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#6446
Bob Hook
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Herodotus was very impressed with the religious culture of the Egyptians because it permeated all aspects of their lives and into the great unknown of the afterlife. I think one of the reasons this occurred was because of the continuity of their gods and worship over time. As an example, the falcon-headed god Horus is recognizable from The Palette of King Narmer of the Old Kingdom, 2649 BCE, until the Last Judgement of Hunefer, 1275BCE. A time period of 1374 years. This relatively long period time of peace and prosperity gave the Egyptians a great deal of freedom to create rituals and religious items to honor the various deities.

The belief in the afterlife and the role of the Pharaoh as a deity further concentrated the religious aspects of this culture. The Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut, and the Tomb of Tutankhamen are all tributes to their gods and leaders. The visible presence of these structures was inescapable to the citizens and even the invaders of the kingdom. It continuously re-enforced the religious culture, the gods, the pharaohs, judgement and the afterlife.