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Religion  and Gods Pharaohs and King Tut   Religions and Gods      Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses, but the most important was Re, the sun god.  Egyptians thought that their kings descended from Re.  Some others were Osiris, king of the underworld, and Isis, wife of Osiris.  Deities are gods and each town had its own local deity.  One such is Amen.  Many Egyptian gods had human bodies and animal heads.  Hours, the son of Soirees and Isis were usually seen as having a hawks head.  Anubis had the head of a jackal.       One important thing to the Egyptians was the after life.  This led to mummifying and building great tombs for all the important kings.  The Nile Valley was full of stone and material, so workers could easily build tombs and temples for kings and other important officials.  The bodies were buried deep within pyramids.       Later, tombs were built into cliffs and the insides of the rooms were decorated like that of the palace so that the kings wouldn't want anything in the next life.  Things like beds, couches, chairs, clothes, foods,  and even some games.  Painters painted many paintings on the walls of the burial rooms.  Even though the Pharaohs were dead the were still treated like kings.       Religion was a main part in Egyptian life.  It helped people to understand their world and how to deal with their problems.  There were house gods to watch over the family, local gods for the village, and state gods worshiped on special occasions.  Many people had an altar or a chapel at their house.  On special days people went to the state temples.  Only the priest could go in the inner temple.  They sang hymns like this” Hail to you Amun, Maker of Mankind God who created all beings, Great and Goodly king.” A statue showing  Amun watching over Pharaoh is at the temple of Karnak.        The “Hidden One” Was a creator god that watched over all the people as well as the country of Egypt.   Their were special god families made up of a husband, A wife, and a child.  The families were associated with animals.  Hathor, goddess of love, has cows ears and horns.  Cows were beautiful animals. The Pharaohs gave offerings to the gods because they watched over him as he watched over his people.  The sun god was the most important of all.  In the earlier times the people thought that the pharaoh became a god once he became ruler.  When he died he would be with Osiris, the god of death and rebirth. Sobeck has the head of a crocodile.  Many people believed in magic also.  Children wore charms around their neck to protect them from evil.  There were spells for everything like not going into the after life on your head!  Egyptian Gods  1. Montu - God of water 2. Amun - Creator God 3. Thoth - God of writing and knowledge 4. Khons - God of the moon 5. Horus - Royal protector 6. Sekhmet - Goddess of war  7. Sobek - Crocodile god 8. Anubis - God of the necropolis 9. Isis - Goddess of women 10. Osiris - God of death and rebirth 11. Hathor - Goddess of love  Back to Top Pharaohs       The great rulers of Ancient Egypt were called Pharaohs.  The Egyptians yielded to the Pharaohs as gods.  They believed that if they did not serve the Pharaohs well, the Nile would not rise and they would not have a good farming season.  They told the farmers when the summer flood would be and how much of the surplus crop to store.  Menes was the first Pharaoh that we know of.  He made the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta come together into one kingdom in about 3100 B.C.  After that, the Pharaohs ruled for 2,000 more years.  There has never been any other government that lasted so long.     Back to Top King Tut       Howard  Carter was a British archeologist, who in 1992 discovered one of the greatest archeological finds in history: the tomb of a young boy king.  His name was Tutankhamen (too tahng KAH mun).  He was the ruler of Egypt during the fourteenth century B.C.  Today we know him as the famous King Tut.  He only ruled for nine years, and he died before the age of twenty.  Despite his short rule, he is the most remembered Egyptian kings in history.        When Carter discovered Tut’s tomb, there were many wonders to behold.  His coffin was made of solid gold. It fit into another coffin.  The second coffin fit into a third.  That made three coffins of solid gold.  They put every thing in his tomb that he would need for the after life, such as his throne, statues of his servants to serve him, and all sorts of furniture for him to use.  Also, there was a statue of him standing over four feet (1,5m) tall.  They even put a toy chest and art set from his childhood in the tomb.  King Tut was truly a great King .