Editing Ancient Egypt (section)

===Religious beliefs===
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{{Main|Ancient Egyptian religion}}
[[File:The judgement of the dead in the presence of Osiris.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Book of the Dead]] was a guide to the deceased's journey in the afterlife.]]

Beliefs in the divine and in the afterlife were ingrained in ancient Egyptian civilization from its inception; pharaonic rule was based on the [[Divine Right of Kings|divine right of kings]]. The Egyptian pantheon was populated by [[Egyptian pantheon|gods]] who had supernatural powers and were called on for help or protection. However, the gods were not always viewed as benevolent, and Egyptians believed they had to be appeased with offerings and prayers. The structure of this [[Ancient Egyptian deities|pantheon]] changed continually as new deities were promoted in the hierarchy, but priests made no effort to organize the diverse and sometimes conflicting [[Egyptian mythology|myths]] and stories into a coherent system.{{sfnp|James|2005|p=102}} These various conceptions of divinity were not considered contradictory but rather layers in the multiple facets of reality.{{sfnp|Redford|2003|p=106}}
[[File:La_Tombe_de_Horemheb_cropped.jpg|alt=Painted relief of a seated man with green skin and tight garments, a man with the head of a jackal, and a man with the head of a falcon|thumb|The gods [[Osiris]], [[Anubis]], and [[Horus]] in the tomb of Horemheb ([[KV57]]) in the Valley of the Kings]]
Gods were worshiped in cult temples administered by priests acting on the king's behalf. At the center of the temple was the cult statue in a shrine. Temples were not places of public worship or congregation, and only on select feast days and celebrations was a shrine carrying the statue of the god brought out for public worship. Normally, the god's domain was sealed off from the outside world and was only accessible to temple officials. Common citizens could worship private statues in their homes, and amulets offered protection against the forces of chaos.{{sfnp|James|2005|p=117}} After the New Kingdom, the pharaoh's role as a spiritual intermediary was de-emphasized as religious customs shifted to direct worship of the gods. As a result, priests developed a system of [[oracle]]s to communicate the will of the gods directly to the people.{{sfnp|Shaw|2003|p=313}}

The Egyptians believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or ''aspects''. In addition to the body, each person had a ''šwt'' (shadow), a ''ba'' (personality or soul), a ''ka'' (life-force), and a ''name''.{{sfnp|Allen|2000|pp=79, 94–95}} The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat of thoughts and emotions. After death, the spiritual aspects were released from the body and could move at will, but they required the physical remains (or a substitute, such as a statue) as a permanent home. The ultimate goal of the deceased was to rejoin his ''ka'' and ''ba'' and become one of the "blessed dead", living on as an ''akh'', or "effective one". For this to happen, the deceased had to be judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed against a "[[Maat#Afterlife|feather of truth]]". If deemed worthy, the deceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual form.{{sfnp|Wasserman|1994|pp=150–153}} If they were not deemed worthy, their heart was eaten by [[Ammit]] the Devourer and they were erased from the Universe.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}