🌎 Ancient Egypt: Religion

Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.docx Links to an external site.

watch this video Links to an external site.

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Learning Objective

I will be able to explain the role of gods and goddesses in Ancient Egypt.

 Assignment Instructions

What gods and goddesses were worshiped in Ancient Egypt? 

The Ancient Egyptians were polytheists which means they believed in many gods and goddesses (poly means many and theism means god).  They had a deep belief in the supernatural and that their lives were controlled by these deities (gods).  The gods were often represented by animals such as lions, cats, rams, and crocodiles.  They believed the Pharaoh was part man and part god and was the go-between between humans and the gods.  They believed that the Pharaoh would become a god when he died. 

The other gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt each had a job or role in the daily life and existence of ancient Egyptians and there were many temples built to honor them.  The Ancient Egyptians participated in religious rituals and traditions so that their gods and goddesses would help to give them happy lives.  Priests and priestesses worked in the temples and watched over the offerings left by their fellow Egyptians.

Egyptians believed that they would go to an afterlife when they died.  Their life would be similar and so they would need their body and other everyday objects to help them. This is why the Egyptians created mummies and put all of their possessions in the burial tombs. The ancient Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, the person would go to the Hall of Truths and would have to take a test.  Anubis, the god of the dead, would weigh the heart on a scale, and on the other side of the scale would be an ostrich feather.  If the feather weighed more than the heart, it showed that the person led a good life and could enter the afterlife.  If it didn’t the soul of the person would be eaten by Ammit, a female Egyptian demon that had the body of a lion and the head of a crocodile.

Watch the video below that reviews the gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt.  As you watch, take notes on each god or goddess in the chart.  Make sure you record important information such as animal representations or what the god/goddess was over.

The Gods and Goddess of Ancient Egypt Video Links to an external site.

**Note:  The first 2 minutes of the video will go over the Egyptian creation story.  Then the narrator will give more details about each god/goddess in the order they appear in the chart.

Guidelines

Record at least 3 facts for each god/goddess.  You do not need to write in complete sentences.  Each section of the chart is worth 3 points.