Religion in ancient Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion in ancient Egypt - Essay Example One of the oldest strata of the complex Egyptian religion were farming folk beliefs and practices. The ancient Egyptians thought that the gods created the world for humans. In the literary heritage of Egypt is very little direct evidence of the creation of the human race, such instructions are an exception. Basically Egyptians limiting beliefs that a person owes his existence to the gods who look to him for that helpful. In ancient Egypt the gods, unlike the gods of the ancient world did not have well-defined functions, they were less interested in human activities and almost never interfered in human disputes. Also the Egyptian gods did not communicate with the people, but they had human feelings such as love, hatred, jealousy and vindictiveness. â€Å"To a great extent, gods were patterned after humans--they were born, some died (and were reborn), and they fought amongst themselves. Yet as much as the gods behavior resembled human behavior, they were immortal and always superior t o humans† (Teeter, Brewer 2002). Nevertheless Egyptians believed their gods essentially moral and sought to imitate them. In Egypt, there were no more or less significant settlements, which did not have their gods. Not only the big town or nome had their gods, but also small towns in polynomials had their gods. Furthermore these gods gave a great assistance to local patriotism. Science has rather limited, but indisputable information on local views and cults. Common, that was the local cults that were presented in the following: Egyptians imagined their gods in zoomorphic or anthropomorphic form, so gods regardless of their stay somewhere in the universe must have had their earthly homes. So "home" was an Egyptian temple. The temple kept the images of gods and objects of worship.