page_title: Ancient Egypt
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient Egypt / Religion
caption_attribution_description: العربية: أهرامات الجيزة، مصر Català: Les Piràmides de Giza, a Egipte. Ελληνικά: Όλες οι Πυραμίδες της Γκίζας σε μία λήψη. Deutsch: Alle Pyramiden von Gizeh auf einem Bild. English: All Giza Pyramids in one shot. Español: Las Pirámides de Guiza (Egipto). Français&#160;: Les Pyramides de Gizeh (Egypte). 日本語: 三大ピラミッド Polski: Wszystkie Piramidy w Gizie w jednym ujęciu. Română: Toate Piramidele din Giza, într-o singură poză. Русский: Все пирамиды Гизы на изображении.
context_page_description: Ancient Egypt, or the Kingdom of Kemet, was a society that began about 3150 BC, and lasted until 20 BC when it was invaded by the Roman Empire.
  Egypt grew along the River Nile and was at its most powerful in the second millennium BC. Its land went from the Nile delta to Nubia, a kingdom which today is mostly in the Sudan.
  For most of its history, Egypt was prosperous, since the water from the Nile made sure that the Egyptians would have good crops. Crops were grown after the Nile flood water went down.
  The Egyptians created a way of writing using hieroglyphs, built huge temples and tombs, traded with other areas, and had a powerful army. Their religion had many gods, and its priests were powerful and rich. Their rulers, called Pharaohs, were thought to be close to the gods.
context_section_description: Religion was very important to Ancient Egyptians. To Egyptians, animals were holy and were worshipped. Because of this, Egyptians domesticated, or made pets of, animals very early and took very good care of them. The centre of any Egyptian town was the temple, and this building was used for everything from the town hall to a university in addition to its religious services.
  Because they were so religious, Egyptians created a lot of art of their gods. This art shows all different kinds of divine, or holy, creatures including the pharaoh, who was thought to be a god.
  The afterlife was also very important to Egyptians and they are known for mummifying their dead. These mummies are important to scientists today because they tell them about how the Egyptians lived.
  All the gods were important but some were more important than others. An example of a goddess is Isis who is the goddess of the sky. Another example of a major god is Ra who was the god of the sun. The less well known god of The Nile and the crocodiles was named Sobek, which is a rather unusual name. Bastet was the goddess of cats, so the Ancient Egyptians mummified cats in honour of her, she was also the goddess of protection, joy and families.
caption: The pyramids at Giza
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