Image found from the-many-names-of-god.com
Essential Question
What were the ancient beliefs, and how did they affect their lives?
I met an Egyptian priest on my trip, and asked him some questions. Here is what I have gathered from our discussion:
How did religion influence every aspect of ancient Egyptian life?
The Egyptians' religion influenced them by taking up a lot of their time. For example, the process of mummification. They believed in the afterlife, and to prosper in the afterlife, one of the requirements was that the deceased person's body needed to be preserved. (McTighe)It's time consuming to have to delicately preserve every dead body. Also, since the Egyptians believed in many gods (Gods and Goddesses), it would consume Egyptian priests' time. They build entire temples, and give offerings to the gods. (Offerings to the Gods in Egyptian Temples.) Furthermore, the famous pyramids seen all around Egypt were built due to their religion. There are many pyramids, and it would take a while to build the pyramids (See third question for more information).
What are 3-5 characteristics of the ancient Egyptian religion/belief system (i.e. gods and goddesses, legends, view of the afterlife, etc.)?
One god that the Egyptians believed in was named Amun. He was thought to be the most powerful god; he was even called the king of the gods. Another god that the Egyptians believed in was called Ra. He was believed to be the sun god, and he could combine with Amun. When combined, the being was called Amun-Ra, and it was even more powerful than either god alone. (Gods and Goddesses) Egyptians believed in demons as well as gods. They thought that "demons were more powerful than human beings but not as powerful as gods. They were usually immortal, could be in more than one place at a time, and could affect the world as well as people in supernatural ways." One of the most important demons was Ammut, who was considered the "Devourer of the Dead." She was part hippopotamus, part lioness, and part crocodile. As her name implies, she devoured the hearts of the dead who were not worthy to go to the afterlife. Another important demon was named Apepi (or Apophis), and he "was the enemy of the sun god in his daily cycle through the cosmos, and is depicted as a colossal snake." (Millmore) The Egyptians also believed in the afterlife. They believed that "after the burial, the deceased began a long journey through the underworld. The deceased was led by Anubis, the god of the dead, in what is called the Hall of Two Truths." The deceased then had to prove their innocence to deities and judges. The deceased first had to say a statement that proved that he or she had not harmed another person, but it had to be true. Next, the heart of the deceased was place on a scale. The other side of the scale had a feather on it, the symbol of justice. If the heart was heavier than the feather, the deceased would be devoured by Ammut. (Ancient Egyptian Beliefs in the Afterlife.)
Why and how were the pyramids built, and how does it connect to the Egyptian religion/belief system?
The pyramids were built to be the pharaohs' and queens' tombs. "There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt. The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu. It is known as the 'Great Pyramid.'" (Pyramids.) It was believed that the pyramids were built by moving "massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of a contraption built to pull the heavy objects..." Researchers discovered a wall painting depicting many men pulling a large statue using ropes attached to a sledge. Another person can be seen pouring water on the sand in front of the sledge. (Chow) The pyramids were built as tombs, but they were also built for religious purposes as well. Sometimes, the Nile flooded the Egyptians' kingdoms, and left silt wherever it went. The silt grew life and vegetation, and the Egyptians were amazed. They built mounds of dirt to symbolize the life that the river brought them, and eventually, the mounds of dirt evolved into pyramids. (Tour Egypt :: Ancient Egypt Religion and the Pyramids of Egypt.) The Egyptians believed in many gods, so they might have believed in a river god. They wanted to honor this god by spending lots of their time and resources to show their appreciation for what he or she had done for them.
A picture of someone wrapping a dead body in linen. Image found from egykingblog.com
A picture of some Egyptian gods. Image found from costumesupercenter.com
A pyramid. Image found from triip.me
Images found from slideshare.net
The Declaration of Innocence from the Egyptian Book of the Dead is one primary source. (It is found at historywiz.com) It was declared before the deities and judges to prove that the person declaring it was innocent and worthy of going into the afterlife (See the second question above for more information). This shows me that a lot was expected of someone to be considered "pure." There are three lines that get me thinking, which are, "I have not caused pain," "I have not caused tears," and "I have not made anyone suffer." If you ask anyone if they have done any of these things, more often than not, they will guiltily nod their head. It might have been on accident, or the pain might have been a paper-cut kind of pain. This declaration also fuels the flame of belief in gods, in the lines, "I have not blasphemed a god," "I have not done what the god abhors," "I have not depleted the loaves of the gods," "I have not detained cattle belonging to the god," and "I have not stopped a god in his procession." They are all about not disrespecting a god. About 15% of the whole declaration is about gods (five lines out of twenty-nine lines).