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Religious beliefs of the Egyptians
Religion and government in ancient Egypt
Essay egyptian embalming and mummification process
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Introduction
With Topic Sentence
7 Indicators
Ancient Egypt was an complex civilisation because it had all seven indicators
Indicator 1
A well organized government
Topic Sentence
Transition
The government in ancient Egypt was just like any other.
One reason is...
Support 1
In Ancient Egypt, you couldn't get away from the law even if you have money or nobility.
So no matter what, you will receive the punishment you deserve.
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
This way in Egypt, everyone was equal to punishment so then that means they have a well established government.
Support 2
Another reason that they had a well organized government is because the supreme leader named the
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Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
The normal people themselves had no way to talk to the gods directly. So they made small figures of gods and worshiped and prayed to them for protection.
Support 2
Cats were very much an worshiped animal in Egypt, so they did much with a cat
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
This proves that Egypt had a very unique religion because not many worshiped cats. Also, when a cat is killed by an person or even another animal, they would execute the person that killed. That proves how much egypt worshiped cats
Support 3
Egyptians were one of the only people who mummified people, acutely they didn't only mummify people, they also mummified CATS!
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
This again proves how unique Egypt religion is, they don't only mummify people and give them a tomb, but they also mummified cats and sometime they shared the same tomb as a Pharaoh but famous cats could get their own tomb. Some people also shave their eyebrows when an famous cat dies to show respect.
Support 4
Explanation of
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Doctors have very important job, since they believed that illnesses were caused by the wrath of the god or a evil spirit entered the body. Their job was to help cure it and find out if it was a doing of the gods, or an evil spirit had entered the body.
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
Doctors were a job that used a combination of magic spells and remedies. Let's take the pregnancy remedy for example, what they did was a mixture of honey and natron then injected it into them. Then they would urinate on to barley and wheat. If the wheat grew, it would be a female, if the barley grew, it would be a male.
Support 3
Another job in ancient Egypt is a builder. They were too, well, build things, but they didn't make pyramids, which is surprising. They built houses and temples.
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
More jobs the better. Builders were also an important job because they had to make houses for everyone Egypt. They usually put mud from the nile called idqou into molds then slapped that on the ground to dry in the sun to make bricks.
Support 4
Explanation of support.
How does this information support the indicator?
Support
Interestingly, X-rays reveal that the mummy case of Paankhenamun does in fact contain a mummy inside dating back to the years of c. 945 – 715 B.C. The practice of mummification was the Egyptian people’s way of preserving the spirits of the Gods/Goddesses and royalty. The idea was that when these beings came back to life, they would be preserved and well prepared for their next lives. By the time of the New Kingdom, the Egyptians already had developed techniques of mummification, which were done under a priest’s supervision (Stokstad 114), and since Paankhenamun was the priest of Amun, he was most likely was in charge of these procedures.
Mythological Details: My novel is fiction because it involves the Egyptian gods in a modern day world, and also the main characters pet cat had been an Egyptian god, named Bast, that had been ordered to protect them. A quote to support this is "So, yeah. Our cat was a goddess" (Riordan, 114).
The funerary rituals introduced by the Egyptians were the most intricate, spiritual rites in their times and, perhaps, even to this day. Their elaborate customs, tombs, and gifts to the dead were representative of their pious, devoted nature. Albeit not all were as imposing as the oldest and still remaining Seven Wonder of the World, the Pyramids of Giza, all were meaningful and sacred. The Egyptians, highly reverent of their dead, adopted ornate, religious burial practices to fit to every member of their society.
The feline was the most important animal given divine honors because it was admired for its energy or power, strength and agility (Ions, 103). Egyptians first domesticated cats around 2000 BCE in Egypt. This was essentially because of their instincts to catch and kill rats and other rodents (Michelle). Eventually these domesticated house pets surpassed other animals of its time and elevated its status to a worshipped deity. Goddesses that are often depicted with a lion or cat embodiment are; Mafdet, Bastet, Sakhemet, Tefnut (Pinch, 134). Egyptian gods depicted with a lion or cat embodiment are Atum-Ra and Bes. All w ere associated with the sun-god Ra, sometimes being identified as “The Eye of Ra”. Ra was viewed as one of the most important gods because the sun controls farming and crops (Pinch, 129). Egyptians considered cats as royalty and treated them as such through laws that protected them from any harm. Therefore, if any human ...
The Egyptian Process of Mummification In ancient Egyptian society, preserving a body after death was an important process necessary for entrance into an immortal existence. According to Egyptian belief, the soul did not die. The soul would take the form of a bird, usually a falcon, and fly around in the world of the living returning later its dead body. The importance of preserving the body revolved around the idea that the roaming soul would be able to recognize the right body and return to it.
The government of ancient Egypt was similarly autocratic. The pharaohs were both god and king and the religion taught the people to trust that their king would rule according to maat with concern for the welfare of the common man. In return for the building and maintenance of great temples the gods preserved the absolute power of the pharaoh and ensured the duration of the state. These temples, the Great Pyramids, and the Sphinx as well were created and built by the will of the elite through the labor of the people. Again we see the absolute subjugation of the people to the indisputable, god-like authority of the ruler.
Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses. Some of the gods they worshiped were Ra the sun god, Isis the god of nature and magic, Horus the god of war and Osiris the god of the dead. The act of worshiping many gods is called polytheism. The Egyptians had a god for almost everything.
Egypt was one of the first River Valley Civilizations. In Egypt there were big advances in art, math and science and also pottery. We still use the same number system and they even had fractions back in that time. During the Old Kingdom times the pyramids were built. The pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs of Egypt. These pyramids are one of the most popular historical sites in the world.
Early Greek medicine was more of a divine matter. It was believed that the God Asclepius was the god of medicine. Priests would live at his temples and claimed they knew the ways of healing people. It was not until around 500 B.C., a Greek physician named Alcmaeon began to dissect animals to observe their skeleton, muscles, and brain. This was most probably the first ever to describe a phenomenon through objective observations. Through his observations, he believed that illness was due to an imbalance in the body. This idea prevailed for many centuries in the history of medicine.
The Egyptians during this period took ample time and detail on the mummification process to ensure a successful transition from the netherworld to rebirth. The Coffin of Tentkhonsu, 1025-980 B.C., it’s a depiction of how the Egyptians valued and honored their elite members of society, as well as their gods. The Coffin of Tentkhonsu, itself dates back to the III intermediate period in Egyptian culture. The Egyptian believe was to join Osiris, whom was believed to have ascended to Netherworld and accomplished eternal life.
Doctors believed the human body was part of the universe, so they used elements for each humour, “Yellow bile was the equivalent of fire. Phlegm was the equivalent of water. Black bile was the equivalent of earth and blood was the equivalent of air”(“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”). Also, because of their beliefs and lack of knowledge on serious medical conditions, most severe cases were not treated accurately. Some doctors believed if a person broke a bone, then it was never supposed to be used again because the accident was based from many sins of the soul (“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”). The doctors also believed in completely covering their body when treating a patient. It was thought that if they wore boots, gloves, masks and robes, then they would be protected from the diseases. They also wore an amulet around their waste, filled with dried blood and ground up toads (Alchin). Although this may seem out of the ordinary today, these precautions were something an Elizabethan doctor did not go
Because of the lack of rain, the Egyptians relied on the water from the Nile River, which flooded every year on schedule so people had to work together to build the canals, dikes, and many more devices just to cons...
The most common ancient Egyptian burial practice is the mummification process as depicted in source B. Mummification is a ritual that embalmers performed when a pharaoh died. Source B is a photograph of the canoptic jars which are a main component of the mummification process. The first step in the mummification process is the removal and preservation of most of the internal organs, such as the lungs, the stomach, the liver and intestines. These organs are then separately embalmed and placed into canoptic jars as source B reveals. These jars were often decorated with one of the four animal-headed sons of the god Horus. Each head is believed to be the protector of each organ within the jar and is dedicated to a specific deity. The preservation of the organs is significant as they allowed the dead person to breathe and eat in the afterlife. The internal organs were then wrapped and put into either the body or put in boxes instead of sitting in jars. Canoptic jars were still placed in the tomb but they were solid or empty and provided a symbolic purpose. In Tutankhamun’s tomb the canoptic jars were discovered in a shrine that was found in the treasury room of the tomb. Source B is useful is when understanding the mummification process.
The Egyptians believed very much in life after death. As Taylor states in Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, “It is often observed that they appear to have devoted greater efforts and resources to preparing for the afterlife than to creating a convenient environment for living” (Taylor, 2001:12). The Egyptians viewed life on earth as one stage and death as the beginning of another. They believed that, “human existence did not end with death and that survival of the body played a part in the new life” (Taylor, 2001:12). One of the key elements in the Egyptian culture and religion was the preservation of the body. The body was the most important aspect because it was like a portal through which an individual could continue to live after death (Taylor, 2001:46). The Egyptians began building tombs for these bodies to keep them from decaying.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians also believed in god and goddesses and was one of the first to develop their unique writing system called hieroglyphics. Egyptian’s also were the first to construct triangular pyramids with magnificent tombs to bury their dead pharaohs and queens. These pyramids were very comparable to the ziggurats built by the Mesopotamians. The Egyptians unlocked more access when they started using papyrus to make paper in order to communicate. They also inven...