Introduction
Understanding Religion of Ancient Egypt
The Egyptian religion sought to maintain the "maât*, the righteous order of the world, in the face of the forces of disorder. Deities were not enclosed in a single identity: they could combine, change function according to the cities and manifest themselves in human, animal or composite forms.
Local cults were gradually integrated into the Pharaohic State.
To be retained
Four essential principles
- The Egyptian religion sought to maintain the "maât*, the righteous order of the world, in front of the forces of disorder.
- Local cults were gradually integrated into the Pharaohic State.
- Temples, offerings, hymns, processions and feasts maintained the divine presence.
- to live precisely, to preserve balance and to participate in the renewal of the world was the heart of this tradition.
Small timeline
A tradition shaped by history
Origins and training
Local cults were gradually integrated into the Pharaohic State.
Historical developments
The king was the ritual mediator between gods and humans, but the population also practised domestic devotion.
Ritual life and teachings
Temples, offerings, hymns, processions and feasts maintained the divine presence.
Seed and rediscovery
The theologies of Memphis, Heliopolis and Thebes proposed several complementary creative accounts.
History and development
Local cults were gradually integrated into the Pharaohic state. The king was the ritual mediator between gods and humans, but the population also practised a domestic devotion. The theologies of Memphis, Heliopolis and Thebes proposed several complementary creative accounts.
The episode of Akhenaton, in the fourteenth century BCEE., briefly placed the solar disc Aton at the centre of the royal cult without permanently disposing of the other gods. Then the cults of Isis and Serapis spread throughout the Mediterranean world.
Worldview, beliefs and practices
Temples, offerings, hymns, processions and feasts maintained the divine presence. Death was conceived as a passage requiring preservation of the body, funeral rites and moral conduct.
In the funeral texts, the deceased's heart is weighed against the feather of Maât. The mummification concerned mainly the environments that could finance it and its forms varied greatly according to the times.
Texts, symbols and transmission
Texts of pyramids, Texts of sarcophagus, Book for day-to-day exit, hymns and mythological narratives. Symbols: ânkh, eye of wajat, scarab, djed pillar, solar boat.
What research can and cannot say
The egyptology studies inscriptions, papyrus, temples, tombs and objects. It can reconstruct the uses and their transformations, but not confirm the existence of the gods or a beyond. The image of a religion solely oriented towards death is misleading: its rites served first the continuity of life, society and the cosmos.
References