What gods did the ancient Egyptians believe in? What did the ancient Egyptians believe and worship?

Since ancient times, the Egyptians have been exceptionally religious. If, as is believed, they were at first monotheists, it is unlikely that their monotheism was consistent enough. Earnest reverence did not prevent them from admitting other gods into their hearts and onto their altars. With the creation (of the united state of Upper and Lower Egypt), the deities of the largest cities acquired the status of national ones. The Memphis god Ptah, the sun god Ra, the Heliopolis god Min, the cow-goddess Hathor from Dendera, the Abydosian Osiris, the Saisian Neith, the cosmic god Amon from Hermopolis were eventually transferred to Thebes. All these deities were once associated with a particular place, but gradually their cult spread up and down the Nile Valley. Similarly, Horus of Behdet and Seth of Ombos were originally local gods, and with the transformation of the cities revered by Horus and Seth into the capitals of Lower and Upper Egypt, they became respectively the gods of these two states.

The god of the northern lands Horus, according to the created legend, defeated Set and became the national deity of Upper Egypt. Subsequently, the pharaoh of the unified Egyptian state, being the main person in the country, and therefore himself considered a deity, was considered as the earthly incarnation of Horus.

Sometimes the gods, whose cult was introduced from other places, supplanted the local gods. So, the Theban Montu was eclipsed by Amon from Hermopolis

later he became supreme god. Osiris was not at first a deity of Abydos, but it was in this city that he was revered the most, and over time turned into the most beloved of all the gods of Egypt.

Some gods were united in families: Atum - the father of Shu and Tefnut, who in turn were the parents of Geb and Nut, their children were Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. In Karnak, a simpler family of three gods was revered - Amon, Mut and their son Khonsu. Similar divine families were worshiped in many temples throughout the country.

Distinguishing local gods from gods of a different nature - for example, cosmic ones - is quite difficult. Ra was revered as the god of the Sun, Geb - as the god of the Earth, and his sister-wife - as the goddess of Heaven. The concept of the field of these deities depended on the grammatical gender of the word denoting the element of the universe personified by each of them. space gods were usually anthropomorphic, i.e. having a human appearance, in contrast to the numerous local deities who were originally revered in the form of animals and were always depicted in the form of animals or as human beings with animal heads.

Such were Anubis, Horus, Khnum, Thoth, Sobek, Amon and many others. Bastet had the head of a cat (cats were deeply revered in Egypt

after death, their bodies were sometimes embalmed and buried in special cemeteries). Amun was usually depicted with the head of a ram, but he was also represented in human form. The sky goddess Nut was considered either a woman or a cow, and in both cases she was depicted prostrated in the sky. Her body was covered with stars, between which the Sun travels every day on its boat from east to west. Finally, until the establishment of Christianity in the country, there were also pure cults of animals, for example, the Apis bull.

Although the Egyptian gods, unlike the Greek ones, did not communicate with people, such human feelings as love, hatred, envy and revenge were available to them. Nevertheless, the Egyptians considered their gods to be highly moral and sought to imitate them. Closest to the heart of an Egyptian was probably the god of the city in which he lived. The connection of man with such gods was closer than with the majestic god of Heaven.

The most native to all the Egyptians was, apparently, Osiris. According to legend, he was once earthly king. Osiris was killed by his jealous brother Set, who dismembered his corpse and threw it into the Nile. But Isis, the devoted wife of Osiris, collected the scattered parts of her husband's body

Osiris was resurrected and has ruled the realm of the dead ever since. The ruthless Seth turned his evil plans against the young son of Isis and Osiris - Horus, because of which the mother of the baby was forced to hide in the inaccessible swamps of the Delta for the sake of his salvation. When the child grew up, he defeated his uncle, and the gods declared him the legitimate heir of Osiris and elevated him to his father's throne.

The suffering gods were unusually close to the Egyptians. The cult of Osiris, his persecuted wife, the long-suffering Isis, and the innocent infant Horus was the most popular. Every Egyptian considered himself to some extent Osiris, who defended his rights in the struggle and defeated even death. In their gravestone inscriptions, they called themselves and expected to share the fate of this god in the afterlife.

Spiritual life was not limited to religion, the Egyptian also believed in the effectiveness of magic, turned to the ancient Texts of the Pyramids and the Texts of the sarcophagi and used many of the spells contained in them.

The further development of magical texts, designed to provide the soul of the deceased with the ability to leave the grave and enjoy all that is available to the living, was reflected in the Book of the Dead. The very presence in the burial of a copy of spells of this kind guaranteed him the receipt of all the requested benefits, as well as protection from all the evils that, according to his ideas, the deceased could meet. Other unusual texts were created to help the deceased make a long and dangerous journey to the afterlife.

During the 19th dynasty in Egypt, especially among the lower classes, a new religious trend arose: for the first time in history, the statement was formulated that, although man is disposed to evil, God has a tendency to forgive his transgressions.

Since the pharaoh himself was considered a god, he could naturally communicate with other gods. The pharaoh was also the high priest and performed rituals in the temple and at religious festivals. He often transferred his priestly functions personally to the high priests of the main temples appointed by him.

The key to understanding the culture of ancient Egypt is the system of religious ideas, which is clearly displayed in mythology. The sources of comprehension of mythological ideas, as usual, are various texts of a religious nature, hymns, prayers, and more.

The Egyptians represented and revered many of the Almighty in the form of beasts. For example, the holy bull Apis was the personification of the power of efficiency and fertility. And a whole cult has developed around the scarab beetle. He was depicted on stones, papyrus, he was worshiped in temples. Unconditionally, these are hefty ancient beliefs associated with totemism. Over time, the concept of the gods among the Egyptians changed. The Almighty began to be depicted in the form of a man, but with the head of an animal, occasionally on the contrary - animals, with the heads of people. For example, the Almighty Amon was depicted on stones with ram's horns. The Sphinx-deity in the form of a lion with the head of a man, guarding the border of the desert, guards Egypt from Seth, according to the legends of the supreme death and a burning wind.

The highest cult among the Egyptians was the cult of the sun. It is not for nothing that Egypt was called the country of the indestructible sun. Everyone probably remembers from the school anthology of the supreme sun-Ra? So, the ancient Egyptians believed that the Almighty Ra in daytime sailed across the sky in a boat towards the western mountains, and that, reaching them, he changed into the so-called “night boat” and sailed to the eastern mountains, where, having won a victory with an enemy-serpent, he reappeared in the sky.

The whole ancient city had its Almighty intercessor. For example, in Thebes they revered the Almighty Amon, once his cult united with the cult of the sun and the whole Almighty Amon-Ra was formed.

The Egyptians firmly believed that a person had several souls at once: the soul of Ba - in the form of a bird with a human head, which left the body at the time of death and for the resurrection of the deceased, Ba had to return to the body. It was from this time that the tradition of mummification came. Another soul of Ka was a ghostly double of a person living in a tomb. This soul also had a chance to find its earthly abode - for this, sculptural images of the deceased were placed in the tombs. In the aggregate, in order for the deceased to acquire peace, he had to have everything that he was not deprived of during his lifetime. Often, images of loved ones, relatives, servants and slaves were placed in the tombs. In other words, the funeral cult took place in Egyptian culture.

A significant specificity in the life of the Egyptians was the worship of royal power. The deceased pharaoh was equated with Osiris, who found indestructible life. The ruling pharaoh was valued as the Almighty, the son of Ra, and these ideas were built on real foundations: the power of the leader was unconditional, everything and everything belonged to him: the lands of the state, gold and silver mines. It was even forbidden for ordinary mortals to pronounce his name and royal title, sometimes people believed that the power and influence of the great pharaoh extends even to the power of nature ...

gods of the ancient egyptians

amon("hidden", "hidden"), in Egyptian mythology Sun God.

The sacred animal of Amon is the ram and the goose (both symbols of wisdom). God was depicted as a man (sometimes with a ram's head), with a scepter and a crown, with two high feathers and a solar disk. The cult of Amun originated in Thebes and then spread throughout Egypt. Amon's wife, the sky goddess Mut, and son, the moon god Khonsu, formed the Theban triad with him. During the Middle Kingdom, Amon began to be called Amon-Ra, since the cults of the two deities united, acquiring a state character. Amun later acquired the status of a beloved and especially revered god of the pharaohs, and during the Eighteenth Dynasty of the pharaohs was declared the head Egyptian gods. Amon-Ra gave victories to the pharaoh and was considered his father. Amon was also revered as a wise, omniscient god, "the king of all gods", a heavenly intercessor, a protector of the oppressed ("a vizier for the poor").

Anubis, in Egyptian mythology, the god - the patron of the dead, the son of the god of vegetation Osiris and Nephthys, the sister of Isis.

Nephthys hid the newborn Anubis from her husband Seth in the swamps of the Nile Delta. The mother goddess Isis found the young god and raised him.
Later, when Set killed Osiris, Anubis, organizing the burial of the deceased god, wrapped his body in fabrics soaked in a special composition, thus making the first mummy. Therefore, Anubis is considered the creator of funeral rites and is called the god of embalming. Anubis also helped judge the dead and accompanied the righteous to the throne of Osiris. Anubis was depicted as a black jackal or wild dog Sab (or a man with the head of a jackal or a dog).
The center of the cult of Anubis is the city of the 17th nome of Kas (Greek Kinopol - "dog city").

Apis, in Egyptian mythology, the god of fertility in the form of a bull with a solar disk. Memphis was the center of the Apis cult.

Apis was considered the Ba (soul) of the god Ptah, the patron saint of Memphis, as well as the sun god Ra. The living embodiment of the god was a black bull with special white marks. The Egyptians believed that the ritual run of the sacred bull fertilizes the fields. Apis was associated with the cult of the dead and was considered the bull of Osiris. On sarcophagi, Apis was often depicted running with a mummy on his back. Under the Ptolemies, there was a complete merger of Apis and Osiris in a single deity Serapis. To keep the sacred bulls in Memphis, not far from the temple of Ptah, a special Apeion was built. The cow that gave birth to Apis was also revered and kept in a special building. In the event of the death of a bull, the whole country was plunged into mourning, and its burial and the choice of a successor were considered an important state matter. Apis was embalmed and buried according to a special ritual in a special crypt of the Serapenium near Memphis.

Aton("disk of the sun"), in Egyptian mythology, the god is the personification of the solar disk.

The heyday of the cult of this god dates back to the reign of Amenhotep IV (1368 - 1351 BC). At the beginning of his reign, Aten acted as the embodiment of all the main gods of the sun. Then Amenhotep IV declared Aten the only god of all Egypt, forbidding the worship of other gods. He changed his name Amenhotep ("Amon is pleased") to Akhenaten ("pleasing to the Aten" or "useful to the Aten"). The pharaoh himself, who considered himself his son, became the high priest of the god. Aten was depicted as a solar disk with rays that ended in hands holding the ankh sign of life, a symbol of the fact that life was given to people, animals and plants by Aton. It was believed that the sun-god is present in every object and living being. Aten was depicted as a solar disk, the rays of which end in open palms.

Geb, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the earth, the son of the air god Shu and the goddess of moisture Tefnut.

Geb quarreled with his sister and wife Nut ("heaven"), because she daily ate her children - heavenly bodies, and then gave birth to them again. Shu separated the couple. He left Geb below, and lifted Nut up. The children of Geb were Osiris, Seth, Isis, Nephthys. The soul (Ba) of Hebe was embodied in Khnum, the god of fertility. The ancients believed that Geb is kind: he protects the living and the dead from snakes living in the earth, people need plants, which is why he was sometimes depicted with a green face. Geb was associated with the underworld of the dead, and his title "prince of princes" gave him the right to be considered the ruler of Egypt. The heir of Geb is Osiris, from him the throne passed to Horus, and the pharaohs, who considered their power as given by the gods, were considered the successors and servants of Horus.

Gore, Choir("height", "sky"), in Egyptian mythology, the god of heaven and the sun in the guise of a falcon, a man with the head of a falcon or a winged sun, the son of the fertility goddess Isis and Osiris, the god of productive forces.

Its symbol is a solar disk with outstretched wings. Initially, the falcon god was revered as a predatory god of hunting, claws digging into prey. According to the myth, Isis conceived Horus from the dead Osiris, who was treacherously killed by the formidable god of the desert, Seth, his brother. Having retired deep into the swampy Nile Delta, Isis gave birth and raised a son, who, having matured, in a dispute with Seth, seeks to recognize himself as the sole heir of Osiris. In the battle with Seth, the killer of his father, Horus is first defeated - Seth tore out his eye, the wonderful Eye, but then Horus defeated Seth and deprived him of his masculinity. As a sign of submission, he placed the sandal of Osiris on Set's head. He gave his wonderful Eye of Horus to be swallowed by his father, and he came to life. The resurrected Osiris gave his throne in Egypt to Horus, and he himself became the king of the underworld.

Min, in Egyptian mythology, the god of fertility, the "producer of crops", who was depicted with a standing phallus and a raised whip in right hand, as well as in a crown adorned with two long feathers.

It is believed that Ming was originally revered as a creator god, but in ancient times he began to be worshiped as the god of roads and the protector of those wandering through the desert. The Ming was also considered the protector of the harvest. Main holiday the Feast of the Steps was called in his honor. Sitting on his step, the god accepted the first sheaf cut by the pharaoh himself.
Ming, as the "lord of the deserts", was also the patron of foreigners; patron of Coptos. Ming patronized the reproduction of livestock, therefore he was also revered as the god of cattle breeding.

Nun, in Egyptian mythology, the embodiment of the water element, which existed at the dawn of time and contained the life force.

In the image of Nun, ideas about water as a river, sea, rain, etc. are merged. Nun and his wife Naunet, personifying the sky across which the sun swims at night, were the first pair of gods, all the gods descended from them: Atum, Hapi, Khnum , as well as Khepri and others. It was believed that Nun headed the council of the gods, where the lioness goddess Hathor-Sekhmet was entrusted with punishing people who plotted evil against the solar god Ra.

Osiris, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the productive forces of nature, the lord of the underworld, the judge in the kingdom of the dead.

Osiris was the eldest son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, the brother and husband of Isis. He reigned on earth after the gods Pa, Shu and Geb and taught the Egyptians agriculture, viticulture and winemaking, mining and processing of copper and gold ore, medical art, city building, and established the cult of the gods. Set, his brother, the evil god of the desert, decided to kill Osiris and made a sarcophagus according to the measurements of his older brother. Having arranged a feast, he invited Osiris and announced that the sarcophagus would be presented to the one who would fit. When Osiris lay down in the capcophagus, the conspirators slammed the lid, filled it with lead and threw it into the waters of the Nile. The faithful wife of Osiris, Isis, found the body of her husband, miraculously extracted the life force hidden in it and conceived from the dead Osiris a son named Horus. When Horus grew up, he took revenge on Set. Horus gave his magical Eye, torn out by Set at the beginning of the battle, to be swallowed by his dead father. Osiris came to life, but did not want to return to earth, and, leaving the throne to Horus, began to reign and judge in the afterlife. Usually Osiris was depicted as a man with green skin, sitting among the trees, or with a vine wrapped around his figure. It was believed that, like the entire plant world, Osiris dies every year and is reborn to a new life, but fertilizing life force it persists even in the dead.

Ptah, in Egyptian mythology, the creator god, patron of arts and crafts, especially revered in Memphis.

Ptah created the first eight gods (his incarnations - Ptah), the world and everything that exists in it (animals, plants, people, cities, temples, crafts, arts, etc.) "with language and heart." Having conceived the creation in his heart, he expressed his thoughts in words. Sometimes Ptah was called the father of even such gods as Ra and Osiris. The wife of Ptah was the goddess of war Sekhmet, the son was Nefertum, the god of vegetation. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus most closely matches it. Ptah was depicted as a mummy with an open head, with a rod standing on a hieroglyph meaning truth.

Ra, Re, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the sun, embodied in the form of a falcon, a huge cat or a man with a falcon head crowned with a solar disk.

Ra, god of the sun, was the father of Wajit, the cobra of the North, which protected the pharaoh from the scorching rays of the sun. According to the myth, during the day, the beneficent Ra, illuminating the earth, sails along the celestial Nile in the Mandzhet barque, in the evening he transfers to the Mesektet barque and continues his journey along the underground Nile in it, and in the morning, having defeated the Apep serpent in a nightly battle, reappears on the horizon. A number of myths about Ra are associated with the Egyptians' ideas about the change of seasons. The spring flowering of nature heralded the return of the goddess of moisture Tefnut, the fiery Eye shining on the forehead of Ra, and her marriage to Shu. The summer heat was explained by the anger of Ra on people. According to the myth, when Ra grew old, and people stopped revering him and even "planned evil deeds against him," Ra immediately gathered a council of the gods, headed by Nun (or Atum), at which it was decided to punish the human race. The goddess Sekhmet (Hathor), in the form of a lioness, killed and devoured people until, by cunning, she was able to drink barley beer red as blood. Intoxicated, the goddess fell asleep and forgot about revenge, and Ra, having proclaimed Geb as his viceroy on earth, climbed onto the back of a heavenly cow and from there continued to rule the world. The ancient Greeks identified Ra with Helios.

Sobek, Sebek, in Egyptian mythology, the god of water and the flood of the Nile, whose sacred animal was the crocodile.

He was depicted as a crocodile or as a man with the head of a crocodile. The center of his cult is the city of Khatnecher-Sobek (Greek: Krokodilopol), the capital of Fayum. It was believed that in the lake adjoining the main sanctuary of Sobek, the crocodile Petsukhos was kept, as a living embodiment of God. Admirers of Sobek, who sought his protection, drank water from the lake and fed delicacies to the crocodile. In the II millennium BC. e. many kings called themselves Sebekhotep, that is, "Sebek is pleased." It is believed that the ancients perceived Sebek as the main deity, giving fertility and abundance, as well as the protector of people and gods. According to some myths, the evil god Set took refuge in the body of Sobek to avoid punishment for the murder of Osiris. Sobek is sometimes considered the son of Neith, the great mother of the gods, the goddess of war, hunting, water and the sea, who is also credited with the birth of the terrible serpent Apep.

Set, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the desert, that is, "foreign countries", the personification of the evil inclination, the brother and murderer of Osiris, one of the four children of the earth god Geb and Nut, the goddess of heaven.

The sacred animals of Set were considered a pig ("abomination for the gods"), an antelope, a giraffe, and the donkey was the main one. The Egyptians imagined him as a man with a thin long torso and a donkey's head. Some myths attributed to Set the salvation of Ra from the serpent Apep - Set pierced the giant Apep, personifying darkness and evil, with a harpoon. At the same time, Set also embodied the evil principle - as the deity of the merciless desert, the god of strangers: he cut down sacred trees, ate the sacred cat of the goddess Bast, etc. In Greek mythology, Set was identified with Typhon, a dragon-headed serpent, and was considered the son of Gaia and Tartar.

The one, Djehuti, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the moon, wisdom, accounts and letters, the patron of sciences, scribes, sacred books, calendar creator.

The goddess of truth and order, Maat, was considered the wife of Thoth. The sacred animal of Thoth was the ibis, and therefore the god was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis. The Egyptians associated the arrival of the ibis-Thoth with the seasonal floods of the Nile. When Thoth returned Tefnut (or Hathor, as one of the myths says) to Egypt, nature flourished. He, identified with the moon, was considered the heart of the god Ra and was depicted behind the Pa-sun, since he was reputed to be his night substitute. Thoth was credited with creating the entire intellectual life of Egypt. "Lord of time", he divided it into years, months, days and kept track of them. Wise Thoth wrote down the birthdays and deaths of people, kept chronicles, and also created writing and taught the Egyptians counting, writing, mathematics, medicine and other sciences. It is known that his daughter or sister (wife) was the goddess of writing Seshat; Thoth's attribute is the scribe's palette. Under his patronage were all the archives and the famous library of Hermopol, the center of the cult of Thoth. God "ruled all languages" and was himself considered the language of the god Ptah. As a vizier and scribe of the gods, Thoth was present at the trial of Osiris and recorded the results of weighing the soul of the deceased. Since Thoth participated in the justification of Osiris and gave the order for his embalming, he took part in the funeral ritual of every deceased Egyptian and led him to the kingdom of the dead. On this basis, Thoth is identified with the Greek herald of the gods, Hermes, who was considered a psychopomp ("leader of the soul"). He was often depicted with a baboon, one of his sacred animals.

Khonsu("passing"), in Egyptian mythology, the god of the moon, the god of time and its measurement, the son of Amon and the sky goddess Mut. Khonsu was also revered as the god of travel. On the images of Khonsu that have come down to us, we most often see a young man with a sickle and a moon disk on his head, sometimes he appears in the guise of a child god with a finger at his mouth and a “curl of youth”, which the boys wore on the side of their heads until adulthood. The center of the cult of Khonsu is Thebes, in Karnak was his main temple.

Khnum("creator"), in Egyptian mythology, the god of fertility, the creator who created the world from clay on his potter's wheel.

He is often depicted as a man with a ram's head, sitting in front of a potter's wheel, on which stands a figurine of a creature he has just created. It was believed that Khnum created gods, people, and also controlled the floods of the Nile. According to one of the legends, the scientist and sage Imhotep, a dignitary and architect of Pharaoh Djoser (III millennium BC), in connection with a seven-year famine, advised Djoser to make a rich offering to the god of fertility. Pharaoh followed this advice, and Khnum appeared to him in a dream, promising to release the waters of the Nile. That year the country received a wonderful harvest.

Shu("empty"), in Egyptian mythology, the god of air, separating heaven and earth, the son of the solar god Ra-Atum, the husband and brother of the goddess of moisture Tefnut.

He was most often depicted as a man standing on one knee with his hands raised, with which he supports the sky above the earth. Shu is one of the judges of the dead in the underworld. In the myth of the return of Tefnut, the solar Eye, from Nubia, Shu, together with Thoth, having taken the form of a baboon, returned the goddess to Egypt with singing and dancing, where, after her marriage with Shu, the spring flowering of nature began.

Before dwelling briefly on the deeds of Akhenaten - one of the most amazing people in world history - a few words should be said about the Egyptian religion. It was the main form of ideology in Egypt. All aspects of culture were permeated with religious ideas and were influenced by them. These ideas of the Egyptians, which arose in prehistoric times, reflected the helplessness of man in the face of terrible and inexplicable phenomena of nature and social life for him. The deification of objects and their worship was one of the most ancient beliefs. But perhaps the most characteristic phenomenon was the attribution of supernatural powers to animals and plants. The cult of animals was especially developed. All animals, without exception, were revered as deities. Each nome and each village had its patrons in the form of this or that animal, fish, insect. The crocodile, for example, was worshiped in more than thirty places.

Gods of Egypt: Amon-Ra, Thoth, Khonsu, Hathor, Atum, Maat, Anubis, Geb, Sokhmet, Neith, Ra.

Since ancient times, the forces of nature and heavenly bodies have been deified.
The deities who personified these forces were of a common Egyptian character. The God of the Sun was called Ra, the Moon - Thoth, the Earth - Geb, Heaven - Nut, the Nile - Hapi, etc. Later on, deities developed concepts as carriers of various spiritual and social forces: truth, war, wisdom, royal power, etc. n. But the number of gods did not decrease. Objects, animals, celestial bodies remained as the embodiment, the material shell of these forces. The moon god Thoth in the form of a baboon or ibis was considered the personification of wisdom, the star Sirius, according to the Egyptians, was the “soul of the goddess Isis”, the falcon-like deity Hora embodied the idea of ​​royal power. Many deities Hor kills Set.
are conceived in the form of a man: the goddess
Truth, for example, was depicted as a woman with a feather on her head. In connection with the "humanization" of the gods, images of deities with a human body and an animal head were distributed. The God of the Moon and Wisdom - Thoth - could be depicted as a man with the head of an ibis.
From the Old Kingdom, the cult of Osiris, the god of dying and resurrecting nature and the god of the dead, spread widely throughout Egypt. According to the myth widespread among the Egyptians, Osiris was the son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Osiris became the first king and taught the people how to farm. His brother Set, the god of evil and destruction, killed Osiris. Osiris' wife Isis fled to the swamps of the Delta. There, her son Horus was born, who entered the struggle with Seth. In the end, the gods revived Osiris, but he becomes the king of the dead, and Horus, the personification of which was considered every pharaoh, becomes the king of the living. At first, only the deceased pharaoh was revered as the immortal Osiris. But from the end of the Old Kingdom, the idea of ​​immortality spread widely among the Egyptians. Everyone wanted to be resurrected after death, like Osiris.
The mortuary cult is closely connected with the idea of ​​immortality. According to the Egyptians, a person could not exist after death without a body. Therefore, the corpse was carefully processed, mummified. Basically, the methods of mummification and embalming boiled down to the following: all the insides were taken out of the body of the deceased and soaked with solutions of various salts that prevent decay. Then the deceased was swaddled and laid in a coffin. Mummification was carried out by special
master embalmers. Then the coffin was transferred to a tomb equipped with utensils and sacrificial gifts for the existence of the deceased. According to the Egyptians, a person had several souls. Sacrifices were made to the soul of Ka - the "double", depicted in the form of a statue of the deceased. Usually this was done by special priests - "double slaves". But it was completely optional to make a real sacrifice. It was possible to confine oneself to a verbal formula with the wish of “thousands of bulls, birds, measures of incense” for Ka of such and such.
The tombs of the kings of the Old Kingdom were huge pyramids - the "eternal dwellings" of the dead pharaohs. On the interior walls

Khnum sculpts the pharaoh and his "double" on a potter's wheel.

the premises and passages of the pyramids by the end of the 5th and during the 6th dynasty, the so-called “Pyramid Texts” appeared - the oldest monument of religious literature not only in Egypt, but throughout the world. The content of the texts is a funeral ritual, a collection of sayings and magic spells in order to ensure immortality for the deceased pharaoh and the successful achievement of the otherworldly kingdom.
Already in the period of the Old Kingdom, that is, in the III millennium BC, complex philosophical and theological concepts were created in Egypt. This is indicated by the Memphis Philosophical and Theological Treatise, which has come down to us. This treatise is devoted, in fact, to the solution of the main question of philosophy, that is, to what underlies the universe - spirit, thought or material principle.
The priests of Heliopolis declared, for example, the primeval waters of Nun to be the fundamental principle of the world. From these waters the sun Ra - Atum (the sun god Ra, identified with the local deity Atum) shone. Ra-Atum gave birth to the god Shu - air and the goddess Tefnet - moisture; the latter gave birth to the god of the earth Geb and the goddess of the sky Nut, and four gods descended from them: Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. Thus, despite the general
religious shell, the Heliopolitan conception took primeval waters, that is, some kind of material principle, as the fundamental principle of the world. The Memphis Priestly School took a different view. In her treatise she proves that Ptah, chief god Memphis, is an all-god, whose thought and speech created the Universe. The rest of the gods are just various manifestations of the essence of Ptah, executive organs. This concept is supported by the reference to the fact that human senses (sight, hearing, smell) provide material for thought, thought infers judgment, and speech fulfills the intention. Thus, we have before us a clearly idealistic concept, which considers the fundamental principle

Resurrection of Osiris.

of the world the thought and command of a deity, that is, proving the primacy of the spiritual, and not the natural principle. The very fact of the struggle is also extremely curious. philosophical schools in the III millennium BC.
The collapse of the Old Kingdom, the rise of the middle strata of the population, the disintegration of the country into separate nomes changed some religious performances. The priesthood of the semi-independent nomes, in order to exalt their local gods, brought them closer to the common Egyptian gods. Modest in its significance, the god Sebek in the form of a crocodile was identified with Horus, Ra, Anubis and other gods. They also nominated the god of some secret underwater forces, Amun, which was insignificant until the XII dynasty. He was identified with the common Egyptian god of the sun - Ra. The new god becomes the patron and protector of the middle strata and the state god of the XII dynasties. His role was especially strengthened at the beginning of the New Kingdom. Amon-Ra, as the "father" of the pharaoh, leads the warlike Thutmosids to conquer foreign territories. Huge temples are being built for him, especially in Thebes, the capital of the state.

During the history of Egyptian society, the funeral cult does not remain unchanged. The advancement of the middle strata during the Middle Kingdom led to the fact that the “Pyramid Texts”, which were written on the walls of the passages to the pyramids at the end of the Old Kingdom, moved in a changed form, of course, to the sarcophagi (coffins) of ordinary mortals. The cult of Osiris is also made public.
But changes in the social structure of society, class contradictions during the formation of the Middle Kingdom sometimes gave rise to views incompatible with religious ideology. Some literary works of this time question the belief in afterlife.
During the period of the New Kingdom, the further development of the funeral cult can be noted. A scroll of papyrus with the text inscribed on it was placed in the sarcophagus of the deceased. This collection or "Book of the Dead" was a collection of incantations, spells, magic formulas and everything that the deceased had to say in order to safely pass through the court of Osiris. It was necessary to justify himself in 42 sins, and then he fell into the underworld for eternal life; otherwise it was eaten by monsters. The "Book of the Dead", in fact, was a "cheat sheet" for a wealthy dead man, since the poor man could not, of course, order a list of the "Book of the Dead" for himself.
In the New Kingdom, the concept of otherworldly existence was finally developed. The underworld seemed like Egypt, but even more fertile: the underground Nile flowed among the fields, along which the sun, moon and stars floated in boats. From work in the fields of the afterlife, as well as from the court of Osiris, it was possible to get rid of. For this, magical figurines of slaves - “ushebti” (“respondents”) were placed in the tomb, who in the next world had to do everything for the deceased.

She was in close contact with nature. In the Nile Valley, where life and death touched so closely, the most important human need was naturally to weaken the influence of death, to strengthen and exalt the forces of nature that give life.

Because Egyptian religion exclusively addressed to natural strength, which in its circular course gave the country life and fertility, - to the sun. No matter how varied the forms of deities and religious rites in Ancient Egypt, where almost every city had its own special gods and only a few deities were worshiped by the people everywhere, everything shows that worship of the sun was the original grain and the most common beginning of Egyptian beliefs, national cult Egyptians. Not only a multitude of deities, having special names, rites and sanctuaries, are essentially related to the sun, its various actions and phenomena, either in relation to their origin, or in relation to the symbolic representations associated with them; but even most purely local and tribal deities in religion ancient egypt, to exalt their power, a connection with the sun was attributed. These deities were either recognized as identical with him, or their names were supplemented by the subordinate name Ra, which was considered the most ancient designation of the sun god.

Ra is the god of the sun in the religion of ancient Egypt.

Thus, not only the Theban local deity Amon turned into the strongest national god, under the name Amon-Ra, but also most of the other local gods of Ancient Egypt: Montu, Atum, Thoth, etc., with the addition of the word "ra", moved into the realm of the god sun. This Ra or Phra (hence the Pharaoh), the father and king of the gods, seated in the solar circle and ruling over all heavenly space, was especially worshiped in Memphis and in the "Sun City" (Heliopolis). Here was a highly revered sanctuary, where, according to the Egyptians, every 500 years the Phoenix bird flew in from the east and burned in fragrant incense, so that later it would emerge young from the ashes and on the third day return to the east, to its homeland: that was a symbolic expression of the solar current in certain, eternally unchanging intervals of time. A strong guardian of the sky was the Sphinx, which was depicted as a lion with the head of the sun god.

Together with Ra, the most revered gods of the religion of Ancient Egypt were Ptah and Osiris. Near the temple of Ptah, the “father of light”, in Memphis, the sacred bull Apis was kept in a magnificent courtyard, which, as a symbol of the productive power of the sun, enjoyed such reverence among the Egyptian people that after his death the whole country was plunged into sadness until the priests found a new one. bull with known external signs. Then came a seven-day festival, announcing this happy event with processions and feasts. The Apis bull was black with a white spot on the forehead, double hair on the tail and a growth under the tongue; the growth was supposed to be in the form of a sacred beetle.

The actual national deity of the Egyptians was the sun god Osiris with his wife and sister Isis and son Horus. About him alone, the priests of the religion of Ancient Egypt composed legends, the allegorical content of which is the circular course of the sun and the phenomena of nature accompanying its course. Osiris, the benefactor of the country, is killed by his envious brother Seth and 72 of his accomplices; his corpse is placed in a box and immersed in the river. Lamenting and lamenting, Isis is looking for her lost husband, and having found the corpse, orders to bury him on the sacred river island of Philae. From the realm of the dead, where Osiris has ruled since that time, he appears to his son Horus, exciting him to vengeance. The son gathers his adherents, defeats Set and drives him with black accomplices into the desert. Then Horus takes the throne of his father and rules over Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian God Set

In this momentous ancient Egyptian myth the whole natural life of the Nile valley is represented symbolically. Set and his accomplices mean 72 days of agonizing heat and drought. Isis, the land of Egypt, complains about the blessed moisture and calls for it; Osiris, that fruitful force of nature, which is found in the flood of the Nile, is removed or rests in the gorge of stone rocks near the falls of Philae and Elephantine, during the whole time of the dominion of his hostile brother. But his son Horus, fresh spring, drives away, in excess of youthful strength, "dark red, fiery" Set and returns law and fertility to the country. The death of Osiris is only apparent; he lives and acts, both on earth through his son Horus, the avenger of his father (who gave a “revelation” about his father), and in underworld where he judges the souls of the dead and awakens them to new life.

Ancient Egyptian Goddess Isis

Among the solar deities of the religion of Ancient Egypt also belonged, in essence, the Greco-Egyptian local god of the later capital of Alexandria, Serapis, whose adoration was so favored by the Ptolemies that in the 3rd century BC he had 42 temples in Egypt. Next to these deities stood Neith - the mysterious personification of the beginning of conception and birth in nature, the patroness ("veiled image") of Sais in Lower Egypt. In honor of her, a special feast of lamps was held annually, similar to the run with torches, established in Athens in honor of the virgin Pallas Athena, with whom she was compared more than once.

The religion of ancient Egypt also honored sacred animals, and this adoration so predominated in the popular faith that even in antiquity aroused increased attention and some indications of the causes and meaning of such a phenomenon. Not only the Apis bull, but also cows, cats, ibises, falcons, dogs, crocodiles and many other animals were honored as gods. Anyone who deliberately killed a sacred animal was subject to death. During a fire, says Herodotus, the Egyptians are much more concerned about saving cats than about putting out a fire, and when a cat died in a flame, a strong cry arose among the people. In this worship of animals, gross superstition seems to be combined with the highest aspirations and ideas.

While the mass of the people probably indulged in the wildest fetishism, taking a sensual object of worship for the deity itself, those initiated into the secrets of religion were guided by more spiritual views, contemplating and revering in the instinct of animals the wonderful, incomprehensible spirit of nature in all its immediacy, in that power, with which he appears, having not yet passed through the inquisitive thought of man. Or animals were worshiped as symbols of those deities to whom they were dedicated, since these deities were considered in the religion of ancient Egypt as representatives of the prevailing natural forces or celestial bodies.

Weighing the heart of the scribe Hunefer at the afterlife court of the god Osiris. "Book of the Dead"

In the religion of Ancient Egypt, there was a belief in the afterlife, in punishment of the evil and rewarding the good. Judgment takes place on the eve of the underworld, in the temple of "double justice", before the throne of Osiris, where the heart of the deceased is weighed on the scales of justice. The souls of the righteous, adorned with an ostrich feather, pass into the abode of the sun god, the souls of sinners into the kingdom of darkness. The ancient Egyptians shared with the Indians a belief in the transmigration of souls. The bodies of the righteous found rest in the graves, life in death, joy in the eastern homeland of the sun, and only the souls of the impure, not yet completely dead, were subjected to migrations, which probably lasted until they, thus purified, could be admitted to the sun god.