The religion of ancient Egypt originates in the totemism of the tribes that inhabited the fertile Nile Valley. Each tribe chose an animal as its patron. This animal became a tribal totem, it was revered and cherished, hoping for reciprocal mercy. From primitive beliefs a complex and many-sided pantheon of Ancient Egypt grew up, in which each god or goddess appeared in the guise of one of the animals.
God help
The choice of animal to worship depended on the living conditions of the tribe. The inhabitants of the banks of the Nile worshiped the god Sebek, the personification of which was a crocodile. It was believed that he controls the spills of the river, capable of bringing fertile silt to the fields.
Everywhere the bull was revered as a symbol of fertile agriculture. It was the bull that the Egyptians harnessed to the plow to cultivate the land. In Memphis, the bull was the soul of Ptah, the creator god, and always lived near the temple.
No less than a bull was worshiped and a cow, embodying the fertility of living beings. She is associated with Isis, the Great Mother, the patroness of women and marital fidelity.
The goddess Bastet, the keeper of the hearth, was depicted in the form of a cat. Cats were sacred; in case of fire, the cat had to be rescued before children and property. This cult was associated with the fact that cats caught rodents, which means they helped to maintain the harvest.
The cult of the scarab beetle is associated with the god Hapri. According to legend, the scarabs had the ability to spawn, so the amulets with the image of this insect helped to resurrect after death.
Heralds of Heaven
The falcon, which dug into the prey with sharp claws, was first the embodiment of the predatory god of the hunt. But later Horus, the god of heights and heaven, occupied the highest step of the Egyptian pantheon and became a symbol of the power of the pharaoh.
The god of wisdom, writing and literature, Thoth appeared in the guise of a man with the head of an ibis. The arrival of the ibis according to signs was associated with the spill of the Nile, when prosperity came.
These birds were so sacred that even for their accidental killing, the death penalty was expected.
