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Religion Of Egypt


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It is important to correct a misconception. The Egyptians were not obsessed with death. That we think so is a function of modern archaeology, which interprets Ancient Egypt through surviving artifacts. Most of the artifacts that have survived are religious and funerary in nature, which colors perceptions of Egyptian mentality. The religious and funerary buildings so synonymous with Egypt were built to last, and often placed in the desert where they were well preserved by the barren wasteland. By contrast, the items of everyday Egyptian life were built of less durable materials and much has been lost over the centuries.

 

full article available at the Religion of Egypt page...

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  • 5 months later...

I make bold to add this thread and put a table listing some of the many gods and goddesses of Egyptian mythology. The deities are listed as closely as possible to the order of their appearance in the myths, from oldest to newest.

Nekhbet vulture goddess of Upper Egypt

Wadjet cobra goddess of Lower Egypt

Meskhenet childbirth goddess, represented by a tile

Taweret hippopotamus goddess, also childbirth goddess and protectoress

Bet childbirth god and protector of children

Atum Heliopolis (ancient On) sun god, self-created from the Watery Waste of Nun

Shu god of air, created by Atum

Tefnut goddess of moisture, created by Atum, sometimes a lion goddess

Geb earth god, created by Shu and Tefnut

Nut sky goddess, also goddess of death and burial, created by Shu and Tefnut

Osiris fertility god, later king of the dead, child of Geb and Nut

Isis Mistress of Magic and Speaker of Spells, also goddess of the dead, sister-wife of Osiris, child of Geb and Nut, mother of young Horus and therefore symbolic Mother of the Egyptian King

Seth rival of young Horus, destroyer of Osiris's body, child of Geb and Nut

Nephthys one of the goddesses of the dead, sister-wife of Seth and child of Geb and Nut

Horus the Elder often shown in man's form, or as a hawk, child of Geb and Nut

young Horus son of Isis

Hathor powerful sky and cow goddess, fertility figure, consort of young Horus but kept a separate temple, associated with tirual music

Thoth Hermopolis god, moon god and reckoner of time, depicted in human form with an ibis mask

Neith national goddess of Lower Egypt, huntress with crossed bow and arrows as her symbol, also goddess of the dead, sometimes supreme creator

Serkhet a goddess of death and burial

Re sun god, in the creation myth with Neith as supreme god, wept men and women from his eyes

Ptah Memphis god, considered primeval being first created to take precendence over Atum

Sekhmet represents the rays of the sun at midday, consort of Ptah and daughter of Re, the sun god, lion goddess of Middle Egypt

Aton Aye at el-Armana tomb chapel, also claimed to take precedence over Atum

Khnum First Cataract deity, ram-headed supreme creator god

Satet and Anuket represent the Nile in flood, helpers to Khnum

Nun and Nunet Ogdoad of Khemenu gods (City of Eight), represent the primeval abyss

Heh and Hauket Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent infinity

Kek and Kauket Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent darkness

Amun and Amunet Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent the unknown gods, also male and female principles in the cosmic system, Amun later a chief god

Mut both lion and warrior goddess, consort of Amun at Thebes, replacing Amunet

Bastet cat goddess, important in the last 1000 years B, originally a lion goddess

Meretseger cobra goddess of the peak overlooking the Valley of the Kings, name means "she who loves silence"

Renenutet snake goddess and protector of the king and the harvest

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I lived in Egypt eight years off and on. Of course this event was seared into my memory. I going to return to Egypt and take part in an archaeological digs next summer. I treat with one of the Europe University about it and going to interlocution with project director next week. I try to renew my knowledge about ancient Egypt and read many books about it now.

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I was reading the other day of some of the hybrid gods that existed in Alexandria around the late Ptolemy dynasty onwards, those mixtures of Macedonian, Egyptian, Greek etc. gods to make things like your Zeus-Osiris-etc. etc. gods. It really is indicative of the crossroads of religion there eh? Does anyone else know of any of the other hybrid gods?

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Serapis was, for all intents and purposes, a hybrid of several Egyptian and Hellenic gods. Isis for her part was a blending of various Egyptian gods which were then identified with various Hellenic God.

 

Ptolemy Soter basically created the Serapis cult as a way for both his Hellenic and Egyptian subjects to have a common ground. The Egyptians didn't fall for it, they much preferred their own uncorrupted traditions. The cult did catch on with Greeks and later Romans. The magic and mysticism gave them something mostly absent from their own native religions.

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After the Greek conquest, the new city of Alexandria became the centre of Egyptian religious life, and indeed of the religious life of the whole Hellenic world. Eventually in Egypt the hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow.

Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.

A great temple, the Serapeum, was set up by Ptolemy I at which a sort of trinity of gods was worshipped. There were Serapis (who was Osiris-Apis rechristened), Isis and Horus. There were not regarded as separate gods but as three aspects of one god, and Serapis was identified with the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter and the Persian sun-god.

This worship spread wherever the Hellenic influence extended, even into North India and Western China. The idea of immortality, an immortality of compensations and consolation, was eagerly received by a world in which the common life was hopelessly wretched. Serapis was called

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Ursus, all that I read in that article was a hundred percent true. You guys know that I'm one tough critic, but that article absolutely nailed it. That was a great article and I'm glad there are some people that know the true Egypt. Thanks for that great article Ursus, that was nothing short of amazing! :lol:

Edited by Rameses the Great
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