Introduction
Throughout history, archaeologists, historians, researchers, and enthusiasts alike, have put in tremendous effort in studying the life and culture of ancient civilizations. Every early civilization, as we know them, had a significantly extensive set of religious beliefs and philosophies. These ideas and beliefs shaped the society and ensured the adherence and conformity of its people.
Being one of the most theocratic states in history, all aspects of Egyptian society and culture were outgrowths or projections of their religion. The Egyptian religion was an extensive belief system that included magic, mythology, and spiritualism. They believed in a higher power and a life after death. Early Egyptians believed that life on Earth was only one part of an eternal journey, and to continue that journey after death, they had to live a life of purity and devotion, worthy of continuance.
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Just like the Mesopotamians, early Egyptians understood that their gods were the creators of the world and ruled over forces while relying on the help of humanity to maintain balance and sustenance. In their lives on Earth, the Egyptians believed in upholding the principle of ma’at, or harmony. This was the rule that one person’s actions in his life did not only affect his self but also affected others’ lives as well as the operation of the universe. Only by honoring the ma’at will one’s soul be aligned with the gods and be assured a welcome into the afterlife by Osiris, the Lord of the Dead.
Gods of Egypt
The early Egyptians kept religion as an extremely vital part of their lifestyle and culture. The gods were the pillars of everyday life. The ancient Egyptian universe comprised heaven, earth, and netherworld, all part of creation and surrounded by eternal darkness. Though separate areas, they were permeable for the gods and the dead. The universe ran smoothly as long as there was respect and cooperation between them and the living. This formed an ideological, social, and economic cohesion.
There were over two thousand gods and goddesses each with their unique names, personalities, and areas of expertise. Each god was known to have their very own characteristics and physical features, as well as style of clothing. They were often associated with a specific place or function of human life.
The gods were powerful but benevolent, and approachable in many ways. With over two thousand deities ruling over ancient Egypt, they were not all equally powerful or important. There were many famous gods in the early Egyptian religion, and the lesser-known ones were even larger in number.
The god Heka was the oldest in ancient Egypt. He was present before the other gods and he was said to have witnessed the creation of the world and the entire universe. He was worshipped as the god of magic and medicine, and physicians and doctors were considered his priests. In important scriptures, they wrote that he killed two serpents and twisted them around a staff as a symbol of power. This was passed on to the Greeks and in the modern day, this symbol became an icon related to the medical field and the medical profession.
Another prominent god in Egypt was Amun. He was the god of the sun and patron of the city of Thebes. In the New Kingdom, he was considered the strongest among all gods, and the Egyptians worshipped him monotheistically.
Anubis was one of the most popular and iconic gods of ancient Egypt. He is recognized as a man with the head of a jackal, and he has a staff. He is the god of the dead, and embalming. His main duty was guiding souls into the afterlife.
Isis was the most powerful among all goddesses. She was known as the Mother of Gods and she cared for every aspect of human life, as well as for the other gods and goddesses. She is said to assist humans even after death and guide them to the heavens.
Besides Isis herself, Hathor was another popular and important deity in the early Egyptian religion. She was the very ancient patroness of womanhood, love, joy, sexuality, and childbirth. She was also associated with kindness, gentleness, and pureness of heart.
After Hathor, there was the beautiful goddess Bastet. She was also a popular goddess in ancient Egypt. She is often recognized as a cat, or as a woman with the head of a cat. Bastet was the goddess of fertility, women’s secrets, and cats. Just like Hathor, she was also a daughter of the god Ra. She was also associated with protecting homes from evil luck and misfortune.
Role of Priests and Priestesses
While the early Egyptian people observed ma’at to help maintain the order established by the gods, a special class of people was responsible for honoring and caring for the gods every day, and they were priests. Priests were an omnipresent feature of the Egyptian society. Various sources and records have taught us about the great prominence of the priesthood in ancient Egypt. Numerous biographies and autobiographies describe the titles and duties of these priests. They were also commonly portrayed or illustrated in the wall paintings of private tombs. These pictures show them often enacting funerary rites or participating in processions.
The clergy of ancient Egypt were fully integrated into all aspects of society. They lived among common people in villages, married, and had children of their own. They did not commit to being priests for their entire lives. They could have other professions while they were not at the temple. While at the temple, however, their sole responsibility was to care for the god in the temple.
It can be difficult to distinguish between a priest and a non-priest. Ancient Egyptian priests and priestesses were not expected to serve as an example of religiously dictated behavior. They also did not have a special attire or mode of dress that could differentiate between a priest and a commoner, except for the higher ranks who often wore distinctive garbs or tunics. For example, when Nebwenef took the position of First Priest of Amon, he received rings and a scepter to differentiate him from other priests, regardless of rank.
Priesthood was for both men and women. The male priests were known as hem-netjer and females were hemet-netjer, both of which mean “servants of the god”. Qualification for the priesthood was based on one’s knowledge of the roles and duties of a priest and sometimes based on literacy. The transition between a non-priest to a priest was signified by a purification ritual required to cleanse the individual before entering the temple.
The clergy of ancient Egypt had many ranks, each with specific duties and privileges, as well as varying levels of access to parts of the temple. The lowest in this hierarchy was the “web” priests. It was an entry-level position, and they often worked their way up to more prestigious titles. The wabs were in charge of carrying offerings and taking care of the temple complex. The hem-kas were also low-ranking priests who carried food and offerings in funerary rituals. For both the wabs and the hem-kas, their low level of purity meant that they had really limited access to the inner portion of the temples, where the more prestigious priests were.
Some astronomer-priests were responsible for predicting eclipses and solstices, determining lucky and unlucky days, as well as interpreting omens and dreams, and reading oracles. They were known as the hour-priests. The sem priests conducted funeral services. They were also the embalmers who were responsible for mummifying the corpse while the lector priests recited spells that guided the soul of the deceased in its transition to a spirit.
The highest-ranking priests were the High Priests or First Priests. They were chosen by the king to be the mediator between the people and the gods. The High Priest had both religious and political authority. They serve a crucial role in maintaining religious balance and tradition in Egypt.
Temples in Ancient Egypt
Temples were the most prominent features of the ancient Egyptian landscape. They were enormous and extremely majestic. According to Herodotus, ancient Egypt had more monuments than any other ancient civilization in history. Even today, after thousands of years of being built, they remain a significant place of power and grandeur that impresses visitors from all over the world. In the time of the early Egyptians, they considered the temples as the homes of the gods. In these temples, they believed they could communicate with the gods through the statues and paintings.
The temples of the Egyptian religion were not like the temples we know today. They were the main place for the performance of rituals essential for the maintenance of the cosmos or ceremonial events and funerary rites. The most highly essential ritual in the Egyptian temples was the daily offering service that was believed to satisfy the gods’ or goddesses’ need for nourishment. Temples in ancient Egypt were not places of worship. Common people could not even enter the temple premises. The temples were considered private sanctuaries and they were divided into numerous sections, each with different levels of sacredness and requiring different levels of prestige and purity to gain access.
The most sacred part of the temple was the sanctuary for the “holy of holies”, considered to be the bedroom of the god. In this chamber, there is always a shrine that holds the statue of the god who resides in the bedroom. Small temples that were built and dedicated to one god usually would have only one statue, but larger and grander temples had many. For example, the grand temple in Karnak had statues of Amon, Khonsu, Mut, and a few others, each with their resident chamber. For the early Egyptians, these statues were a powerful representation of the presence of the gods in their particular temples. In times of large festivals, these statues could be brought out for the people to see.
Many of the grandest temples such as the Great Temples of Hatshepsut and Temple of Amenhotep III at the Colossi of Memnon were mortuary temples designed as places for people to gather for special religious rites and offerings connected with the cult of the pharaohs. These temples were built for cult members to worship so that the pharaohs lived in the afterlife.
In terms of structure and decoration, the Egyptians used an incredible amount of mud bricks and building stones. The walls of the temples were also often embellished with a variety of ornamental stones. Design and decoration in temples were highly symbolic. Sometimes, there were small details that marked the temple’s geographical location.
According to ancient Egyptian mythological concepts, the creation of the world was thought to be renewed inside the temple, and the building itself was regarded as an image of the natural world. It is very common to find carvings of images depicting plants, flowers, animals, and other aspects of the natural world.
According to Isabel Stünkel from the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the two columns of the temple resemble tall plants that reach toward the sky, and the shape of the capitals incorporates papyrus and lily plants, the emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt. Inside the temple, flying vultures depicted on the ceiling also evoke the sky. In ancient Egypt, depictions were thought magically to become real. The temple's decoration thus not only guaranteed the performance of rituals but also the continuation of the natural world and cosmic world order.
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