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= // Religion in Ancient Egypt // =

=For Ancient Egyptians, like all ancient and indigenous societies, religion was not separated from the rest of life. It was a part of everyday life - everything the people believed and did grew out of their religious beliefs and practices. Religion was an explanation of both //why// the world existed, and the //way// in which nature operated. It provided a response to the human need for meaning in life by containing the promise of an afterlife (belief) and an outline of how to behave in a moral or good way (ethics). Sacred stories and texts, including the myth of Osiris, helped to explain the world as Egyptians saw it. It was a polytheistic religion, meaning that the Egyptians believed in more than one god.=

= = =Egyptian religion included rituals that helped society as a whole, by appeasing the gods and ensuring that natural events like the annual flood occured. Other rituals focused on helping the individual to live a happy life and achieve an afterlife (the ritual of mummification). Sacred spaces were important. Some Egyptian temples were massive constructions built over centuries and were home to influential and wealthy priesthoods who had an important role in ensuring that the gods were happy and that Egypt was prosperous and powerful. The most significant person in Egyptian religion was the pharaoh, who was not only king but god, and was responsible for ensuring the balance between gods and the natural world was maintained.=

[|Egyptology Online] - has sections on mummification, the afterlife, the soul, gods, temples, and funerary texts (Book of the Dead) if you take the time to look. [|Religion in Ancient Egypt] [|Absolute Egyptology] - if you scroll down under gods, there are sections on ba/ka, mummification, Book of the Dead, sacred myths etc. [|Discovering Ancient Egypt]