The Ancient Egyptians were a very independent civilisation. They were very intelligent and they used everything they had to their advantage. Most of these resources came from the Nile, and without it, there would be no such thing as the Egyptian Civilisation. Even though they were one of the most intelligent civilisations of their time, there were a lot of things they didn't understand. Why was there such thing as night or day? Why does the Nile flood every year? What happens when we die? All of these things they didn't understand, so they created gods and goddesses, that weren't human, that made day and night, made the Nile flood, and took people to an “afterlife.” They worshipped these gods in their daily life, and prayed that they would receive good fortune from them. This is the basis of their religion.
Similar to the modern religion Hinduism, the Egyptians worshipped multiple gods. Each god was master of something, such as water, sky, life, death, etc. There were over 700 of these gods, but a lot of them were not that significant to the Egyptians in daily life.
All of the gods were linked together in one story, similar to the Dreamtime stories from the Aborigines. One of the stories went like this:
In the beginning, the only thing on earth was the dark waters of chaos, Nun. Nun made the very first land. This mound of earth was called Ben-Ben. The god Atum, the first god, was on the top. Atum was the god of creation, and he created Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Shu and Tefnut had two children, who were gods. Their names were Geb, the god of earth, and then Nut, the god of the sky. Shu, the god of air, lifted Nut up so she became a canopy over Geb, the other god.
Nut and Geb had four children. They were Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Osiris was king of the earth, and Isis was the queen, and they both ruled over Earth for a long time. But Seth had turned into an evil god, and he wanted to be ruler of the earth. After a short time, he killed Osiris. Osiris went down to the underworld and Seth became king. But Osiris and Isis had a child before Osiris died, called Horus, another god of the sky. Seth and Horus fought against each other, and even though Horus lost an eye, he won the battle and became king of the earth. After that, all was well and Horus was king of the earth, and Osiris was king of the underworld. Nothing very significant happened to Nephthys, but she became a protective goddess of the dead.
These are only some of over 700 gods. The most significant and important are listed here, although there are many others that Egyptians worshipped and related to in their daily life.
One of the most significant gods was Ra, also now known as Re, the sun god. He was a human with the head of a hawk, with big headdress of a sun disk. The Egyptians believed that he was the creator and he created himself. Ra has been known by many names, and that is why in the story below, one of the gods fits the description of Ra. The Egyptians believed that Ra brought the sun to the earth in a boat. He flew across the sky, from the east to the west. When the sun was rising, the Egyptians called it “Khepri.” At the end of each day, Ra would be swallowed by the sky goddess Nut, after which he would travel through the underworld. In the underworld, Ra's shape changed and he became a man with the head of a ram. One of the evil gods, Apophis, would lie in wait, but Ra, disguised as a cat, would chop his head off with a knife, although every night Apophis would return. In the morning, he would venture out once again, and the cycle would continue. He was the most important god because without the sun, there would be no crop, and therefore, no food. If they didn't have any food, the Egyptians would not survive. Because Ra was in the underworld at night, the Egyptians were very scared of it.
Ra (courtesy of ancientegypt.co.uk)
Another very important god wasKhnum, the god of life. He was half human, half ram, just like some other gods. Egyptians did not understand why or how babies were made, so they decided that there must be a god to do so. Khnum was a human with the read of a ram, and he made babies on a potter's wheel and then brought them to life. The Egyptians believed that he was very important because if he didn't make the babies, their civilisation would not survive because when people died, nobody would be there to take their place. After a while, the whole civilisation would decease.
