Pharaoh's Power In Ancient Egypt

How Religion Influenced the Pharaoh’s Power in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was a kingdom located along the Nile River, and the Pharaoh was the ruler of this kingdom. Before Egypt became one kingdom, it was split in to Upper and Lower Egypt. United Ancient Egypt had a Polytheistic religion, this means that rather than having one or two or even thirty gods, the Ancient Egyptians had roughly three thousand. Ancient Egypt was ruled by a king called a Pharaoh. The Pharaoh’s power was supported by his strong links to the Ancient Egyptian religion. Examples of the link between the Pharaoh’s power and religion include the fact that the Ancient Egyptians believed he was the incarnation of several gods, the religious zeal of the Ancient Egyptian people,

On top of the gods he was the incarnation of in life, the pharaoh also became Osiris, a god most significant for having the duty of judging the dead, this would have succeeded in deterring most of, if not all disagreement with the Pharaoh. But it wasn’t only the belief that the Pharaoh would judge them when they died that kept the Egyptians in line, Ra was a sun god, and being the incarnation of Ra and therefore the bridge between Ra and humans, it was the Pharaoh’s duty to ‘wake’ the sun every morning, ‘In this role he had to keep his people safe, dispense justice, ensure the adequate rising of the Nile, care for the continued existence of those in the beyond by bringing them offerings to feed on, and had to uphold the divine order, Ma’at and fight Isfet.’ (The Pharaoh – Man, Ruler, and God). The earliest examples of Ancient Egyptian religion mainly relate to the annual inundation of the Nile River, this event was vital for the survival of the Ancient Egyptian people, and became embodied as the god Hapy. If the flood was unusually large, or unusually small then the blame would lie mainly on the Pharaoh, who was responsible for opening the small irrigation canals dug to utilise the inundation. With the importance placed on the Pharaoh by religion, it is clear that religion played a role in keeping his reputation with the people good, or at least to stop them from openly opposing