What Interesting Things Do You Know About The Egyptians?

[Principium Nexus]

I have a great fascination for the old egyptian mythology, architecture and their history in general. We still don't know much about this old acient civilization and they left some gigantic pyramids. I would like to collect any information about their history here to get a better picture of who they were and if there is a deeper knowledge or secret.

Things that would be interesting:

• The creation of the pyramids and their use.
• Spirituality in acient egypt. I know they used some sacraments like the lotus flower to get in altered states.
• Mythology (gods and other figures)
• Cool theories
• Anything you might want to add

[Loreena]

The pyramids were built to protect the body of the deceased pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens. The pharaohs were buried in pyramids. These massive tombs were constructed to withstand the elements of time and were intended to last forever.

Because they were considered both human and divine, pharaohs were believed to become mediators between gods and humans after death. Since a part of the spirit supposedly remained with the body, the entombed body was mummified and surrounded with objects needed in the afterlife, including furniture, food and gold. the first real pyramid was built  for a pharaoh named Djoser.The most famous ones are the pyramids of Giza.

mummification was an expensive and time-consuming process, reserved for the more wealthy members of society. The vast majority of Egypt’s dead were buried in simple pits in the desert.

Only the elite would mummify the dead so it was very special for them. They believed that it was possible to live again after death, but only if the body retained a recognizable human form. Ironically, this could have been achieved quite easily by burying the dead in direct contact with the hot and sterile desert sand, a natural desiccation would then have occurred. But the elite wanted to be buried in coffins within tombs, and this meant that their corpses, no longer in direct contact with the sand, started to rot. The twin requirements of elaborate burial equipment plus a recognizable body led to the science of artificial mummification. 

People in Egypt shared food with the dead. Inside the tomb, an accessible tomb-chapel allowed families, well-wishers and priests to visit the deceased and leave the regular offerings that the ka required, while a hidden burial chamber protected the mummy from harm.

ka is a very huge divine symbol in Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs. It consisted of a multitude of deities who according to the Egyptians controlled the forces of nature. Religion influenced nearly every aspect of the ancient Egyptians' lives.

In Egypt, before the concept of God existed, magical power was encapsulated in the hieroglyph ofa rod called sceptre. This is one of the most enduring symbols of divine power, ever present in images of the pharaohs and the gods.

As human society evolved, people gradually gained a degree of personal identity. With a higher sense of individuality, they began to conceive the gods in a personalized form..

At that stage, every Egyptian town had its own particular deity, manifested in a material fetish or a god represented in the shape of an animal, such as a cat-goddess, cobra-goddess, ibis-god or jackal-god. As the pantheon grew in cohesiveness, these gods and goddesses were given human bodies and credited with human attributes and activities. The temples in the major cities throughout the land were constructed to worship local gods. During the New Kingdom, these temples honoured a triad of gods based on the pattern established by the mythical family of Osiris, Isis and Horus. These three gods are most important in Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians' attitude towards death was influenced by their belief in immortality. They regarded death as a temporary interruption, rather than the cessation of life. To ensure the continuity of life after death, people paid homage to the gods, both during and after their life on earth. When they died, they were mummified so the soul would return to the body, giving it breath and life. Household equipment and food and drink were placed on offering tables outside the tomb's burial chamber to provide for the person's needs in the afterworld. Written funerary texts consisting of spells or prayers were also included to assist the dead on their way to the afterworld. Everything was done with care.

To prepare the deceased for the journey to the afterworld, the "opening of the mouth" ceremony was performed on the mummy by priests. This  ritual involved purification, burning incense, anointing and incantations, etc.

my personal favourite is the "weighing of the heart ceremony. there is a nice and famous pic on this. It looks very beautiful.Here the gods of the dead performed the "weighing of the heart" ceremony to judge whether the person's earthly deeds were virtuous. The weighing of the heart was overseen by the jackal-headed god Anubis, and the judgement was recorded by Thoth, the god of writing.

There is a famous myth in ancient Egypt known as the creation myth. The creation myth is recounted in the sacred hieroglyphic writings found on pyramids, temples, tombs and sheets of papyrus. These writings describe how the earth was created out of chaos by the god Atum. The earth was seen as a sacred landscape, a reflection of the sky world where the gods resided.

Some of the gods in ancient Egypt - amun  (first and most ancient god shown as man wearing plume),    amun ra or re(ra represents sun god - its the combination of sun and amun ,   atum(water god with crown on top   bastet(cute looking cat goddess)   hathor(woman with the ears of a cow important god for women for fertility motherhood   horus isis  Osiris (forming the trinity)  maat (feather on head and wide wings on arms is the god of justice who is important during final assessment and weighing ceremony  nekhbet vulture goddess protector  nephthys, tefnut, thoth(male counterpart of maat)   sobek crocodile head) sekhmet warrior goddess lion head)  ptah (wearing skullcap

Wadjet cobra goddess

All gods are really fascinating they are just too many each serving a different purpose in ancient Egyptian life.

Ancient Egypt is amazing and fascinating.
 

 

[Gnosis]

Thoth built the Great Pyramid. He build the Great Pyramid of Giza in 1 day, and before all other pyramids in Egypt. Those lesser pyramids were built in awe of the original one that Thoth built.

Aha! Of course, it was Thoth all along. Who else could it be? 

[pluto]

http://thegreaterpicture.com/pyramids.html

[Evilwave Heddy]

Have you ever heard of Coral Castle?  Apparently this guy found the way the pyramids were made and the stones were transported.  But hey, I never dug any deeper than that.

[Prabhaker]

On 1/26/2017 at 9:12 PM, Principium Nexus said:

Anything you might want to add

In Egypt, the great library of Alexandria was built. It had all the secrets of the past preserved. It was the greatest library that has ever existed on the earth; later on it was destroyed by a Mohammedan fanatic. The library was so big that when it was burnt, for six months the fire continued.

Pythagoras, a great seeker and searcher from Greece, visited the library in Alexandria and he refers to great literature on the science of hypnosis that has come from the lost continent of Atlantis, which sank into the Atlantic Ocean in some natural calamity.

Perhaps Atlantis had the greatest and the most ancient civilization. And Egypt tried to learn as much from the teachers and the universities of Atlantis as was possible, because the pharaohs – the kings of Egypt – were tremendously interested in collecting all possible sources of knowledge.

The library of Alexandria was perhaps the greatest library that has ever existed. Even the library of the British Museum is just a small library in comparison to the library of Alexandria.

It was burned by Mohammedans, by Khalif Omar. It took six months to put the fire out. That can give you an idea of the bigness and the vastness of the collection.