Ancient Egyptian Religion

The Idea of the Soul -3 parts—Ba, Ka, Akh -one part couldn’t live w/o other, one died—all died -mummification was to keep them together -Ba—personality, character of the person, human headed bird, could leave the tomb, visit living in any form

-Ka—double of the body in the heart, had to stay in the tomb near the body -Ka was why body had to be preserved and objects and food left in the tomb -Akh—immortality of the person, represented as a ghost, shadow, take any shape traveled to the underworld to take its place in afterlife

Cats -Egypt became first to use cats as pets, first used to ward off snakes, and rodents along the Nile cats painted in many tomb stories—represented a protector of children and the home two cat gods—one a protector, the other represented war and pestilence (disease)

when cats died owners mourned deeply, shaved eyebrows, cats were mummified and left with bowls of milk, dead mice and rats law said if you killed a cat—punishment was death Persia used this against Egyptian—cats on battlefield

Gods and Goddesses -polytheistic with gods related and many stories Ra—sun god, hawk and sun disk, died every night and boat through underworld

Osiris—god of the dead, and resurrection, killed by brother Seth, mummified man, white with feathers

Seth—god of Chaos, killed Osiris cut up his body, defeated by Horus, animal head but not clear the type

-Isis—wife of Osiris, mother of Horus— goddess of protection, fertility, tears were when the Nile flooded

Horus—son of Isis and Osiris, god of the sky, defeated Seth, lost an eye, god who protects Egypt, Pharaoh seen as the living Horus, eye of Horus symbol important, falcon

-Thoth—symbol—Ibis (bird), god of writing and knowledge Hathor—goddess of love and joy, wife of Horus, seen as mother of the Pharaoh, sun disk and cow horns

-Anubis-god of mummification and embalming, jackal, weighing of the heart, took the dead to Osiris

Symbols -ankh—symbol of life and love, like the Christian cross -scarab—beetle, often created as jewelry in mummy wrappings, protector of dead

Eye of Horus—symbol of sun god, protection, part of ying and yang