Watch: Ancient Egyptian beliefs
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS
The gods of old Egypt rule over us here,
Bringing us wisdom and wonder and fear.
They look like the things that
The natural world shapes,
Like jackals and beetles and lions.
And apes!
Babi watched over his troupe of baboons,
Ihy, would charm with his beautiful tunes,
Thoth was the scribe god of reading and writing!
Sekhmet the lioness, war god, she liked fighting!
Anubis took care of the recently dead,
Rah wore the sun on the top of his head!
The stories align to the planets and stars!
The sun and the moon, in the timeless stone we'd carve.
Great statues, such forms, we revere, we adore,
The ancient Egyptian gods.
For 3000 years they watched over these lands,
Holding the fate of the world in their hands,
Horus would watch with his all-seeing eye,
Nut moved the moon and she held up the sky,
Isis taught humanity, and healed us when we're hurt,
Osiris , god of life and death, controlled the underworld,
Ptah built the Earth and created us all,
Seth, god of chaos, was an evil so and so!
The stories align to the planets and stars,
The sun and the moon, in the timeless stone we'd carve.
Great statues, such forms, we revere, we adore,
The ancient Egyptian gods,
The ancient Egyptian gods!
Who were the gods?
- The ancient Egyptians had many gods and goddesses.
- Some gods were stars, others were humans and animals.
- The gods stood for things like weather, fire and death, that were part of life.
- People believed the Pharaohs were picked by the gods.
- When the Romans took over Egypt, people became Christian and beliefs in the old gods died out.
Some ancient Egyptian gods
- Image source, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester
Image caption, Thoth
Thoth was often shown with the head of a baboon or an ibis (a wading bird with long legs and a long beak). He was the scribe for the other gods and the ancient Egyptians believed that he invented hieroglyphs.
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Activities
Activity 1: Name the gods
Match the god to their name below.
Activity 2: Quiz – Ancient Egyptian gods
Activity 3: History Explorer game
Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about Ancient Egypt.
History Explorer: Secrets through time
History Explorer: Secrets through time: KS2 History
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