Religious Evolution in Early Civilizations

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Religion in early civilization is a key component to modifying their cultural norms such as the pharaoh Amenhotep of Egypt, attempting too covert to monotheism, and the Egyptians trying to spread polytheism to expand their civilizations and grow their armies. Israelites and Egyptians evolved using the knowledge of both monotheism and polytheism to establish a ground to build their beliefs on.
The Israelites that follow Moses became monotheistic and follow the ten commandments. These commandments establish religious laws that are derived from the code of Hammurabi. Such laws include, “not worshiping another god before him” In Psalms 104, “But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD” …show more content…

Knowing this, we know that the Egyptians were polytheistic. For the Egyptians, eternal life is their salvation, and they’ll do anything to reach that. “There is no sin in my body. I have not spoken that which is not true knowingly, nor have I done anything with a false heart.” (Book of the Dead) The Book of the Dead established what must be done to reach “life after death”. The pharaoh Amenhotep contradicted their beliefs in polytheism when he tried to convert the people to a monotheistic based belief. He was the god of the Sun Disc and then changed his name over to Akhenaton to be able to serve the god Aton. He closed temples to other gods so the people would have to worship his god Aton. By doing this, it made priests lose their jobs, as well as the peoples trust in him for taking away their ability to practice their polytheistic beliefs which was all they knew. “Who givest breath to sustain all that he has made!” (Akhenaton’s Hymn to the Aton) Aton was seen as the one true god to Akhenaton, but not to the people. His beliefs caused a lack of faith in Pharaohs after that. A Pharaoh is supposed to practice his beliefs to all gods and carry on those beliefs to their heirs, instead of believing in just

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