Phenomenology - Religion of the Pharaohs
Chapter 3, Part A- Religion and Culture ©
To discuss Egypt’s religious history one must look at its overall history, for religion has been an intricate part of Egypt’s every day life since the forming of its magnificent ancient empire. The Greek Historian marveled at the Egyptian’s religious devotion and loyalty to his family and traditions. As Will Durant explains so well concerning the wonders of Egypt discovered through texts, tomb paintings, tablets and monument inscriptions in his book Our Oriental Heritage [1] –
The recovery of Egypt is one of the most brilliant chapters in archaeology. The Middle Ages knew of Egypt as a Roman colony and a Christian settlement; the Renaissance presumed that civilization had begun with Greece; even the Enlightenment, though it concerned itself intelligently with China and India, knew nothing of Egypt beyond the Pyramids. Egyptology was a by-product of Napoleonic imperialism. When the great Corsican led a French expedition to Egypt in 1798 he took with him a number of draughtsmen and engineers to explore and map the terrain, and made place also for certain scholars absurdly interested in Egypt for the sake of a better understanding of history. It was this corps of men who first revealed the temples of Luxor and Karnak to the modern world; and the elaborate Description de L'Egypte (1809-13) which they prepared for the French Academy was the first milestone in the scientific study of this forgotten civilization.
