Egyptian Culture

Egyptian culture

Main IdeaMain Idea:: The ancient Egyptians are famous for

their religion, their burial practices, and their advances in art, writing and science.

Reading FocusReading Focus:: What were the main principles of

Egyptian religion? Why did Egyptians practice

mummification and burial? What was daily life like in ancient Egypt? What advances did Egyptians make in art,

writing and science?

Egyptian Religion

Egyptians worshipped many gods: Some from the earliest days of the Old Kingdom Others like Imhotep added later Chief gods and goddesses • God of sun always a key figure, Re in Old Kingdom• Later linked to sky god, Amon, and known as Amon-Re

Anubis• Anubis was the most important

god of the Dead but he was replaced during the Middle Kingdom by Osiris.

• He takes names in connection with his funerary role, such as He who is upon his mountain, which underscores his importance as a protector of the deceased and their tombs, and the title He who is in the place of embalming, associating him with the process of mummification. Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumes different roles in various contexts, and no public procession in Egypt would be conducted without an Anubis to march at the head.

Isis• She was worshiped as the

ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers. Isis is the Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility.

• “Her magical skills restored his body to life after she gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set”. This myth became very important in later Egyptian religious beliefs.

Horus• The earliest recorded form

is Horus the Falcon who was the patron deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt and who is the first known national god, specifically related to the king who in time became to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris but in another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife.Horus served many functions in the Egyptian pantheon, most notably being the god of the Sky, god of War and god of Protection.

Temples and Religious Practices

Temples built to honor, provide homes for gods Ruins can still be seen in Egypt

Features:• Decorated with massive statues • Elaborate paintings, detailed carvings Obelisks: • Tall, thin pillars with pyramid-shaped

tops • Made from single piece of stone • Carved with intricate designs

Rituals to fulfill gods’ needs• Cleaned and refreshed statue of god

daily• This kept gods alive• In return gods would bring Egypt

prosperity Priests had responsibility for care • Common people had no part in rituals • Ordinary Egyptians never entered

temples• People did worship gods at annual

festivals

Mummification Over many centuries,

the ancient Egyptians developed a method of preserving bodies so they would remain lifelike. The process included embalming the bodies and wrapping them in strips of linen. Today we call this process mummification.

Burial From the earliest periods of

Egyptian history, all Egyptians were buried with at least some burial goods that they thought were necessary after death. At a minimum, these usually consisted of everyday objects such as bowls, combs, and other trinkets, along with food. Wealthier Egyptians could afford to be buried with jewelry, furniture, and other valuables, which made them targets of tomb robbers.

In the early Dynastic Period, tombs were filled with daily life objects, such as furniture, jewelry and other valuables. They also contained many pottery and stone vessels.

Hieroglyphics

• The Egyptians like other ancient civilizations had their own languages. Their writings were called hieroglyphics.

• We don’t know quite how they spoke their language, but we can now understand it.

• The way we know most of the Egyptian history is because of all the hieroglyphics that told about past events, even past lives.

• Hieroglyphics were used in many parts of the Egyptian civilization. • Hieroglyphics were found all over the walls of the pyramids, monuments,

temples, etc..

Ancient Egyptian Occupations

• The Ancient Egyptians had many jobs. A few of their jobs were scribes, priests, farmers, craft workers, mummifiers, and merchants.

• Some of the very important jobs were scribes, priests, and mummifiers.

• To become a scribe a person would have to be a successful student at school.

• Now to become a priest it was much more complicated. First, you would have to be at the top of your class to make it into the house of life. After you have endured both school and the house of life you would become a priest. You would also be near the top of the social pyramid!

• If neither of these jobs were enough of a challenge to you, you might want to be a mummifier. In this job you would have to go through the gruesome process of removing a body’s organs, (Except the heart, it was believed you would need your heart in the afterlife.) put on oils and salt to help preserve the body, and then you would have to wrap the body.

• Jobs like a merchant or a farmer worked together to raise money.• A job like a craft worker would be like an architect, because they

designed and supervised the building

Ancient Egyptian Homes

• The Ancient Egyptians had a homes different from the ones we have today.

• The Ancient Egyptians depended on their wealth; the higher the wealth the better the home.

• An average Egyptian home was a high walled rectangular closure with a door facing north, to get the advantage of prevailing breezes. Inside, a pool irrigated trees and shrubs. For entertainment they had a roofed porch. In the back of the house there were rooms where the owner and his family lived.

• On the walls of the house (Like many other Egyptian buildings) hieroglyphics were written.

Pharaons as a Part of Cult

• The pharaohs were a very important part of the Egyptian civilization. They made it rich and strong, and they were even thought to be gods.

• The pharaohs were thought to be the reincarnation of the sky god Horus.

• Most pharaohs were men; only a few were women.

• The pharaohs always wanted to show their wealth and power, so they would display their possessions to the public. They would do this in processions and receptions.

Architecture

The great architectural achievements of the past are built of stone. Stone quarries supplied the large blocks of granite, limestone, and sandstone that were used for building temples and tombs. Architects planned carefully as building was done without mortar, so the stones had to fit precisely together. Only pillars were used to substain short stone supports. At the temple of Karnak, a ramp of adobe brick can be seen leading to the top of the temple wall. Such ramps were used to allow workmen to carry stones to the top of structure and allow artists to decorate the tops of walls and pillars. Pillars were built in the same way. As height was added, the ground was raised. When the top of the pillar was completed, the artists would decorate from the top down, removing ramp sand as they went along.

The Pyramids One of the most notable and

lasting achievements of the Ancient Egyptians are their pyramids. The size, design, and structure of the pyramids reveal the skill of these ancient builders. The pyramids were great monuments and tombs for the kings. Egyptians believed that a king's soul continued to guide affairs of the kingdom even after his death. To ensure that they would continue to enjoy the blessings of the gods, they preserved the pharaoh's body through the mummification process. They built the pyramids to protect the pharaoh's body, the pyramid was a symbol of hope, because it would ensure the pharaoh's union with the gods.

Art – Art of the Egyptians reflects every

aspect of their lives. Depicted in tomb and temple drawings are scenes of everyday living, models of people and animals, glass figures and containers, and jewelry made from gold and semi-precious stones.

– The wall and pillar drawings are perhaps the best known. In these drawings, it can be seen that people are going about the everyday business of baking, fishing, boating, marketing, and meeting together in family groups. Such drawings were also used to help the deceased to live forever by giving them all of the instructions they would need as they met the gods on their way to eternal life. The good deeds were recorded and the art that surrounded their mummified body was to help their spiritual self in solving the problems related to life after death. Pictures of food, clothing, servants, and slaves could be used by the deceased just as the real things were used by the person when living.

Literature

Religion was often the subject of Egyptian literature. Prayers and hymns were written in praise of the gods. The most important book was "The Book of the Dead." This book contained over 200 prayers and magic formulas that taught the Egyptians how to reach a happy afterlife. The Egyptians also wrote adventure stories, fairy tales, myths, love stories, poems, proverbs and quotes.

Daily Life

Most ancient Egyptians were farmers tied to the land. Their dwellings were restricted to immediate family members, and were constructed of designed to remain cool in the heat of the day. Each home had a kitchen with an open roof, which contained a grindstone for milling flour and a small oven for baking bread.Walls were painted white and could be covered with dyed linen wall hangings. Floors were covered with reed mats, while wooden stools, beds raised from the floor and individual tables comprised the furniture.

The ancient Egyptians placed a great value on hygiene and appearance. Most bathed in the Nile and used a pasty soap made from animal fat and chalk. Men shaved their entire bodies for cleanliness, and aromatic perfumes and ointments covered soothed skin.Clothing was made from simple linen sheets that were bleached white, and both men and women of the upper classes wore wigs, jewelry, and cosmetics. Children went without clothing until maturity, at about age 12, and at this age males were circumcised and had their heads shaved. Mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, while the father provided the family's income.

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