Origins Of The Universe (Cosmology)
- The ancient egyptians worshipped many different gods, including the sun in different aspects. The main sun god, Re, had his main shrine in Heliopolis. Each city had it's own collection of gods called a pantheon.
- The Egyptians believed the world had been created out of a watery waste called Nun, and that it appeared first as a kind of island.
- Vegetation grew and birds and animals appeared on this island.
- Amon, the god of Thebes, became important at the time when Thebes was capital of the New Kingdom.
- Osiris, one of the gods of the dead was also very important. He was worshipped with his wife Isis and son Horus.
- Most Egyptian gods were shown in human form called anthropomorphic.
- Others were always shown with the heads of birds or animals.
- These were thought to be the masks worn by priests in mystery plays performed in temples.
- When a person died they were supposed to accompany the sun god Re in his boat over the heavens.
- To the Egyptians this meant a heavenly Nile, as they could not imagine any other sort of world.
- The after world was divided into 12 divisions like the twelve hours of night. in the sixth division Osiris sat in judgement.
- The heart of the dead was weighed against the feather of truth (Maat).
- If the heart was too heavy or too light the dead was thrown to terrible monsters. If the weight was correct they went to live forever in heaven.
- Because Egyptians believed life continued after death in this world everything they may need for the next world was placed in their tombs.
- At first they were models of such things as; houses, boats, cattle and servants.
- Later scenes were painted on the tomb walls to serve the same purpose.