Religion in ancient Egypt - Essay Example

Religion in ancient EgyptAbstractThis paper shows how the Egyptian religion was expressed by the attitude of people to the gods and the earth. The paper shows that in Egypt there were many gods and people worshiped in each city to different gods. Religion had rather than external ethical character. Keywords: Ancient Egypt, religion, godReligion in Egypt Egyptian religion was a fantastic reflection of the external forces that have ruled over the people in their daily lives. In Egypt, the objects that were primarily reflect the forces of nature.

Geographical isolation contributed to the independence of Egypt's religious development and to the weak influence of other religious systems. One of the oldest strata of the complex Egyptian religion were farming folk beliefs and practices. The ancient Egyptians thought that the gods created the world for humans. In the literary heritage of Egypt is very little direct evidence of the creation of the human race, such instructions are an exception. Basically Egyptians limiting beliefs that a person owes his existence to the gods who look to him for that helpful.

In ancient Egypt the gods, unlike the gods of the ancient world did not have well-defined functions, they were less interested in human activities and almost never interfered in human disputes. Also the Egyptian gods did not communicate with the people, but they had human feelings such as love, hatred, jealousy and vindictiveness. “To a great extent, gods were patterned after humans--they were born, some died (and were reborn), and they fought amongst themselves. Yet as much as the gods' behavior resembled human behavior, they were immortal and always superior to humans” (Teeter, Brewer 2002).

Nevertheless Egyptians believed their gods essentially moral and sought to imitate them. In Egypt, there were no more or less significant settlements, which did not have their gods. Not only the big town or nome had their gods, but also small towns in polynomials had their gods. Furthermore these gods gave a great assistance to local patriotism. Science has rather limited, but indisputable information on local views and cults. Common, that was the local cults that were presented in the following:- the oldest local totemic cult turned into a local god, or manifest as an animal or anthropomorphic, often with the presence of zoomorphic elements;- local god very early becomes the central figure in the emerging myths about it, there are cycles of local mythology;- local god is the demiurge, the creator of the gods and the world, it is above all other gods.

Egyptians imagined their gods in zoomorphic or anthropomorphic form, so gods regardless of their stay somewhere in the universe must have had their earthly homes. So "home" was an Egyptian temple. The temple kept the images of gods and objects of worship. Ministry of culture implied to meet the needs of these lively presence as if they image of the invisible god (for example, to ensure god food and drink, apparel and so on), as well as rendering them divine honors. In other words, the ministry of culture consisted mainly in an orderly implementation of various rites, and pleasing as the Egyptians believed that it is necessary to god, but it did not imply any ethical standards.

Egyptians understood piety primarily as an external ritual observance. Egyptians were unusually close to suffering gods. Cult of Osiris, Isis and suffering, innocent infant Horus enjoyed the greatest popularity. Every Egyptian believed himself to some extent Osiris, in the struggle to defend their rights and defeat even death. In their epitaphs they called himself "Osiris" and hoped to share the fate of god in the afterlife.Works CitedAncient Egyptian Religion. (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.

epiceras-ancientegypt.com/ancient_egyptian_religion.htmlTeeter, E., Brewer, D. (2002). Religion in the Lives of the Ancient Egyptians. Egypt and the Egyptians. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/1/777777190168/