Ancient Egypt: Gods and Mummies

The Many Gods of Egypt The ancient Egyptians worshiped at least nine main gods, but they had many more gods they could call on to help them with their life. They had over 2,000 gods! Their gods were very unique. For example, the eye of Ra was considered a separate being from Ra, the Sun God, even though it was his eye. In the ancient world around the Mediterranean, most civilizations had gods that looked like people, at least sort of like people. This was not true in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, it was fairly easy to spot a god in drawings, hieroglyphics, statues, and paintings and works of art. They could be recognized by the objects they carried and how they looked. Most ancient Egyptian gods had animal heads or green bodies or something that set them apart from people. Those that had more human-like heads wore false beards. Even some with animal heads had false beards. That's why pharaohs wore false beards - because when a pharaoh died, he became a god. Unless you were a pharaoh or a god, you could not wear a false beard. Some gods carried an ankh (symbol of life) and some gods carried the scepter of power.

Relationship with the Gods Most ancient civilizations were afraid of angering their gods. This was not true in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were not afraid of most their gods. People prayed in the temples for what they wanted. But if they did not get it, they might give the temple statue a little whack with a reed, to let the gods know how disappointed they were. The ancient Egyptians were practical. They knew they could not get everything they wanted. They believed the gods were on their side, whether their wish was granted or not.

Since there are so many gods, let’s just look at a few of the more important ones...

Osiris Osiris is shown as a human with green skin. He was king of the gods until he was killed by his brother, Set. He was brought back to life by his wife, Isis, and ruled the Underworld as a kind and loving god.

Set Set, also know as Seth, was the Egyptian god of chaos, storms, the desert, and foreigners. In Egyptian mythology, he killed his brother Osiris out of jealousy and chopped up his body. He is depicted with an animal head of unknown origin: we do not know what sort of animal it is supposed to be.

Isis Isis was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. She found her husband after Set killed him and put him back together and brought him back to life. She is the goddess of health, love, marriage, and motherhood. Today, there are some modern pagans who still worship her.

Thoth Thoth was the ibis-headed god of wisdom, magic, writing, and settling disputes between gods. He was also believed to be responsible for maintaining the universe. He helped Isis put Osiris back together after Set murdered him.

Ra Ra was the god of the sun, and was represented with the head of a falcon and the sun on his head. He was very important in ancient Egyptian mythology, as he is believed to have created humans. He was responsible for making the sun move each day, which was believed to be his boat.

Mummies and the Afterlife

The Afterlife Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, a real and beautiful place, where they played and lived after they died. To enjoy your afterlife, you couldn't just die. You had to prepare. To achieve immortality, you had to satisfy some requirements: (1) Your name had to be written down. If it was not written down, you disappeared. (2) You had to pass the Weighing of the Heart. Your heart was weighed by Anubis, the judge of the dead, against the weight of a magic feather. If your heart was light, because you had lived a good, hard working, caring life, the scale would balance, and you would go to heaven. If it did not, your heart was eaten by Ammit, and your soul was destroyed. (3) You needed a preserved body so that your Ba and Ka, the two pieces of your soul, could find their way home at night back to your tomb. Without a body, the Ba and Ka would get lost. And they would no longer be able to reach the heavenly Land of Two Fields.

Mummification To be sure the body was preserved, it was dried out in a process called mummification. If a person was poor, they would be left in the desert by their families to naturally dry out. If they were rich, they would undergo a much fancier process.

First, their organs would be removed and placed in canopic jars so they could be watched over by the gods. Next, cloth would be placed in the body to replace the organs. The body would be covered in natron (similar to baking soda) to help dry out, and left alone for 40 days. Finally, the body would be decorated, covered in charms, and wrapped in 20 layers of linen, before having a mask placed and put to rest.