Chapter 1 GODS & RELIGION Ancient Egypt The words bring to mind images of pyramids hieroglyphs and hidden treasure But there’s more to this ancient society than just Pharaoh’s tombs filled with gold The empire we refer to as ancient Egypt was a complex civilization that existed in the Nile river valley between the years 3100 B C E and 30 B C E over three thousand years Egyptians like the Greeks and Romans worshiped many different gods They also created elaborate stories about the creation of the universe as well as what they believed happened after death 4
GODS & RELIGION 1 The ancient Egyptians had over 2,000 gods Many were depicted as humans with animal heads such as Anubis with the head of a jackal Sobek with the head of a crocodile and Babi with the head of a baboon 2 The name Horus who has the head of a falcon means He who is far above All pharaohs considered themselves to be descendants of Horus Good Old Grandpa Horus Grandpa 5
3 The most revered Egyptian goddess was Hathor a woman with cow’s horns and a solar disk on her head 4 Egyptians had many creation stories They believed the universe was created when the great god Atum sneezed out Shu god of air and spat out Tefnut goddess of moisture The god Sobek is believed to have created the rivers of the world with his sweat Gross man it's hot 6
Welcome to Duat GODS & RELIGION 5 It was believed that after death you traveled to an underworld called Duat which was filled with snakes lakes of fire and executioners 6 Egyptians believed many elements of a person lived on after death including their Ba which was their head on the body of a hawk don't miss the lakes of fire 7
