Transcript File - AP World History

Relationship of Politics and
Religion in Egypt
Egyptian Religion
• Like the early people of the eastern part of
the world, the Egyptians were
POLYTHEISTIC – this is the belief in many
gods
• The most important gods were Re – the
sun god, and Osiris – the god of the dead
• In all, Egyptians worshipped more than
2000 different gods and goddesses
• Egyptians also believed in an afterlife – or life
after death
• They believed that they would be judged by
their deeds when they died
• Upon their death, Anubis, the god of the
underworld would weigh each Egyptians heart
on a scale
• To win eternal life, the heart could be no heavier
than a feather
• If the heart tipped the scale, that meant it was
heavy with sin and beasts would devour it
• If the scale did not tip, then the soul would go
on forever to live in the Other World
Who took part in this ritual?
• People of all classes planned their burials
• Kings and Queens build elaborate tombs
called pyramids
• The royal and elite citizens preserved their
bodies through mummification
• The body would be place in a coffin with
items needed for the afterlife
What did it mean to be King of
Egypt?
• In many other cultures of the time, the Kings
were representatives of the gods
• In Egypt, the kings WERE gods
• These god-kings were called pharaohs
• This type of government in which rule is based
on religious authority is called a theocracy
• The pharaoh was at the center of religion
as well as government
• Egyptians believed that the fate of the
civilization was based on the works of the
king
• It was the pharaoh who caused the “sun to
rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to
grow”
Development of Monotheism
When did people start believing in
one god?
The Origins of Judaism
• A group of people called Hebrews settled in
a land called Canaan – this was located
between the Jordan River and the
Mediterranean Sea
• According to the Bible, the land of Canaan
was promised to the Hebrew people by God.
• Most of what we know about the early
Hebrews, we get from the first 5 books of the
Bible
• Jews call this book the Torah
• Christians respect this text as the Old
Testament
• In the Torah, God chose Abraham to be
the father of the Jews
• The book of Genesis tells the story of God
ordering Abraham to move to Canaan
• After a famine, they all fled to Egypt
• Once in Egypt, they were made slaves
How were the Jews different?
• Unlike other groups around them, Jews
were monotheistic – that meant that they
believed in one all-powerful God they
called Yahweh
• To Hebrews, God was not a physical being
The Exodus
• After years of slavery in Egypt, a man
named Moses led a movement to deliver
his people out of Egypt.
• This mass movement of the Hebrew
people from Egypt back to Canaan is
called the Exodus
• The Exodus is celebrated each year
during the festival of Passover
• Because of the leadership of Moses, God
gave him a covenant – or promise
• This promise was the 10 Commandments
• God promised to protect the Hebrew people
if they followed the Commandments