King represented Egypt before the gods, and it is he who is represented most often worshiped by standing, kneeling or even crawling. Making offerings to the gods, the king tries to maintain order, or Ma'at, which is compulsory for gods and kings.The king was the only link between the divine and the profane, and the representative of the gods on Earth.
Since the Second Intermediate Period, the doctrine of the king as god attempts to explain how a living being can acquire divine status, a concept that was first formulated in the Coffin Texts, and may be used more Earlier in the Pyramid Texts. It may have originated in the union of the dead king with Osiris, or that of the living king with Horus.
Since the Second Intermediate Period, the doctrine of the king as god attempts to explain how a living being can acquire divine status, a concept that was first formulated in the Coffin Texts, and may be used more Earlier in the Pyramid Texts. It may have originated in the union of the dead king with Osiris, or that of the living king with Horus.
The first title of an Egyptian king was his Horus name, and there is a close connection of this deity and the king since at least the end of prehistory. This basic concept has been maintained for all periods, although in various royal representations, the proportions of the king to the god were eventually changed in favor of the god, and thus to the king of lesser importance.
King's divine status was explained by reference to his two natures. The king became an offshoot of the Sun God, Re, in the fourth dynasty, which is considered a loss of divine power. The dead king was considered Osiris, while the living king was the son of Re. Note that during the fifth dynasty, King has built solar temples (to Re), but had Osirian subterranean structures beneath their pyramids, which show the close relationship of both Re and Osiris to royalty.
So important was the king in ancient Egyptian religion that was theoretically needed to be at the head of all the rites and ceremonies across the country simultaneously. The practical answer to what the king was to raise the members of the royal family, during theOld Kingdom, and the nobles of his court later so they can represent. This became the Egyptian priesthood, who has finally developed its own independence and titles during the New Kingdom.
It is not unreasonable to think that our concept of how the Egyptians worshiped their gods could change a lot of great information that we find more news. Indeed, there has been, over the years, been changes in how Egyptology views religion. We can consider the amount of material available on our modern religions, and how little we have on the Egyptian religion, to have an understanding of how little we know is that complex system of beliefs and old.
Ancient Egyptian Kings Pictures
