Egypt 2.2: Life in Egypt

Guiding Question: What kind of religion did the ancient Egyptians practice?

• ​Egyptians worshipped many gods and goddesses

• ​Egyptians thought their gods were powerful and controlled natural forces/human activities

• ​Important gods:

  • ​Re - sun god

  • ​Hapi- river god

  • ​Osiris - god of the dead and underworld

  • ​Isis - goddess of love, Osiris' wife

  • ​Thoth - god of learning

• ​Egyptians believed life after death would be even better than present life

• ​after a long journey, the dead arrived at a place of peace

• ​Egyptians studied prayers and spells from The Book of the Dead to prepare for the afterlife

• ​they believed Osiris greeted those who had just died at the gate to the next world

• ​If they lived good lives and knew spells, Osiris would give them eternal life

• ​Early Egyptians believed only pharaohs could enjoy the afterlife

• ​Later on, they came to believe that the afterlife was for all people - rich and poor

• ​embalming was created so that Egyptians could protect bodies through mummification for the afterlife

• ​wealthy - placed in coffins and buried in tombs

• ​poor - mummies buried in caves or in the sand

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• ​Egyptians learned much about the human body from embalming

• ​developed basic medical skills

  • ​doctors sewed up cuts and set broken bones

  • ​first to use splints, bandages, and compresses

  • ​wrote down medical information on papyrus scrolls

  • ​records were the world's first medical books