The religion of ancient Egypt originates in the totemism of the tribes who inhabited the fertile Nile Valley. Each tribe chose an animal as its patron. This animal became the totem of the tribe, it was revered and cherished, hoping for reciprocal mercy. The complex and multifaceted pantheon of Ancient Egypt grew out of primitive beliefs, in which each god or goddess appeared in the guise of one of the animals.
Help from the gods
The choice of an animal to be worshiped depended on the living conditions of the tribe. The inhabitants of the banks of the Nile worshiped the god Sebek, who was personified by the crocodile. It was believed that he controlled the floods of the river, capable of bringing fertile silt to the fields.
The bull was universally revered as a symbol of fertile agriculture. It was the bull that the Egyptians harnessed to the plow to cultivate the land. In Memphis, the bull was the soul of Ptah, the creator god, and has always lived near the temple.
The cow, which embodies the fertility of living beings, was revered no less than a bull. She is associated with Isis, the Great Mother, patroness of women and marital fidelity.
The goddess Bastet, the keeper of the hearth, was portrayed as a cat. Cats were sacred; in the event of a fire, a cat had to be rescued before children and property. This cult was associated with the fact that cats caught rodents, which means they helped to preserve the harvest.
The cult of the scarab beetle is associated with the god Hapri. According to legend, scarabs had the ability to spontaneously generate, so amulets with the image of this insect helped to resurrect after death.
Heralds of Heaven
The falcon, which gripped its prey with sharp claws, was at first the embodiment of the predatory god of the hunt. But later Horus, the god of height and sky, occupied the highest level of the Egyptian pantheon and became a symbol of the power of the pharaoh.
The god of wisdom, writing and literature, Thoth appeared in the guise of a man with the head of an ibis. The arrival of the ibis, according to signs, was associated with the flooding of the Nile, when prosperity came.
These birds were so sacred that the death penalty was imposed even for accidental killing.
Ancient evil
If the banks of the Nile gave life and prosperity, then the desert promised death. That is why the god of evil Set was at the same time the god of the desert. His animal was a jackal, and in all the frescoes he was depicted as a man with a jackal's head. A donkey and a pig were also dedicated to Set.
Animals, which were considered the embodiment of the soul of a god or goddess, were embalmed after death and buried in special cemeteries. After the ritual, mourning was declared, and then the priests chose a new animal for the temple.
While the farmers prayed to the gods for rain, the pharaohs used faith to strengthen their power. The sun god Amon-Ra was considered the father of the pharaoh, giving the supreme power the divine nature. Amun's animal was a ram with curved horns bent downward.
