Ancient Egyptian Religion

QUESTION: What is the history of ancient Egyptian religion?

ANSWER:

Ancient Egyptian religion is steeped in polytheism - the worship of several gods. In fact, each town had its own god to worship. Although impossible to list all the gods sacred to the ancient Egyptians, here are a few:

• Re, or sometimes know and the sun god, was worshipped at Heliopolis.
  
  
• Osiris, the god of the Nile, was also know and the god of fertility. This god also served as the god of the underworld where people went following death.
  
  
• The moon was worshiped as a god.
  
  
• Ptah or a god of Memphis, was also called the great chief of artificers.
  
  
• All of nature was considered to posses a spirit, including holy animals.
  
  
• Geb was the god of the earth and Nut was the goddess of the sky.

"The Egyptians believed that the gods were intimately involved with all aspects of life. The gods caused the rain, controlled the growth of crops, determined birth and death, and ultimately were behind everything. Nothing happened by chance. They did not give natural explanations to events, because they made no distinction between the secular and the sacred." ¹