Religion In The Ancient Egyptian City Of Thebes

Great Essays
Lauren Gebhardt
Professor Paga
Urbanism in the Ancient World
22 February, 2016
Religion in the Ancient Egyptian City of Thebes Religion and ritual practices played a big role in the process of urbanization in ancient times. A major source of evidence of urbanization in Ancient Egypt is the city known as Thebes. To Ancient Egyptians, the city was known as Waset or Niwt, meaning “The City,” but the Greeks changed the name to Thebes because it was “the model for every city” (Snape 150). In Thebes, having common ritual practices and religion encouraged urbanization because it brought the people together under a common belief system, led to the building of monumental structures, and affected the politics of the city. There is a lot of evidence
…show more content…
There are two main religious temples in Thebes, one is in Luxor and one is in Karnak. Both are dedicated to the god Amun, but also have chapels dedicated to other deities within them. The two temples, though in different locations, are linked together by rituals (Gates 105). In ancient times, there was a road that lead between the two temples and was lined with sphinxes. The sphinxes were unique in that they had ram heads, to honor the god, Amun, but were later replaced with the more typical human-headed sphinxes (Sullivan 2001). Other temples in Karnak include the temple of Mut, the temple of Aten, the temple of Khonsu, and the temple of Montu (Sullivan …show more content…
The sanctuary was the most sacred part. It was a home for the god, Amun, and it was where his statue was kept. Not only was the room itself significant, but its location had meaning as well. The sanctuary of a temple was to be built on the highest ground so as to represent earth, or order, emerging from water, or chaos, at the time of creation. Courtyards were open to the sky in order to allow for worship of the sun, Amun-re. The pylons were sloped to represent mountains on the horizon where the sun would rise and set. Hypostyle halls had symbolic meaning as well. The floor represented “the marshy ground of the earliest world,” the columns represented “the reeds that grew there,” and the ceiling was a representation of the sky (Gates

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Senwosret III

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages

    ¥ The temple is very similar to King Khafre’s mortuary temple. It has granite pillards that form a colonnade around a central courtyard. ¥ Senwosret III wore a pleated linen head cloth which was called a nemes headdress. It is surmounted by cobra, which represents the goddess Udjo, one of the protector’s of the king.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The temple of Abu Simbel is dedicated to the sun gods Amon and Re-Horakhte and twice a year the sun shines through the temple lighting up the walls revealing the great stories and accomplishments written in the walls. These statues show how creative the Egyptians were and how they could even manage to build such large projects as these. It took twenty years for them to build the Ramesseum, but when it was done it was a beautiful…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hatshepsut Research Paper

    • 1804 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt There were many factors in the ancient cities that influenced the construction of buildings. Elements such as geography, environment, economic activity and social practice all played an immense role in the 11th century of ancient Egypt. The ancient city of Thebes would not have turned out to be the dynasty that it was without these components being present. It was vitally necessary for the city to use the components to their advantage in order to develop and maintain a wealthy and prosperous city. The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is only one example of the city’s accomplishments.…

    • 1804 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cult Of Amun-Re Essay

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Seti I and Ramesses II continued the cult of the pharaoh as a god on earth. This action legitimised each reign and deified all generations to rule in the dynasty. Seti I refers to at least four gods as his father elevating himself to equal his status with other gods in his temples. Seti I refers to Amun- Ra as his ‘father’ in temple inscriptions. An unusual aspect of his reign was his emphasis of his father (Ramesses I) as a god and his decision to elevate himself to the same level as the gods in his Abydos temple.…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Ziggurat and the pyramids There are many similarities and differences between Ancient Egyptian Pyramids and Mesopotamian ziggurats. They both were held in high regards for their people cultures and religious beliefs. Ziggurats, a product of the Sumerian civilization, are stepped structures of large size that lead to a platform on top where spiritual/religious rituals took place. The pyramid that will be used in this paper is the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Ziggurat used will be the Great Ziggurat of Ur. One similarity is how big they are in their physical properties.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hatshepsut Research Paper

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages

    At the temple complex of Karnak, she erected a series of obelisks and built a “Palace of Ma’at,” a rectangular structure that was composed of "a series of small rooms with a large central hall for the placement of the central bark”. These great buildings, according to Egyptologist Owen Jarus, would have taken, “ample amount of time to build, therefore creating thousands of jobs for her people”. By providing for her people, the economic status of Egypt during her reign was flourishing. Her building programs not only affected her people positively, but it also is considered as Egypt’s greatest temple in present…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Egypt DBQ

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ancient Egypt was one of the world’s most developed civilizations for almost 3,000 years. In fact, four of the world's most important ancient cultures are known as the river civilizations. They were called the river civilizations because of the powerful influence a large river system had on the lives of people. The river system the Egyptians had to live off of was called the Nile River. Vitally important to Ancient Egypt, the Nile River provided significant social, cultural, and economic development.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Etruscan Vs Greek Temple

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages

    What makes this temple so different from Greeks temple is the Cella, it's divided into three parts. The temple is closed off on the back, whereas the Greek temple, and the Cella and the cult statues were designed to be porched from all sides. The columns of Etruscan…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This temple was molded after Djosers palace. This sounds like Imhotep wanted to include Djoser in some way. These building served 2 purposes. Imhotep included within these buildings Djosers spirit in the afterlife. He also made a design on the buildings that was hoped to keep robbers away.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Ancient Egyptians’ religion was polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many, many gods. In the early times of their religion, each town had its own god, along with a number of minor gods. Everyone worshiped these town gods, not just the inhabitants of the town. And as a town’s importance grew, their god got all buffed up in importance along with it. When Thebes became the capital of Ancient Egypt, their town god, Amon, became very important, too.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Karnak Research Paper

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The pylons included details inscribed information about, “the new kingdom, information about rituals and religious practices, military campaigns and more” (Bunson). There were also many sphinx statues around the temples and pylons. They were at the front entrance and the Temple of Mut which “was connected to Temple of Amun by an avenue of sphinxes, statues of lions with human heads that probably symbolized the sun god” (Netzley). Finally “Karnak had a ramp and canal that led to the Nile river,” one of the most sacred parts of the ancient world because it provided food and water to everyone around it…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion In Ancient Egypt

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Since the beginning of time, civilizations have been established due to the geography and climate in a certain area. Civilizations tend to arise in regions that are inhabitable and capable of sustaining life (Nate Sullivan).Whether they were located close to the mountains or the deserts, every little aspect of their surrounding effected them culturally and politically. Hominids, which were two-legged pre-human predecessors were said to be the first humans on earth, however it was not till later on that scientist found records of any kind. After the Neolithic Revolution, humans began to raise livestock and harvest food instead of hunting and gathering. The regions were so suitable that kingdoms were made.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Parthenon Research Paper

    • 1004 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As you can see in the layout columns surrounded the temple in a traditional Doric manner (8x17). The larger inner area otherwise known as the cella, is where the statue of Athena was housed (2). The room behind that was a treasury housing all of Athena’s treasures. This is where we see the unusual use of iconic order with Doric as this room was supported by four columns of the iconic order (). The statues and art in the interior were a direct depiction of the culture in Athens and was appreciated by the people of Athens.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    built on the west bank of the nile river, between the first and second cataracts of the nile, the site Abu Simple is one of the most recognisable ancient sites in Egypt. it contains two temples, carved into a mountainside, that were built by pharaoh Rameses ll (1303-1213 B.C) the larger of the two temples contains four colossal status os a seated Rameses ll at its entrance , each about 69 feet (21 meters) tall. the entranceway to the temple was built in such a way that on two days of the year, October 22 and February 22, the light would shine into the inner sanctuary and light up three statues seated on a bench, including one of the pharaoh. its been hypothesized that these dated may celebrate his coronation and birth…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Egyptian civilization was a fairly popular civilization. The great pyramids, housing the long forgotten pharaohs from the ancient civilizations, being one of the main attraction and interests in modern day Egypt, but how did the Egyptian manage to create such a large and complicated structure? Why did the Egyptians build the pyramids? Many questions that needed to be answered. Through my journey to answer these questions, I will later learn more about the Egyptian civilization and the process of how the Egyptians planned, created, and obtain the ability to construct the great pyramids.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays