Religion was very important to the ancient Egyptians. Almost everything about their culture had something related to their religion. Their whole religion was based on something called polytheism, the belief in more than one god. The Egyptians had somewhere around 2,000 gods. Some gods were worshiped from end to end of Egypt, and yet some were only worshiped in a specific place. Many of these gods were part human, and part animal. For example, Horus had the head of a hawk and the body of a human. They considered animals such as the bull, cat, or crocodile sacred and holy. The priest's duty was to take care of the gods. He would do things like applying make-up on their faces, and feeding them. there are many beliefs on how the world came to be. According to one legend, it started with an ocean in darkness. Then a
mound of dry land rose up and the sun god Ra appeared. He created light
and all things. Because the Egyptians believed that there was an afterlife, many Egyptians would save up lots of money and other things, believing that it should be used to make the person more comfortable in the next life. The people of this culture made temples as dwelling places for the gods.Each city had a temple for the main god of that city. |
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