only live in the underworld since he had been resurrected from the dead. 

This story is known as the Osirian cycle, and it was thought to represent the cycle of death and rebirth.

The Egyptians believed that if they could pass through the Duat and reach Osiris, then they would be resurrected in the afterlife.

Alos, the Egyptians believed that when someone died, they would be judged by Osiris and if they were found to be worthy, they would be allowed to enter the afterlife.

This belief led to a lot of funerary practices, such as mummification, which were designed to preserve the body so that it could be judged by Osiris.

 However, the myth of Osiris and Isis doesn't end there. The husband and wife had a son together, who was another god called Horus.

Horus took revenge on his uncle Seth's murder of his father. There are many different myths of how Horus defeated Seth in various challenges and conflicts.

However, they all conclude with Horus being declared the true heir to the throne of Egypt rather than Seth.

As a result of this myth, Horus became the god of kingship in Egypt, and pharaohs used Horus' imagery when depicting themselves in artwork. 

In some way, it appears that the Egyptians believed that each pharaoh was the embodiment of Horus himself on earth, which made the pharaohs gods themselves.

Another important god in Ancient Egyptian religion was Ra, the sun god. He was thought to be the creator of all life and was often depicted as a man with the head of a hawk.

Ra was said to travel across the sky in a boat during the day and through the Duat at night. 

The Egyptians believed that Ra gave them life and protected them from evil. They also believed that he would bring them back to life after they died.

This made him one of the most important gods in Ancient Egyptian religion.

Late in Egyptian history, Ra was merged with the god Amun, becoming Amun-Ra. Amun-Ra was considered to be the most important of all Egyptian gods.

Sekhmet was a particularly powerful and important goddess. One myth told how Sekhmet nearly destroyed the world when she became angry.

She was only stopped when Ra tricked her by pouring beer into a lake and telling her it was blood.

Sekhmet then drank so much beer that she fell asleep, and the world was saved.

Magic was also an important part of Ancient Egyptian religion. The Egyptians believed that magic could be used to control other people and make them do what they wanted.

This belief led to the development of a whole range of magical practices, such as spells and charms.

Egyptians used the word 'Heka' for magic. It denotes a range of magical practices which were used for a variety of purposes, such as protection, healing the sick, making someone fall in love with you, warding off evil spirits, or bringing good luck.

Priests played a very important role in Ancient Egyptian religion. They were responsible for performing rituals and they also acted as mediators between the people and the gods.

Priests were usually men, but there were some female priests as well.

The role of the priest was to act as the servant to the god, just as slaves served their masters in real life.

Every day, priests had to conduct rituals which involved offering food and drink to the god's statue to 'eat and drink.

Also, the priests bathed and dressed the statues.  These actions may seem strange to us, but the Egyptians really believed that the gods existed in these stone representations of the gods and that if these rituals were not carried out, the gods would become angry, and disaster would fall upon the kingdom.

These rituals were considered to be so important that they were usually conducted by the high priest who acted on behalf of the pharaoh himself.

In addition, only the pharaoh and the high priest were permitted to enter the innermost sanctuary of the temple, which is where the god’s statue was located.

Famously, priests were required to shave their entire bodies, as it was thought that this would make them purer and more able to communicate with the gods.

There were also elaborate rituals and ceremonies associated with the mummification process.

This was a way of preserving the body after death so that it could be used in the afterlife.

Mummification was a long and complicated process that usually took priests around 70 days to complete.

The pharaohs were thought to be gods in Ancient Egyptian religion. The Pharaohs were the rulers of Ancient Egypt.

They were thought to be direct descendants of the gods, and so they had a very important role to play in religion. 

The pharaohs were responsible for maintaining balance in the world and keeping order.

They did this by carrying out religious ceremonies and building temples to the gods.

The pharaohs were also responsible for performing many religious rituals, which were designed to please the gods and ensure that they continued to protect and bless Egypt.

As a result, one of the most important deities for pharaohs was the goddess called Ma'at. Ma'at was the goddess of truth, justice, and order.

Pharaohs were expected to uphold Ma'at's values and to represent her in their actions.

Temples were very important in Ancient Egyptian religion. They were places where people could go to worship the gods and offer them gifts.

Temples were also used for storage, as they contained many valuable items that belonged to the gods.

Many Egyptians temples held libraries where important knowledge was stored, either written on papyri or on inscriptions.

The largest temple in Ancient Egypt was the temple of Amun at Karnak. This temple was over 500m long and contained over 100 chambers. It was one of the most sacred places in all of Egypt.

However, the most important belief was that a temple structure was considered to be the home of a god.

This meant that temples were very carefully designed and built to reflect this belief. 

So, just like people's own houses, temples had doorways (called pylons), meeting areas (called hypostyle halls), storerooms for the god’s possessions, kitchens (including breweries, bakeries and butcheries), washing areas (such as sacred lakes), and living rooms (called the inner sanctuary).

Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex and fascinating belief system that played a significant role in the lives of the ancient Egyptians.

It is still studied by scholars today and its influence can still be seen in some modern religions.