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,

and the fact that changing the religion didn’t go very well for Akhenaten. But before examining the links between the Pharaoh’s power and religion, a more in depth description of both the Pharaoh, and Ancient Egyptian religion is required.
An important part of Egyptian religion is that the number of gods isn’t set in stone, as already stated the religion was polytheistic with thousands of gods, but the number of gods kept rising throughout its existence. The Egyptians continually accepted new gods into their Pantheon, this helped relations with neighbouring kingdoms, by adopting and respecting their gods the Egyptians found it easier to make agreements and treaties with their neighbours. The religion stayed mostly the same throughout Ancient Egyptian history, apart from a few instances. The word Pharaoh is believed to have originated from the Egyptian words for ‘great house’, but as to which language it originates from, some sources such as Ancient Egypt Online, will say that its origins lie in Greek, and others such as Bible Studies Online, argue that it comes from Turkish (one of its earliest known written uses however was in the Old Testament of the Bible). The role of Pharaoh was traditionally passed from father to eldest son, ‘however in many cases this line of kingship was interrupted by murder, mayhem and mysterious disappearances.’ (Ancient Egypt Online, ‘The Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs’). In the earlier days of Ancient Egyptians, the Pharaoh would be killed once he was deemed physically unfit to rule (the Pharaohs always led their armies into battle themselves).
There was a lot of importance placed on religion in Ancient Egypt, giving anyone with strong links to it great power. Having such a large pantheon it was not difficult for the Ancient Egyptians to find a god perfect for any situation, even if they were looking for a god of wine. For the most part the gods were not thought to remain separate from humanity by living in some ethereal realm, instead they walked among the people. ‘All of Egypt was alive with the presence of these gods and the people held the land so dearly that they feared shunned extensive travel or military campaigns which would take them beyond its borders because of their belief that, should they die outside Egypt, they would have a harder time reaching the Field of Reeds - or may never reach it at all’ (Joshua J. Mark, Ancient History Encyclopaedia, 2012). Certain trees were not to be cut down because they were believed to be a god’s favourite tree to sit under. The noted historical author Margret Bunson states that the statues of the gods where put on arks or ships and taken into the streets where oracles would take place and the priests would answer petitions. The first forms of Ancient Egyptian religion related to the yearly inundation of the Nile River. But one of the most important things to know about the Pharaoh is that the Egyptians believed he was the incarnation of certain gods.
According to their religion, the Ancient Egyptian believed that while alive the Pharaoh was simultaneously the incarnation/son/bridge between man and god of both Horas and Ra, and when the Pharaoh died he became not just an incarnation of the aforementioned gods, but the gods themselves.

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

him.
Due to the Pharaoh’s immense power the religion changed in ways other than adding new gods, many Pharaohs changed the importance of gods to suit their preferences. Ra, although added to the pantheon in the Second Dynasty (c.2840-2700BC), only became closely associated with the Pharaoh in the Fifth Dynasty (c.2500-2350BC), ‘The Pharaoh was already seen as the embodiment of Horus and so the two gods became linked, sometimes as the composite deity Ra-Horakhty’ (Ancient Egypt Online). Similar things happened with other gods, but the gods that maintained their higher status were Horus, Ra, Amun, and Osiris. But the most significant and most openly rejected of these changes occurred in the rein of Akhenaten. In the fifth year of his rein Akhenaten declared to the people of Ancient Egypt that there was only one god, the sun god Aten, this was met with lots of controversy. ‘…This was unheard of! Everyone knew there were countless gods in Egypt alone...Akhenaton closed the Amon temples and ordered a brand-new capital city…Even though the provinces were in revolt.’ (Larry Gonick’s ‘Cartoon History of the Universe’, Tut Ankh Who). This is one of the few known examples of the people of Ancient Egypt openly rejecting the Pharaoh’s decree. A majority of the people kept their doubt to themselves (disagreeing with the Pharaoh was still punishable by death), whilst others openly despised the ludicrous idea (especially in the provinces). If Akhenaten’s son Tutankhamen (originally Tutankhaten following his father’s religion) hadn’t changed the religion back to its former polytheistic state, then it is unlikely that his rein would have lasted very long. Originally the Pharaoh would be killed once he was deemed too weak to rule, but after a while the Pharaoh gained more loyal guards this tradition was replaced by the Sed festival for the safety of those doing the killing (Larry Gonick, 1990). It is plain to see that if a pharaoh abused his power and tried to change religion, his respect from the people evaporated and his power waned. An excellent example of the link between the Pharaoh’s power, and religion.
The most well-known remnants of Ancient Egyptian civilisation, and possibly the greatest example of the Pharaoh’s power, are the pyramids. Before pyramids came mastabas, generally no bigger than a small house, but around 2700 BC the pharaoh Zoser commanded his architect, Imhotep to create a tomb which would display his superior status, the result was a stepped pyramid over 200 feet tall (Larry Gonick, 1990). Over the course of about a hundred years several other styles of pyramid appeared, such as the bent pyramid, but the first pyramid that could be considered a ‘true pyramid’ was built for the Pharaoh Sneferu around 2600 BC. Over the past few decades there have been several new discoveries which suggest that the pyramids were not built entirely by slaves as previously thought, but instead by normal Egyptian citizens being compensated for their work, some accounts say that the priests were put to work as well because they opposed the unnecessarily large extravagant tombs. There are still several sources, including the Bible, that state that slaves were used to build the pyramids, and so there is of course little doubt that slaves were involved in their construction, but a fraction or possibly even a majority of the builders were regular Egyptians drafted into labour.
In conclusion, it is clear that the Pharaoh’s power in Ancient Egypt was greatly enhanced by religion. The Pharaoh’s relation to the gods gave them the power to declare anything to be the truth, although this privilege wavers when it comes to extreme religious ideals. The Ancient Egyptians believed him to be the most divine being alive, and therefore the wisest, but he still needed to keep up his end of the bargain by appeasing the gods, and remaining battle worthy to lead the armies in war.