Special Study - RELIGION
AIM – To find out about Religion in Ancient Egypt
A.O.D. KNOWLEDGE – Compare and Contrast
All of you will gain knowledge of Egyptian religion.
Most of you will be able to compare ancient Egyptian religion to religion in today’s society.
Some of you will write a really good paragraph comparing societies.
Read the following information –
NOW
Many people today practise a religion. A religion is a set of beliefs or values. It can be emotionally stabilising and
comforting to have a secure set of values. Many religions offer explanations for how life works and how we should
live. More than half of the people in the world today are monotheistic. This means that they believe in one god
(‘mono’ means ‘one’ and ‘theos’ means ‘god’ in ancient Greek or Latin).
THEN
In ancient Egypt people wanted explanations for how life worked. They also had religions; sets of beliefs or values. In
ancient Egypt however, people were polytheistic. This means that they believed in many gods (‘poly’ means ‘many’).
The River Nile was very important to Egyptians because their lives depended on it. The river irrigated (watered) their
crops. Without water the crops would die and without food the Egyptians would starve. So people prayed to Sobek
the god of the Nile who had a crocodile’s head. The Nile was said to have been created from Sobek’s sweat.
TASK 1 – GODS AND GODDESSES
Read page 35 & 36. Answer the following questions –
a. How did the Egyptians believe the world began?
b. Why did the Egyptians believe that you had to look out for the evil gods all the time?
c. What problems in your life would make you prey to i) Amon-Re, ii) Isis, iii) Osiris?
TASK 2 – COMPARISON
Read about the purification ceremony on pages 36 & 37
a. What religions can you think of in the world today?
b. Do they each have anything in common?
c. Do they have anything in common with the religion of ancient Egypt?
TASK 3 – DESIGN YOUR OWN EGYPTIAN GOD!
Someone, somehow must have come up with the ideas for the different Egyptian Gods first! Design your own Egyptian
God with a human body and animal head. You will need to draw them, name them and say what they are the God of.
EXTENSION
Read about festivals and graves on pages 38 & 39
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Special Study – RELIGION (2)
AIM – To compare Ancient and Modern Religious Belief.
A.O.D. KNOWLEDGE – Compare and Contrast
All of you should be able to find out about religious beliefs from Ancient Egypt.
MOST of you should be able to compare peasants and pharaohs.
SOME of you will be able to write a really good paragraph on what you, as an ancient Egyptian, would take into the afterlife.
Read the following information –
NOW
Many religions that are practised today claim that life on earth is only a stage before an afterlife (life after
death). Some people believe that after death a person’s soul goes to a heaven or a hell depending on the
kind of life lived by that person and perhaps on that person’s particular religious faith. Some people believe
in reincarnation, that after the body dies, the soul is reborn in another body. Some very rich people in the
United States believe that they can buy a way of living forever. They pay to have their bodies deep frozen
after death in the hope that future technology will bring them back to life. How different are such ideas
from those of ancient Egyptians?
THEN
In ancient Egypt more attention was paid to preparing for an afterlife than in any other civilisation
throughout the whole of human history. The Egyptians believed that after death the soul of the deceased
would begin a journey to be reunited with the body. At first only the pharaoh and his family were
considered immortal (able to live forever). Later all Egyptians expected that they would have life after
death.
TASK 1 – GRAVES
Read pages 38 & 39. Answer the following questions –
d. Why did the Egyptians believe it was important to preserve the body?
e. How did people make sure that they had a comfortable and happy life in the other world?
TASK 2 – COMPARISON
Read ‘Preserving the Body’ and ‘The weighing of the Heart’.
Discuss –
 How do you imagine a peasant’s burial would differ from a pharaoh’s?
 Examine source 2.25
 Try the matching exercise on page 41.
TASK 3 – DESIGN YOUR OWN TOMB!
If you were an Egyptian noble, what things would you have buried with you in your tomb so you could take them with
you into the afterlife?
On a page you will be given, draw and label the items you would take. You could draw them around a mummy’s coffin.
Write an explanation at the bottom of the page saying why you would take these items.
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