ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION

Describe the way in which religious beliefs shaped the lives of Ancient Egyptians.

THE ELEMENTS WERE DEIFIED

The sun was the most important part of Egyptian life, and therefore, would be the most important of all gods. Amon-Re.

Pharaohs were to have received their power from Amon-Re.

ELEMENTS

Shu- god of Air Tefnut-goddess of

Moisture Geb-god of the day/

or god of the Earth Nut-goddess of the

night Sobek-god of the Nile Hapy- god of the

Flood

THE GODS HAD HUMAN TRAITS

Husband and Wife, Osiris and Isis, embodied traits that were very common in the human relationship like love and jealousy.

Osiris was the god of Fertility and of the Nile, until killed by his brother.

Seth was the god of Chaos. Isis was the goddess of the

Protection for the Living. Nephthys was the goddess

of Protection for the Dead.

JOBS

Anubis protected the cemetery

Sekmat was the god of war

Thoth was the scribe

Ptah was the god of the Craftsman

HORUS

Horus was maybe the most important god, as the Pharaoh became Horus when he ascended to the throne.

Much of mythology is the struggle between Horus and his uncle Seth.

Isis is Horus’ mother.

ETERNAL LIFE

The reward for a life well lived was eternal life in the fields of plenty.

The punishment was to be eaten by a crocodile. The heart of the deceased would be weighed

against the feather of truth.

WOMEN’S PLACE IN SOCIETY

Women held an important role in society and had a great deal of freedom.

They could own property and there own businesses.

This can be seen by the importance of many female goddesses.

YOUR PROJECT

Your objective is to write a fictional short story using gods and goddesses from Egyptian mythology to show how your protagonist relies on their beliefs to rationalize the experiences of life. I want this story to be set in one of the three time periods that we discussed before.

These will be read aloud to the class next Wednesday.

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html descriptions of ancient gods.

FORMAT

An A paper will include MLA formatting. If you need help with this please see Mr. Oliver.

A B paper will have some mistakes to the format, but overall has correct MLA formatting

A C paper will not use MLA formatting

Keep it to three pages. No less than two.

CONTENT

An A paper will include a well developed plot, include at least 3-4 Egyptian gods along with the protagonist, uses correct information for setting and time period and has a consistent theme with what we have been learning.

A B paper will include a well developed plot, include at least 2 Egyptian gods along with the protagonist. Uses correct information for setting and time period

A C paper will include a well developed plot, include at least 1 Egyptian god along with the protagonist.

HAVE FUN!