The Position of the King in Egyptian Religion - Essay Example

The king’s role in Egyptian religion is three-pronged. First, the king has a divine function. Second, the king is has a human form. Lastly, the king has an influential political role to implement on his subjects. First, the king has a divine function. The king is considered a god. The Egyptians were believed to have conceived the world as a social process that from dawn to dusk. The Egyptian king helps maintain the balance of the universe after its original maintainer was treacherously killed.

The king is also helped by the Egyptian priests in the maintenance of a universe that moves in complete harmony. This theory of the delicate balance that the Egyptian universe hangs shows that the king plays a very precarious role indeed. The King’s power then extends beyond the horizon in Egypt because the sky also extends to the far reaches of the king of Egypt. The king is also called by such names as gods of the provinces, gods of the towns of the earth and other names (Quirke 70). As a The book Ancient Egyptian Kings states that the kings were revered as gods through the construction of monuments like the landmark Pyramid.

Egyptian society looked at the king as an elite member of society. Many quarters in Egypt even consider their king as more important than their gods in heaven. The country could not run without the king god ruling over them. In fact, the king is considered as the unifying apex of any dualities that form the Egyptian society. The king services as the mediator between the people and the Egyptians gods up in the sky. The king god of Egypt is replaced by heredity. This means that the next King –god must be the son of the current king.

In addition, the god Horus was worshipped in Egypt by many people. The goddesses namely Wadjet and Buto, Saison were linked to the Egyptian king (Baines, 100). The king gods were often helped by their temple priests.