Life in Pharaonic Egypt was to a great extent permeated with religion. This is also reflected in the preserved monuments such as temples and tombs: almost all of them have a predominantly religious purpose. The religion was polytheistic, meaning that numerous gods were worshiped.
The series of articles is intended to provide a self-contained overview of the most important aspects of religious life in ancient Egypt.
The religion existed at least since the last half of the 4th millennium BC, i.e. before the unification of the empire, and did not end until the third century AD. Some elements of this religion still lived on in the beginnings of Egyptian / Coptic Christianity.
In ancient Egypt, religion was in the truest sense of the word state-supporting: the king was mediator to the gods, he legitimized himself in the cults of gods. One of the duties of the king was to maintain cosmic order and earthly justice.
subjects
World of gods
- Characterization of religion
- Piety, ethics
- cosmos
- Myths
- Ancient Egyptian pantheon of gods
Cults
- rites
- oracle
- Festivals
- Royal ideology
- Temple cult
- Belief in the dead, mummification, souls (Ka and Ba)
Selected representations
- in temples
- in royal tombs
- in private graves
literature
religion
- : Egypt: Theology and Piety of an Early High Culture. Stuttgart [and others]: Kohlhammer, 1984, Urban paperbacks; 366, ISBN 978-3170083714 .
- : Real Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History [RÄRG]. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1952, ISBN 978-3110168846 , ISBN 978-3937872087 . Also under the title “Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History”, Hamburg: Nikol, 2005.
- : Basic features of the ancient Egyptian religion. Darmstadt: Scientific book society, 1983, Basic features; 50, ISBN 978-3534084241 .
- : The one and the many: Egyptian ideas of God. Darmstadt: Knowledge Buchges., 1971, ISBN 978-3534149841 . Also under the title “The One and the Many: Ancient Egyptian Gods”.
- : The belief in gods in ancient Egypt. Berlin: Academy Publishing House, 1956, ISBN 978-3050004716 .
- : Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians: Foundations and development up to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Berlin: Academy Publishing House, 1956.
- : Egyptian religion. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1960, The religions of mankind; 8th.
Texts
- : The ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1973. 3 volumes.
- : Egyptian underworld books. Zurich: Artemis, 1972, ISBN 978-3760810614 . Also under the title "The Egyptian Underworld Books".
