The Nile River's Role In The Success Of Ancient Egypt

The Nile River played an important role in the success of ancient Egypt. Even though Egypt is surrounded by sand, the ancient Egyptians managed to thrive by using the water of the Nile and building an empire. The Egyptians view of birth cycles, the afterlife, comes from the rise and fall of the Nile. They are one of the first civilizations to believe in the afterlife. When someone died, the Egyptians prepared the dead according to rituals. They built monuments to entomb their rulers and family, and left items for the dead to use on their way to the afterlife.

The Nile River did not play a big role in ancient Egypt’s afterlife. The people of the Nile River Civilization were polytheistic, which means they worshipped multiple gods. The

god of the Nile, ‘Hapi’ was the bringer of water and fertility. Hapi is often presented in Egyptian art as a man with a papyrus plant coming out of the top of his head. Osiris was also a god associated with the Nile. Osiris was king of Egypt. He was killed by his brother on the river bank and thrown into the river. Osiris became the god of the afterlife. Although the Egyptians did not worship the Nile a lot, the Nile is still responsible for many religious artifacts this society left behind.
The Egyptians believed that their religion was an important part of their survival in the Nile River. They believe the sun god Re, who is pictured as a falcon, was born every day and every night. Thoth was the God of wisdom and Hathor was the goddess of love. The Egyptians believed that the Nile floods were controlled by their many gods. Many Egyptian prayers were placed in what is known as the Book of the Dead. This book is placed in their tombs as a guide to the afterlife.