Exercises on Egyptian Religiosity

(UFPE) Regarding religion in ancient Egypt, it can be said that:

1. Religion dominated every aspect of public and private life in ancient Egypt. Ceremonies were performed by the priests each year to ensure the arrival of the flood and, thus, good harvests, which were thanked by the king in solemnities to the deities.
2. religion in ancient Egypt, as in other peoples of antiquity, did not have much influence, since these peoples, in order to survive, had to develop enormous discipline at work and lived in constant wars.
3. religion only had an influence on the life of the family of kings, who used it as a way of keeping the people subject to their authority.
4. the period known as ancient Egypt is the only one in which religion was almost entirely forgotten, and the king as well as the people were much more dedicated to following the tradition of their ancestors, considered the only atheist peoples of antiquity.
5. the religion of the people in ancient Egypt was quite different from that of the king, due to the superstitious character that the poorest strata of ancient societies had, above all because they did not have access to school and other knowledge only allowed to the royal family.

(Vunesp) The theocratic states of Mesopotamia and Egypt evolved accumulating common characteristics and cultural peculiarities. The Egyptians developed the practice of embalming the human body because:

1. opposed to the prevailing polytheism at the time.
2. their gods, always ready to punish the takers, unleashed the deluge.
3. after death the soul could return to the mummified body.
4. they built tombs, shaped like truncated pyramids, erected for eternity.
5. peasants constituted an inferior social category.

“[...] When His Majesty appeared as king, the temples of the gods and goddesses, from Elephantine to the marshes of the Delta, lay in ruins. Their chapels were devastated, turned into places where herbs grew. Their shrines were as if they had never been:where walls had been, there was now a footpath. The country was in anguish, for the gods had forsaken it. If an army were sent to Phoenicia to extend the borders of Egypt, it would not be successful at all. [...]”

CARDOSO, Ciro Flamarion. Gods, mummies and ziggurats :a comparison of the religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Porto Alegre:Edipucrs, 1999.

The above text indicates a well-known period in the history of ancient Egypt, in which an important religious change took place. What was this change and what was the pharaoh responsible for it?

1. The adoption of monotheism by Pharaoh Amunhotep IV.
2. Pharaoh Tutankhamun's adoption of polytheism.
3. Pharaoh Tutankhamun's adoption of monotheism.
4. Queen Cleopatra's adoption of the Roman religion.

“For the Egyptians, the other world contained the same pleasures enjoyed on earth – servants, hunting, fishing, family leisure, good food and music. But to have access to all this, the dead had to be acquitted in a final judgment.”

BRAICK P.R.; MOTA, M. B. History:from caves to the third millennium . São Paulo:Moderna, 2007. p. 53.

Which god was responsible for the judgment of the dead in the religion of ancient Egypt?

1. Aton.
2. Isis.
3. Sep.
4. Osiris.
5. Anubis.

Letter A . In addition to religion dominating all aspects of social life, the priests had great power in Egypt, working alongside the pharaohs in dominating the population.

Letter C .

The others are incorrect, because:a) the Egyptians were polytheists; b) there was no flood legend among the Egyptians; d) they built pyramids, but not necessarily as a result of embalming techniques; e) although peasants constitute an inferior social category, there is no relationship with mummification.

Letter A . Amenhotep IV instituted monotheism around 1353 BC. and 1336 BC, transforming Aten into the unique god, symbolized by the solar disk.

Letter D . The Judgment of Osiris was what would guarantee the absolution or damnation of the soul. The heart was weighed in a balance, and if the weight was heavy, it represented the practice of transgressions, which would take it to the subterranean realm of the dead.