EGYPTIAN RELIGION

religion of ancient Egypt from the Late Neolithic period to the first centuries AD, including both folk traditions and the court religion. Egyptian religion is characterized by numerous deities having both animal and human forms. This diversity reflects the vast number of local cult centres that sprang up all along the Nile valley prior to political unification (c. 2925 BC). Once a central government arose, national deities and cults came into existence as well as the cult of the living king. The king came to be represented by the falcon deity Horus as the son of the gods and as the god-king ruling the universe. With the advent of national cults a number of theological concepts developed to define the world for the Egyptians. Foremost of these was the concept of ma'at. Ma'at signified the correct world order as given to man by the gods. This concept included the ideas of truth, justice, and correct social behaviour. The king was the administrator of ma'at and is frequently shown presenting ma'at to the gods, showing that he has properly maintained Egypt on their behalf. The Egyptians developed a concept of syncretism to reconcile the divergent and contradictory features of the various local cults. For example, Ptah was the creator god in the Memphite cosmogony, while Atum created the world in the Heliopolitan cosmogony. The Egyptians reconciled these views by associating one deity with another, such that the features of one became part of another. Deities with common features were combined to form composite deities. The sun god Re was frequently associated with many deities because of his universal nature. The Egyptians did not feel that the various features or powers of their gods contradicted each other but felt that they were simply different aspects of that deity. This resulted in male (or female) deities acquiring characteristics of the opposite sex, whereby the deity became self-creating and self-sustaining. The Egyptians developed a belief in the continuity of life. Life upon earth was only one aspect of a person's existence. Death did not destroy the individual, it merely transformed him into a further facet of the universe. The dead were active agents in the world of the living, and preparations for death were actually preparations for a new life in association with the gods. In the Old Kingdom only the king could be initiated into that spiritual world. As time went on, private individuals, by means of ritual, could achieve the same mystical aspects as the king. The Egyptians felt that time was cyclical. When the king died, he became Osiris, the dead king and ruler of the netherworld, and his son became the new Horus, administrator of ma'at. After a living king had ruled for 30 years, he underwent a series of rituals whereby he ritually died, became the dead Osiris, and was mystically rejuvenated. This was a symbolic rejuvenation for the entire land and perhaps was associated with the yearly inundation of the land by the Nile. The temple at all periods remained the focus of Egyptian community worship. With time the temples acquired major economic and political roles. By the end of the New Kingdom the temple of Amon-Re at Karnak was the chief political power in all of Upper Egypt. At different periods local temples came to national prominence, such as the temple of Re at Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom and the temple of Neith at Sais during the 26th dynasty. While the king in theory acted as high priest for all the gods, in practice he appointed others to carry on his daily ritual functions. In the sanctuary of each temple the image of the local deity resided. Only the ritually pure attended to the daily needs of the god. During festivals the god emerged from the temple carried on a sacred bark and could be viewed by the general populace. Private individuals could worship the deities at shrines or chapels in their homes. Most temples had areas at their rear walls where the general public could worship. On a miniature scale, temples represented the Egyptian cosmos. The sanctuary was normally higher than any other portion of the temple and represented the primordial mound where the universe was created. The ceilings were decorated with the stars and the pillars were in the forms of lotus and papyrus plants, also symbolic of the primordial marsh at creation. The rituals in the temple reenacted this creation and aided in the rejuvenation of the land. The majority of archaeological evidence from Egypt comes from the funerary monuments. Beginning with small pits in the predynastic era, they developed into a variety of structures from the small, excavated cave tomb to the massive pyramids at Giza. Each served as the eternal resting place of the soul. In the Old Kingdom the major tombs were congregated near that of the king. Individuals believed that they could achieve safe passage to the netherworld by association with the king. Later, individuals obtained entrance by their own means, usually by elaborate rituals and magic. The Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead (derived from the royal Pyramid Texts) provided a series of spells to purify the deceased, protect him from evil creatures, and give him the requisite passwords and magical spells to enter the netherworld. With the advent of periods of political instability, pessimistic trends crept into the Egyptian view of the world and greater emphasis was placed on the importance of the individual cult. Along with the rise of the personal cults, greater evidence of the use of magic is found. The Egyptians began to believe that they could control a portion of their mystical environment. Scarabs, wadjet eyes, and other potent symbols became common by the New Kingdom as means of protection from, and identification with, the gods. The most significant aspect of all of Egyptian religion was its ability to remain a unifying force for the Egyptian culture, despite the fact that there was often a lack of any systematic grouping of the deities. indigenous beliefs of ancient Egypt from predynastic times (4th millennium BC) to the disappearance of the traditional culture in the first centuries AD. For historical background and detailed dates, see Egypt, history of. Additional reading Most topics of Egyptian religion are surveyed under relevant headwords in Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto, and Wolfhart Westendorf (eds.), Lexikon der gyptologie (1972 ), with bibliographies. Hans Bonnet, Reallexikon der gyptischen Religionsgeschichte (1952, reprinted 1971), is a comprehensive reference work. George Hart, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses (1986), is also useful. Valuable interpretive surveys include Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian Religion (1973; originally published in German, 1960); Jan Assmann, gypten (1984), which presents a structured understanding of divine-human relations; and Byron E. Shafer (ed.), Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice (1991). Henri Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion (1948, reissued 1961), marks an important stage in scholarship. Erik Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many (1982; originally published in German, 1971), is a crucial study of a major issue. Jan Assmann, Mat: L'Egypte pharaonique et l'ide de la justice sociale (1989), is an important discussion of a central concept. James P. Allen et al., Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt (1989), is a useful collection of essays. Eberhard Otto, Egyptian Art and the Cults of Osiris and Amon (1968; originally published in German, 1966), studies two important cults. Marie-Ange Bonhme and Annie Forgeau, Pharaon: Les secrets du pouvoir (1988), is a full monograph on the central institution of kingship. Alessandro Roccati and Alberto Siliotti (ed.), La magia in Egitto ai tempi dei faraoni (1987), is a valuable collection of essays on magic. Serge Sauneron, The Priests of Ancient Egypt (1960, reissued 1980; originally published in French, 1957), focuses on the Late Period in a valuable survey of the spiritual and organizational aspects of a crucial religious institution. James P. Allen, Genesis in Egypt (1988), presents and analyzes creation myths. Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (1989), discusses small-scale temples of the earlier periods from an archaeological perspective. A.J. Spencer, Death in Ancient Egypt (1982), is a survey of archaeological evidence for mortuary practice. Sue D'Auria, Peter Lacovara, and Catharine H. Roehrig, Mummies & Magic (1988), presents funerary practice as shown by museum objects, with valuable introductory essays. Dorothy J. Thompson, Memphis Under the Ptolemies (1988), analyzes religious life with other questions for an important city during a vital period of transition. R.E. Witt, Isis in the Graeco-Roman World (1971), is a synthesizing study of the most important Egyptian cult outside of Egypt. Winifred S. Blackman, The Fellahin of Upper Egypt (1927, reissued 1968), presents folk beliefs in modern Egypt, including many ancient survivals. John R. Baines