Ancient Egyptian Mythology

            Ancient Egyptian Mythology and Culture.
             Egypt is one of the most ancient and captivating lands. Modern Egypt is located in Northern Africa. Ancient Egypt, however, was divided into two parts, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Egypt is mentioned in the Bible many times and was where the Israelites were held captive. The purpose of our look into Ancient Egypt is to explore the different gods and goddesses of the time in relation to the Egyptian culture.
             Egyptian culture was greatly influenced by its religion (Watterson, 28). Early Egyptian tribes worshipped gods in the shape of animals (Ferguson, 19).Initially, the people of Egypt worshipped a totem pole representing their gods. As Egypt became more civilized, the gods were honored with temples and pyramids (35). Egyptians believed that birth, life, the flooding of the Nile, and the rising of the sun were all subject to the gods (Greenburg, 26).
             Egyptians realized the importance of the sun (Watterson, 44). This is the reason Ra, the sun god, is known as the greatest of the Egyptian gods. According to Egyptian mythology, Ra created the earth (Geb) and the sky (Nut) (Grant, 25).
             Atum, "the complete One," was one of the creator-gods. He was worshipped in the form of an Egyptian mongoose. Atum was one of the earliest gods worshipped in Egypt (Watterson, 45).
             Shu, the son of Atum, was the god of air and light. He was one of the oldest cosmic deities. Shu was worshipped in the form of a man wearing a feather on his head (45).
             Tefnut was the daughter of Ra and the wife of Shu. Since Tefnut was the daughter of Ra, she was known as the Eye of Ra. She depicted moisture and was worshipped in the form of a human (53).
             Geb, the earth god, was the son of Ra. He is often depicted as a human with his sister, Nut, next to him. Geb was sometimes worshipped in the form of a goose (55).
             Nut was the personification of the vault of heaven. She appears as a woman carrying a water pot on her head.