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Religions

Ancient Egyptian Religion

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The religion of ancient Egypt, polytheistic, dates back to at least the 4th millennium BC and disappeared with its ban by the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I at the end of the 4th century. Its roots trace back to prehistory: the zoomorphic Egyptian pantheon contains only animals corresponding to the predynastic biotope. No god is represented in the form of an animal belonging to a species that appeared later.

This religion combines the worship of nature spirits (genius of wheat, goddess of harvests, etc.) with cosmic gods of superior importance, who manifest themselves in the form of physical phenomena (Ra, the sun, Geb, the Earth, etc.). The ancient Egyptians represented their gods in a zoomorphic form, incarnated in animals or in mixed forms, partly anthropomorphic. Horus, for example, is represented as a man with a falcon’s head.

The rituals were practiced by priests, delegates of Pharaoh, in temples that became monumental when their builders began to use stone instead of brick. The different gods are generally specific to a given area, around a main city of which they are the tutelary deity. These areas correspond roughly to the nomes (administrative subdivisions), although certain cults have radiated more widely.

Ancient Egyptian Religion

Pharaonic Egypt – New Kingdom; around -1580

In Egyptian civilization, religion played a leading role. Pharaoh, as the king, was also the intermediary between men and gods, was himself assimilated to a living god. The theme of life after death, particularly important in ancient Egypt, led to the construction of mastabas and then pyramids, monumental tombs, as well as mummification rituals (reserved for the highest social classes). All this was part of the context of a highly stratified society, one of the first in history to reach the stage of proto-state.

This religion experienced a resurgence in the second half of the 20th century in the form of Kemetism, the term designating either a radical pan-Africanist political claim where Egyptian Kemet is considered to be the basis of all civilization, a thesis which relies on those of Cheikh Anta Diop, or a spiritual movement within neopaganism.

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