Culture and religion in Ancient egypt
Ancient Egyptian had their own mythology and religious beliefs. They believed that they would need bodies and tools for the afterlife. This caused the process of mummification and illustrations on tomb walls.
The process of mummification developed over time to preserve the bodies of the dead. At first, the ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small, sand pits in the desert. The hot dry sand caused the bodies to dehydrate, causing natural mummies. The problem with this process was that animals dug up the bodies for food. To solve this problem, the ancient Egyptians buried their dead in coffins to protect them from the animals, but the bodies decayed. This was a problem because the ancient Egyptians believed that the dead needed their bodies in the afterlife. They then began to embalm and mummify the dead. When a body was embalmed, the organs, except for the heart, were removed, and the body and organs were dehydrated using the salt natron. The organs were packed in jars to preserve them. The body was later wrapped in linen and buried in a sarcophagus with other items that they believed were necessary for the afterlife.
The ancient Egyptians also had specific beliefs of what happened during the afterlife. The beliefs are displayed on the walls of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. In the beginning of King Tut’s journey to the afterlife, he is laid out on a shrine pulled by mourners who are dressed in white. The mourners are followed by the viziers of upper and lower Egypt and General Horemheb. These events are all show on the East wall. The next events occur on the North wall, which shows several different scenes. Aye, King Tut’s successor, is being a Sem priest and is performing the opening of the mouth ceremony. this ceremony is used to revive the senses after mummification. During this, Tut appears as Osiris, the god of the afterworld. Next, Tut is greeted by Nut, goddess of the sky, and welcomed to the underworld. The final scene on this wall shows Osiris embracing Tut. Next to him is his spiritual double or ka. This means that Osiris is welcoming Tut and his spirit to the afterlife. The West wall comes next. The twelve baboons on this wall represent the twelve hours of night that King Tut must pass through to reach the afterlife. The solar bark represents the Egyptian belief that the sun also had to pass through twelve hours of night to start a new day, and the solar bark was what the sun rode on. The scarab represents the sun. The final wall is the South wall. Hathor, the goddess of the west, is standing in front of King Tut. Anubis, the god of embalming, is also present and holding the ankh. Hathor has two ankh, and is offering King Tut one of them. This represents King Tut being offered everlasting life in the afterlife.
The ancient Egyptians also had developed a mythology. Their gods included Ra, Shu, Nut, Geb, Isis, Horus, Seth, Osiris, Nephthys, Anubis, and Thoth. Ra was the god of the sun. He appeared as a man with a hawk head and a headdress that had a sun disk. He was the most important god in ancient Egypt. Shu was the god of air. He appears as a man wearing a headdress with feathers and also as a lion. Nut was the goddess of the sky. She appears as a woman with a dress decorated with stars whose body arches over the sky. She was the sister and wife of Geb and the mother of Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, and Seth. Geb was the god of the earth. He appears as a man who lies beneath the arch formed by Nut and as a man with a goose on his head. He was the brother and husband of Nut and the father of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Seth. Isis was a protective goddess who used magic to help people in need. She appears as a women with a headdress shaped like a throne and a pair of cow horns with a sun disk. She was the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus. Horus was the god of the sky. He appeared as a man with the head of a hawk and as a hawk. He is the son of Isis and Osiris. Seth was the god of chaos. He appeared as a man with the head of an unknown animal. He was the brother and husband of Nephthys. He murdered Osiris. Osiris was the god of the dead who ruled the underworld. He appeared as a mummified man with a cone-shaped white headdress decorated with feathers. He was the brother and husband of Isis and the father of Horus. Nephthys was the protective goddess of the dead. She appeared as a woman with a headdress that had her name written on it in hieroglyphics. She was the sister and wife of Seth and the mother of Anubis. Anubis was the god of embalming and the dead. He appeared as a man with the head of a jackal or as a jackal. Thoth was the god of knowledge and writing. He appeared as a man with the head of an ibis and holding a writing palette or as an ibis or baboon. These were a few of the gods that the Egyptians worshiped and created.
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