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Ancient Egypt's Religion and Its Affects on Civilization Essay

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Ancient Egypt's religion was a major part of what made them such a unique civilization. Although they began like many other ancient civilizations, on a river side, they quickly became one of the longest lasting empires the world had ever seen. Their religion helped to create this by introducing an unchanging element into their culture. Religion was also a very strong part of their government. Both of these factors helped to add to their stability and adaptability which was one of the most impressive in both the ancient and the modern world. Ancient Egypt's culture, government, adaptability and overall stability came from their extremely intricate and ever present religion. Egypt’s culture was one of the most diverse and religious …show more content…

The legend of Osiris is the only fully surviving Egyptian legend, it dictates the rise and fall of Osiris and how he was eventually revenged by his son and wife. In James Weigel's, Cliffs Notes on Mythology, he says that “Osiris represents the Nile with its annual flooding and withdrawal; Isis represents the fertile farm land of Egypt, which was made fecund by the Nile; Set represents the arid desert that separates the Nile and the fertile land; while Nephthys stands for the marginal areas between the farm land and desert.” (23-24). It goes on to say that this is one of many ways to interpret this myth, other ways interpret the myth include the balance between good and evil and so on. The Egyptian people may have seen the myth in any of these ways, and truly it does not matter how they saw it, any of the interpretations show how closely tied their religion was to the culture and life. Egyptian government was extremely centered around their religion. Their king, called the Pharaoh, was supposedly a descendant of Ra the sun god. This gave the ruler great power over the citizens. They believed that because he was a descendant of the gods that he himself was a god and therefore he must be the ruler of earth as Ra was ruler of the heavens. It is typically believed that the people of Egypt would have been aware that this could not be true. Egypt’s rulers were constantly being undermined by fellow nobles, the people

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