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Ashley McRobertsDrs. Andrus and MurdockEnglish 1001April 23, 2013Why did ancient Egyptian religion have such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society?There are many different types of beliefs in the world that hold a large influence on various societies and people. People and cultures throughout history have always had some form of religion integrated into their lives in some way. Many people and cultures have used, and still use, religion for various purposes. From deciding right from wrong to what occurs to the human soul after death. But why exactly do they hold such a strong supremacy over people? In ancient Egyptian society, it was no different. So why was religion so influential in ancient Egyptian society?Religion was very important to the citizens of ancient Egypt and was a major part of their daily lives. According to , “Their way of life revolved around these beliefs.” They focused their traditions, daily rituals, customs and rules of society based upon myths pertaining to their gods and goddesses. “The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to recognize and worship these gods and goddesses so that life continued smoothly (ancientegypt.co.uk).” This belief that life had to be done according to the words of their deities to have happy lives shows that they were greatly influenced by their religion. For example, the Nile River’s flooding season’s association to the god Hapi told them how to farm and why they must do it how they did. The ancient Egyptians followed the words of their deities devoutly in every aspect of life in order to go through life successfully, and even afterwards into the afterlife. “If a person failed in his or her life, that is, if their actions were not harmonious with nature, they would reincarnate to earth in order to try again (iml.jou.ufl.edu)…” So why did ancient Egyptian religion have such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society? What caused the myths, deities and other parts of their religion to be such an important part of their lives? Perhaps it is due to their need to explain unexplainable phenomenon and to find meaning in life. As humans, we are always searching for new answers to the unknown and we are constantly challenging ourselves, hoping to broaden our intelligence. There is always something being researched and/or discovered in any moment of time. There are always questions being asked, and answers being sought for. Religion in ancient Egypt might have even been such a big influence because it provided a source for the people to pray to in hopes of having their problems in life solved. People have always searched for solutions that can solve their current issues, and many of these people turned to religion. Or it may have even been that humans as a whole need something to guide them in what they do and how to act in society, and the religion of ancient Egypt helped to do this. People throughout history have always looked toward one or several people in society as authority figures in hopes of having somebody to follow. In any country at any point at time, there is always at least one person that can be seen as in charge and the example for the rest of the society. But, people have also looked to other sources for guidance, such as religion. But again, the focus is why exactly the ancient Egyptian religion had such the big influence on ancient Egyptian society? How did it become such an essential foundation of guidance for the ancient Egyptians?Like mentioned briefly before, ancient Egyptian religion might have had such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society due to the citizens of ancient Egypt’s need to explain unexplainable phenomenon and to find meaning in life. The myths of ancient Egypt played an important role in this aspect of their religion. Myths told the citizens of ancient Egyptian society of how different things came to be and “were metaphorical stories intended to illustrate and explain the gods' actions and roles in nature ().” It is highly possible that myths were a large part of their lives for just that reason alone and they most likely also influenced many of their decisions and actions. For example, the creation myth in ancient Egypt told about how the Earth and everything on it was created. Depending on the version of this myth, the creator was either Re, Amun, Ptah, Khnum or Aten (). However, they all have a similar idea on the Earth’s creation. One of these versions is the Story of Re. This version in particular tells about the birth of the god Re and how he then creates the Earth and the other gods and goddesses. It even goes further to tell how Re became the first pharaoh (). This is possibly a reason for how pharaohs became such an important symbol of ancient Egyptian society. The myth started the custom of pharaohs and gave them a reason to be of importance in society. They were seen as decedents of the gods and goddesses, as well as a bridge between the deities and the people of ancient Egypt. As states, “Due to their beliefs, the Pharaoh held an immense amount of power.” This is just one of many examples of an ancient Egyptian myth that had such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society. The ancient Egyptians had numerous myths to explain a lot that they didn’t understand aside from the creation myths alone. It even helped to unite the people across Egypt under one general idea. Without a widely accepted reason, everyone could have their own ideals and that could have caused a rift between the people. That in turn could have led to civil wars and revolutions. So, by staying under one general consensus, the people could be united and work together. In that period of time, many things about the universe were undiscovered and there were many unanswered questions. There were many things in the world unknown to the ancient Egyptians. Science was not as developed as it is today. As a result, to compensate for their lack of science, they used myths to explain the unknown questions of how the world worked. Even today, there are many questions that people are asking. And some of them are still answered through religion. For example, what is the meaning of life? How was the Earth created? Is there an afterlife? The ancient Egyptians had their own answers for these questions, and found them through religion. In the aspect that religion might have had such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society due to the citizens of ancient Egypt’s need to explain unexplainable phenomenon and to find meaning in life, it might be the reason for the fact that as humans we are always searching for new answers to the unknown and we are constantly challenging ourselves, hoping to broaden our intelligence. If there is no answer available through logic or scientific reasoning then the most reasonable option for most people is to turn to religion for answers and for explanation to unexplainable phenomenon. Religion provides people with answers and reasoning so they can feel that they have the knowledge and can feed their desire to have the answers to the unknown. Ancient Egyptians also used religion to answer questions about the unknown and to find explanations to the unexplainable. By doing so, this means they have to believe in their religion’s word to the point that they truly believe what it says is correct and follow it devoutly. So this shows that religion did indeed have a major influence on ancient Egyptian society. Ancient Egyptian religion might have even been such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society because it provided a source for the people to pray to in hopes of having their problems in life solved. People have always searched for solutions that can solve their current issues, and many of these people turned to religion. Many people hope that a higher power can aid them when they feel there is nothing else they can do and there is nobody else to turn to. And this higher power is usually a deity of some kind. Because deities are often portrayed as perfect beings and representations that people aspire to be like. This makes them feel more reliable than a person who makes mistakes, as people often do. Ancient Egyptian society was a civilization that was obviously, to a great extent, reliant on their religious beliefs for aid and assistance in daily problems. It can be seen through hieroglyphics that they spent most of their time worshipping their gods and goddesses and following what they have been told by the myths created around their deities. They probably did so to keep their gods and goddesses pleased with them in hopes of having their deities shower them with good fortune in the future and in the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians might have followed their gods and goddesses so diligently because helped to unify the country and people as well, like stated earlier. In the aspect that ancient Egyptian religion had such a big impact on society because it provided a source for the people of Egypt to pray to in hopes of having their problems in life solved; this can be seen in the fact that they held their deities high in society and turned to them regularly. Each deity had their own temple in various cities. Some even had multiple temples, depending on their significance and importance to the Egyptian people. Iml.jou.ufl.edu remarks that regular duties were performed to keep them in the approval of their deities. The site also states, concerning the rituals performed regularly, “These took place at centers of worship and focused on an ‘image’ of the god, a statue to which they performed sacrifices and rites…” If the ancient Egyptians put the time into performing rituals on a regular basis and setting up temples in various cities for every deity, this must mean that they saw it to be very important. Sequentially, this helps further prove that religion had a major influence on ancient Egyptian society. People do not go to such lengths unless they are very passionate about the ideal, or they hold it of high importance in their minds. So why did ancient Egyptians find it so important to be in favor of their deities and go to such extent to stay that way? A reasonable explanation is that the ancient Egyptians felt that if they were not in the favor of the gods and goddesses, then the gods and goddesses would not help them when asked for assistance and help with their problems. If they gods and goddesses thought poorly of them, the ancient Egyptians suspected that they would not felt them worthy of help. This ideal is common in most societies, even in American society today. Most people recognize it as karma. If you do good things, good things will happen to you. This also works the other way around. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you in return. It’s safe to say that ancient Egyptians were also believers in this concept. If the ancient Egyptians were in desperate need of help and their final hope for help were the gods and goddesses, they don’t to take the risk of being in poor favor in the deities’ eyes. Daily problems often occur in life, whether minor or major. So, by continuously performing consistent rituals to make sure they are good in the eyes of the gods and goddesses, they don’t have to worry as much on whether or not their prayers will be answered and their problems will be solved. By having to pray and worship the gods and goddesses in such a regular fashion in hopes of having good fortune in the future, this drastically changes their way of life in comparison to not holding religion in such a high aspect. This point supports the concept that ancient Egyptian religion had a big influence on ancient Egyptian society seeing as how it had such a major impact on what they do on a regular basis. Ancient Egyptian religion might have even been such a big influence on ancient Egyptian society because it may have even been that humans as a whole need something to guide them in what they do and the religion of ancient Egypt helped to do this. “Religion guided every aspect of Egyptian life (2.).” This is proven by the pantheon number of gods and goddesses that they worshipped. It is unclear on just how many deities they worshipped, but different sources have proclaimed different numbers. states, “Their religion hosted about 700 different gods and goddesses.” Whereas states, “The Egyptians had as many as 2000 gods and goddesses.” None the less, with so many deities, it must show that they had a specific deity for a specific part of their lives. Meaning, everything they did was guided by what they believed was divined by the respective deities.As stated earlier, people throughout history have always looked toward one or several people in society as authority figures in hopes of having somebody to follow. In any country at any point at time, there is always at least one person that can be seen as in charge and the example for the rest of the society. In ancient Egyptian society, this person is obviously the pharaoh. The pharaoh held a lot of power in their society, mostly due to religious reasons. Since the pharaoh was seen as decedents of the gods and goddesses and was a bridge between the people and deities, they held a very high rank religiously. And since religion was such a major part of their life, pharaohs held a lot of power politically as well. That alone just shows how much of an impact religion had on ancient Egyptian society. People have always looked to religion as a source of guidance and wisdom in place of leaders and authority figures. When they feel that their current leader in society is insufficient and unreliable they feel the need to look for a better source. Or it may be that religion is just a major aspect of their lives and culture. Either way, many people turn to religion for guidance. They often feel like religion can provide a meaning for their life. Humans are also very impressionable creatures. If a group of people are following a certain belief, it is understandable for the belief to spread around amongst people.In ancient Egypt they not only had the pharaoh to be a guide for them, as mentioned previously, but their plethora of gods and goddesses as well. If the ancient Egyptians had a god or goddess for every part of their daily lives, this means that the deities were probably needed as some sort of guidance for daily activities. Many of their deities were associated with a particular force of nature. Some forces, like the sun for example, were even symbolized by various gods and goddesses as pointed out by . This example demonstrates how important that particular aspect of life was important to the ancient Egyptians. Meaning, they probably used it more often than other aspects in daily situations, and/or relied more heavily on it. Continuing from the previous example, the sun is in fact a major source of life on Earth and a very important part to the ecosystem. So it is understandable on why they held it so highly on society. Therefore, in ancient Egyptian culture, they most likely used the sun deities for guidance on many aspects of their daily rituals.By using various deities for guidance in almost every aspect in life, this causes a huge impact for ancient Egyptians. This leads them to follow the words and guidelines of their religion faithfully and consistently. And doing so takes a lot of commitment. This influences their society to act a certain way so that they follow the rules that their gods and goddesses set out for them. Religion was very important to the citizens of ancient Egypt and was a major part of their daily lives. There are several reasons to consider for why this may be. Perhaps it is due to their need to explain unexplainable phenomenon and to find meaning in life. Possibly because religion in ancient Egypt might have provided a source for the people to pray to in hopes of having their problems in life solved. Or it may have even been that humans as a whole need something to guide them in what they do and how to act in society. With all these points, which have been explained previously, it is clear to see that religion did in fact have a major influence on ancient Egyptian society. It influenced ancient Egyptians to commit to their deities daily which became a major part of how their society functioned. It also helped to unite the people, which in turn helped ancient Egyptian society run smoothly. Works CitedAbellanosa, Jonel. "Ancient Egyptian Beliefs, Customs, Traditions, Superstitions Regarding the Afterlife." History Articles — Knoji. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Ancient Egypt - Menu page." Introduction. The Trustees of the British Museum, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - the Myths." Ancient Egypt: the Mythology and egyptian myths. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <http:// section-myths.htm>. "The Ancient Egyptian Concept of Heaven." The Interactive Media Lab at the University of Florida. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Ancient Egyptian Religion." St. Petersburg Times Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Egypt: Gods of Ancient Egypt - Egyptian Mythology." Egypt Travel Guide - Tour Egypt. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. Khwarazmi , S.T.H. "Ancient Egypt; Laws, Traditions and Religion ." . N.p., 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <en.index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8586:ancient-egypt-laws-traditions-and-religion&catid=79:history&Itemid=844>. Long, Charles H.. "Egyptian Mythology." Reshafim: Kibbutz Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Religion in Ancient Egypt - Crystalinks." Crystalinks Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. "Religion of Ancient Egypt." Untitled Document. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2013. <;. ................
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