The Middle Kingdom

BY: D. Leonard

Ancient Egypt
Middle Kingdom

The middle kingdom was Egypt's Golden Age. Trade flourished, and so did arts and literature. Egypt built strong armies to defend themselves against her neighbors. During the time period of the middle kingdom, pharaohs were expected to be good kings and wise rulers. Instead of building huge expensive pyramids, when pharaohs died, they were buried in hidden tombs. These tombs were all over ancient Egypt. Most probably, there are tombs yet to be discovered by modern archaeologists because they were hidden so well.

Language/Writing
Egyptian hieroglyphs had been a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious writing on papyrus and wood. In AD 391 the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I, closed all pagan temples throughout the empire. This action terminated a four thousand year old tradition and the message of the ancient Egyptian language. It was lost for 1,500 years. It was not until the discovery of the Rosetta stone and the work of Jean-Francois Champollion that the Ancient Egyptians awoke from their long slumber. Today, because of the of the large amount of their literature, we know more about Egyptian society than most other ancient cultures.

Religion
Egypt is mainly Muslim, with Muslims accounting for between 80% and 90% of a population of around 80 million Egyptians. The remainder of Egyptians, numbering between 10% and 20% of the population mostly belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, an Oriental Orthodox Christian Church. There is also a small, but nonetheless historically significant, non-immigrant Bahá'í population, estimated around 2,000 persons, and an even smaller community of Jews about 200, then a tiny number of Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic. The non-Sunni, non-Coptic communities range in size from several hundreds to a few thousand. The original Ancient Egyptian religion has all but disappeared.

Gods/Goddesses
The ancient Egyptians believed in many different gods and goddesses. Each one with their own role to play in maintaining peace and harmony across the land. It has been said that some gods and goddesses took part in creation, some brought the flood every year, some offered protection, and some took care of people after they died. Others were either local gods who represented towns, or minor gods who represented plants or animals. The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to recongnise and worship these gods and goddesses so that life continued smoothly.

Map

The list of Gods and Goddesses
Ammut, or Ammit or Ahemait, is the crocodile goddess known as the "Devourer of the Dead". Also known as Ammit the Devourer. Ammut also assists Anubis with carrying out the Judgements
Anput is the wife of Anubis. Anput is the goddess of the seventeenth Nome of Upper Egypt.
OKebechetdog head is god of judgement of life and death, the canine god.
Anuket is the goddess of river Nile.
Apophis also known as Apep is the god of chaos and war. He dwells in the Duat.
Aten is the god of the sun.
Babi is the god of baboons.
Bast, or Bastet is the cat goddess.
Bes is the dwarf god.
Geb is the god of the earth.
Gengen-Wer is the goose god.
Hapi is the god of the nile.
Hathor is the goddess of love.
Heket is the goddess of frogs.
Horus is the god of war,sky, and falcons and son of Osiris.
Isis is the goddess of magic, marriage, healing, and motherhood. She is the wife and sister of Osiris and the mother of Horus. She is proud and deceives people, she arranged for Ra to be killed, so her son Horus would take the role of king of the gods.
Kebechet the goddess of purification, also is known as the wandering goddess, or the lost child.
Khepri is the god of scarab beetles. (Ra's aspect in the morning).
Khnum is the ram-headed god. (Ra's aspect in