It is known that cultural achievements Ancient Egypt and ancient civilization became the basis, thanks to which in the following centuries, both European and world scientific and technical progress... Many revolutionary discoveries, the fruits of which we enjoy today, were made several millennia ago, in an era whose silent witnesses are only the pyramids and the ruins of once magnificent temples and palaces.

A history of 4 thousand years

The formation of culture on the banks of the Nile took a long period and continued throughout the existence of the Ancient Egyptian state, in other words, from the middle of the 4th millennium BC. NS. and until the 4th century AD. NS. This entire huge period of time is usually divided into several periods: the Old (pre-dynastic), Middle, New, and also the Late Kingdom, and, talking about the cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt, it should be noted that each of them contributed to the general accumulation of knowledge. Therefore, considering the cultural and scientific heritage this, the highest for its time, civilization, we will talk about the entire period of its history as a whole, without highlighting individual moments.

Advances in Astronomy

It is generally accepted that the main cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt relate to astronomy. Thus, observations made almost 5 thousand years ago helped to make whole line discoveries to which European science came only after many centuries. For example, the Egyptians managed to create the world's first zodiacal circle, divided into 12 equal segments, each of which was designated by the name of the constellation in which the Sun resides, making its annual path (the circle diagram is presented below). In addition, ancient astronomers calculated with amazing accuracy the life cycle of Sirius, equal to 1460 years, and established that Venus and Mars have their own specific phases.

The world's first calendar was also created in Ancient Egypt, and in the work on it, ancient scientists were guided not only by observation starry sky but also the seasonal floods of the Nile, on which the harvest depended. They established exactly the number of months in a year and days in each of them. Subsequently, the Romans tried to appropriate this discovery, in connection with which one of the months ─ July ─ was named by them in honor of the Emperor Julius Caesar.

Ancient Egyptian mathematicians

Speaking about cultural achievements, one cannot ignore their contribution to mathematics. It has been established that the decimal number system, which is used by the whole world today, was invented by the Egyptians. They not only knew how to divide and multiply numbers, but could determine the area of ​​the figure and the volume of the body. In addition, the ancient mathematicians operated on such a concept as the number "pi", which they laid in the basis of the proportions of the famous pyramid of Cheops, as well as the tombs of many other pharaohs.

Medicine of Ancient Egypt

The art of treating a wide variety of diseases is also included in the list of cultural and scientific advances Ancient Egypt. Many archaeological finds testify that even in that ancient era, the priests were not only well versed in anatomy, but also performed surgical operations, which became available to doctors only in a relatively recent time. These include eye surgery, craniotomy, and amputation of the limbs.

It is curious that in ancient Egypt a medication was used, which is the prototype of modern ampicillin. It was nothing more than mold, which over time covered the bread. It was removed and placed on the inflamed wound, after which it quickly healed. Scientific rationale this phenomenon was given only in the middle of the 20th century, after laboratory study the composition of ampicillin.

In addition, the Egyptians were the first to celebrate positive influence, which sport has on human health, and paid great attention to it. The fame of Egyptian doctors was so wide that they were invited to the palaces of the rulers of neighboring states. Preserved, for example, information about the famous Egyptian doctor Ujahorresent, who healed the Persian king from a fatal illness.

Making papyrus

An important place among other cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt is occupied by the invention of papyrus ─ the material on which they kept both historical chronicles and records of a scientific and everyday nature. To make it, the stems of lotus were used, which grew in abundance on the banks of the Nile.

The technology used by the ancient masters made it possible to produce products of such high quality that even today, after several millennia, some sheets containing invaluable scientific material are in excellent condition. On them, not only the text is readable, but also the drawings made by ancient artists are quite distinguishable.

Encyclopedias and geographical maps of antiquity

Among other artifacts obtained during archaeological excavations, it was the papyri that brought to us the greatest amount of information concerning all aspects of life, science and cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt. In addition, in them, like nowhere else, the history of a number of states of Mesopotamia is reflected.

Some collections of papyri are a kind of modern encyclopedias and contain information of a cognitive nature. Preserved and made on papyrus geographic Maps, thanks to which modern scientists have received a more complete picture of the location of the states adjacent to Egypt.

Of particular interest to researchers is a certain mysterious papyrus, which shows the route of the pharaoh's army around the entire African continent. The fact is that there is no other information about such a grandiose campaign, in addition, the accuracy with which the external outlines of Africa are presented on the map is surprising.

Ideology expressed in stone

The construction successes, extraordinary for that time, were also included among the outstanding cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt. Briefly describing the most famous buildings of that time, which, as you know, are the pyramids, it should be concluded that these grandiose buildings were primarily a powerful means of ideological propaganda. The stone colossus directed to the sky were supposed to inspire the people with the idea of ​​the inviolability and unlimited power of the pharaohs, who are the living embodiment of the gods. It should be noted that monumentality and pomp, like a proven weapon, have remained in the arsenals of ideologists around the world to this day.

Architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt

It is curious to note that the pyramid of Khafre on the Giza plateau, which has a height of 144 meters, has long been considered the most tall building in the world, and only the 324-meter Eiffel Tower, built in 1889, took the palm from it. Among the unique buildings of that era, the last surviving wonder of the world should be noted, which is the grandiose burial complex of Pharaoh Cheops with the figure of the sphinx towering near it. It is impossible to pass by a number of other unique architectural monuments, such as the tombs of the city of Abydos, the temple of Ramses II and the buildings of the ancient capital of Thebes.

Ancient Egyptian writers

Concluding the conversation about the cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt, let us also recall the literary monuments preserved due to the durability of the papyrus, which was described above. On them, as well as on the walls of tombs and temples, texts were applied not only of religious content, but often reflecting the realities of everyday life.

The range of genres in which ancient Egyptian authors worked is unusually wide. It includes biographical works, teachings, legends, as well as satire and humor. As it turned out, a sharp joke was highly valued in Ancient Egypt. Many works have survived in which the authors maliciously and caustically ridiculed the vices of the system of government that existed in their time. The most famous are the works published in our time: "Conversation of the Disappointed with His Soul", "Song of the Harper" and "The Tale of Sinuhet".

An important place in the written heritage of Ancient Egypt is given to legal treatises, which make it possible to adequately represent the peculiarities of the legal sphere of ancient society. Characteristic feature Egyptian literature is the custom to put the texts of works not only on papyri, but also on the surface of stone obelisks. So, after deciphering the hieroglyphs that covered many historical monuments, pictures of military campaigns, the activities of the pharaohs, as well as the life of ordinary Egyptians were revealed to scientists.

Having briefly talked about the cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt, we could not cover all aspects of the activities of the amazing people who lived on the banks of the Nile for more than four millennia. Time mercilessly destroyed many monuments and covered the once blossoming cities with desert sand, but the culture of this country became an invaluable heritage, on which the building of the entire world civilization was subsequently erected.

Egypt gives us the most vivid example that stage of the formation of the ancient oriental culture, where the practical achievements and development of pragmatically oriented rationality are combined with the fundamental role of feelings and images inherited from the primitive myth.

The origins of Egyptian culture lie in ancient times. Chronologically, the history of Ancient Egypt is divided into:

The Old Kingdom: 3197-2160 BC NS.

Middle Kingdom: 2160-1580 BC NS.

New Kingdom: 1580-1100 BC NS.

Late period: 1100 BC NS. - 395 AD NS.

In the III millennium BC. NS. Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt, which were three independent states, united. From this event, the development of the culture and history of Ancient Egypt begins.

In the last period, Egypt loses its power, and it is gradually conquered by other peoples: Persians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines. In the early Middle Ages, Islam penetrated into Egypt.

Geographical position

The ancient Egyptian state originated along the Nile River in northern Africa. Its location was due to the fertility of the silt soils formed by the floods of the Nile, and the ability to get several harvests per year. This geographical and climatic factor played a decisive role in the economic and political development of Egypt.

Administrative division into nomes (agricultural communities), which were ruled by nomarchs, made it possible to ensure clear management of the country.

Features of the worldview

Social structure. The scheme of the social structure resembles a pyramid: the top was occupied by the pharaoh (king), who concentrated all forms of power in one person. Behind him are priests, ministers, military leaders, nomarchs. The next, lower level was occupied by scribes, tax collectors, who controlled the implementation of laws. A step below are peasants, even lower are artisans and merchants. At the foot of the pyramid are slaves who had no rights. The ranks of slaves were replenished with prisoners of war: Egypt waged wars of conquest.

For more than three thousand years, the Egyptian state was the most powerful of its time. This was facilitated by a strong state power, an established system of government, perfect legislation for that time, a high culture of agriculture, the development of science and the huge role of religion in the life of the Egyptians (the very religious people in the history of the ancient world).

Religion.

Ancient Egypt is considered a classic country of worship of the gods in the form of animals. In addition to the general Egyptian, each group of the population also had its own local sacred animals. Egyptian gods had a harsh, "beastly" appearance and had to intimidate, make them fear, obey and worship.

The gods in the image of the ancient Egyptians are creatures with a human body and animal heads, their divinity is depicted here through the images of creatures inhabiting sacred nature.

The most common ancient Egyptian cults are: the cult of animals, the cult of the Nile, the cult of the Pharaoh, the cult of the Sun, the cult of the dead (funeral cult), the cult of Osiris (the cult of nature).

The cult of animals is the most ancient. The most popular animal gods are crocodile, cat, bull, snake, cow, scarab beetle. In all periods of its history, Ancient Egypt preferred the solar cult (the cult of the sun), associated with the worship of the Sun (Ra) and the deification of the Pharaoh. The god Amon - the patron saint of the pharaohs - symbolized their divine origin from Ra, and the combination of two deities into one (Amon-Ra) affirmed the identity of the Sun and the supreme ruler.

The pantheon of the main gods can be considered Osiris, the god of the dead, whose cult personified the worship of a dying and eternally reborn nature. Associated with this cult is the worship of Isis (the goddess of fertility), her son Horus and Thoth (the god of wisdom). Their antipode was the god of evil - Seth.

One of the features of ancient Egyptian beliefs that determined the nature of ancient Egyptian art is the funeral cult, which is based on the belief in afterlife and the immortality of the soul ("Ba") and its patron ("Ka"). According to the Egyptians, a person consists of two elements - material (body) and spiritual ("Ka" and "Ba"). After death, the soul leaves the body through the eyes and the judgment of Osiris awaits it. The soul of a sinner should be given to be torn apart by a monster with the head of a crocodile and the body of a dog. The soul of the righteous is prepared immortal life, for which she needs an outer shell. The consequence of these representations is embalming (making mummies). The mummy could be replaced by a statue - an exact copy of the deceased. The funeral cult led to the development of chemistry, medicine (surgery), and the art of sculptural portraiture.

Most of the rituals of Ancient Egypt were associated with the Nile - the source of the state's prosperity. The Nile festivals were important public agricultural holidays, such as the first furrow or the beginning of the harvest. When the time of the flood of the Nile came, the pharaoh threw papyrus into the river with an order to start the flood, he also began plowing, cut the first sheaf of a new crop.

Thus, the religious system of the Egyptians with a developed cult of gods and the dead, stable and conservative, fastened all manifestations of culture, art, science into a single ideological monolith.

1. Developed a solar calendar. They used this calendar to determine when the Nile River flooded. These floods coincided with the rising of Sirius. The year was divided into 3 seasons, 4 months each, the month had 30 days, which were divided into decades. And each decade was dedicated to a specific constellation.

2. Developed a sundial and water clock (It is known in the period of the new kingdom) The Egyptians divided the day into 24 hours. But, despite the appearance of the clock, the most important sign of the worldview, the Egyptians will always be such a category as the category of eternity.

3. Maps of the sky. The Egyptians grouped the stars into constellations and actively watched them.

4. Discoveries in the field of mathematics. They introduced a ten-thousandth counting system, they operated with simple fractions. They could calculate the circumference, the surface area of ​​a ball, they knew arithmetic progression etc.

5. In the field of anatomy and medicine. Development of the process of embalming the body of the deceased, discovered the connection between brain damage and paralysis of the limbs, they used the basics of chemical knowledge (poisons, herbs, potions)

6. historical records of kingdoms. Which recorded certain events

7.the discovery of writing

Features of the written culture of Egypt.

In antiquity, Egyptian letters were called hieroglyphs i.e. sacred texts, many scientists worked on deciphering: the priest Kircher, Count Palin, Thomas Jung, Champalien and some others.

Egyptian letters are not puzzles. Not symbols, despite their drawing, but these are signs that convey audio speech ancient Egyptians. In modern Egyptology, it is customary to group hieroglyphs into sections, the basis of this division is the image. There are 26 groups:

1) The image of male figures and their actions (wars, pharaohs, priests, slaves). This gives us information about the nature of the action of the ancient Egyptians.

2) Female (signs depicting a simple woman - mistress, pregnant, lactating, giving birth)

3) the image of strange creatures, half-humans, half-beasts (Ra)

4) signs that represent parts human body(lips, eye, leg ..)

5) representatives of the animal world were depicted, and they were attributed to different groups (crocodile, bull, cat, jackals, elephants, cobras)

6) signs depicting parts of the animal's body (wings, beak, head)

7) plants that the Egyptians grew

8) symbolic and realistic symbols

9) the image of buildings, furnishings

10) signs that cannot be deciphered.

The main mystery is related to the fact that for a long time researchers believed that behind each sign there is some kind of symbol that can be deciphered either by a phrase or by making a story. Only Champollion realized that Egyptian hieroglyphs convey sound speech. The scribes used 700 hieroglyphs, but did not convey vowels. Therefore, scientists use "school reading". The essence of the principle is that they insert the vowel e between any consonants. At the moment, only an approximate reconstruction of the sounds of Egyptian words is possible. Esida - Essa

Hieroglyphic texts were not divided into words and sentences. In Egypt, there were dumb determinants in the text - these are signs that divided the text into separate words, the Egyptian writing did not exist orthography, the text obeyed the tastes, habits of a particular scribe (the titles of the pharaohs, when describing the gods, the dates did not change)

8. Despite the fact that Egyptian culture has created the foundations scientific knowledge important role In the life of the ancient Egyptians, knowledge was not scientific, but sacred. This is knowledge that was passed on only by the priests. Access to this knowledge could be obtained only through the rites of initiation into the priestly elite - these rites were called the mystery. In modern culture, most are lost or encrypted. The embodiment of sacred knowledge is the Cheops pyramid, as the place where the Cheops rite is performed. The pyramid is the archetype of the divine mountain. The pyramid is perfect geometric body, the base of the pyramid indicates the inviolability of the house of knowledge, which is built on 4 states: silence, depth, reason, truth. The 4 sides of the pyramid embody warmth and cold (South and North), light and darkness (East and West), the triangular side of the pyramid symbolizes the three-dimensionality of the divine being. The sum of the faces of the pyramid = 28, this is a sacred number. The pyramid is considered a symbol of the sacred universe (universe). Mystery knowledge teaches that the divine energy of the power of the gods tends to the top of the pyramid. That is why a stone in the form of a pyramid was installed on the top of the pyramid, and then again and again, which symbolized the incompleteness of eternity, the fact that only God can be perfect.

According to sacred knowledge, a person entered the pyramid as a person, and left as a deity

The scientific, technical and cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt are so amazing that some people sincerely believe that it was not without the intervention of extraterrestrial civilizations. Such theories can be mesmerizing, when in fact they underestimate intelligence, ingenuity and Creative skills, which were characteristic of people of different eras. So what inventions are the Egyptians to thank for?

Water and sundial. These inventions stand out noticeably among the technical achievements of Ancient Egypt. Sundial served as obelisks, the shadow of which was hour hand... In the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. a water clock appeared. They were an inverted stone cone, through the opening of which water dripped evenly. Time was determined by changing the water level. The cone itself was divided into 12 equal columns.

Papyrus. Already in 3 thousand BC. NS. The Egyptians began to make paper from the papyrus plant. For this purpose, strips from the core of the plant were used. Many ancient papyrus sheets have survived to our time in an impeccable condition, which indicates high quality material. Moreover, in many European languages ​​the word “paper” is directly related to the Egyptian “papyrus”.

Ink and pen. These devices appeared after the papyrus and, undoubtedly, were of world importance. A mixture of soot with vegetable oil and beeswax was used to create the black ink. The durability of this ink has been proven over time. The role of the pen in the days of Ancient Egypt was played by reed pens, which were made in forms convenient for writing.

Plow. This is a plow that has been harnessed to an ox. This invention had an important economic importance... The use of the plow facilitated and accelerated the process of loosening the soil. The plows were attached to the body of the animal with belts. Plowing required two people: one guided the plow, the other urged the animal on with a stick.

Shaduf and a water-lifting wheel. Without irrigation systems, the development of civilization in Egypt high level would not be possible. The Nile flooded irregularly, and the cultivation of crops required constant irrigation. The first invention that increased the efficiency of irrigation was the shaduf - a water-lifting crane for irrigating fields. Then the Egyptians invented a water-lifting wheel, inside which there were jugs. The described devices continued to be used in Egypt as early as the 20th century.

Makeup... This invention can hardly be called a socio-economic achievement; nevertheless, no one will question its relevance. And now, some makeup styles use techniques that were well known to the Egyptians. Already in ancient times, Egyptians used eyeliner, blush and nail polish. The higher the social status of a person (both women and men wore makeup), the more makeup was used.

Scientific achievements

Maths. It was the Egyptians who invented decimal system calculus. They also knew how to determine area and volume, divide and multiply, had an idea of ​​fractions and square root. Ancient Egyptian architects undoubtedly knew the meaning of the number "pi", because it is it that is the basis of many tombs of the pharaohs, including the pyramid of Cheops. Mathematics played the role of applied science, which was actively used to solve practical needs.

Astronomy. The Egyptians distinguished between planets and stars. The last ancient astronomers combined into constellations. There were fairly accurate maps of the starry sky and catalogs of stars. It was thanks to astronomical knowledge that the Egyptians managed to compile an accurate calendar.

Unlike other peoples of the east, the Egyptians had not a lunar, but a solar calendar. The Egyptian year consisted of 3 seasons of 4 months each. The month was divided into 3 decades of 10 days. Each decade was dedicated to a specific constellation. The Egyptians divided the day into 24 hours.

Medicine. The basis for the development of Egyptian medicine was the custom of mummification, which made it possible to study the anatomy of the human body. Many medical papyri have survived to our time. One of the main achievements is the doctrine of blood circulation and the heart.

Surgery has reached a high level of development. In ancient Egypt, such complex operations as craniotomy and amputation were performed. Many different surgical instruments have been found. It was in Egypt that the prototype of modern ampicillin was first used. Its source was moldy bread cakes.

Cultural achievements

Architecture. The monumentality, massiveness and grandeur are most clearly traced. It is not in vain that the pyramid of Cheops was considered the tallest structure in the world before the construction of the Eiffel Tower. The project of the first pyramid was created by the ingenious Egyptian architect Imhotep, who after his death was revered as a god. The knowledge of mathematics helped the Egyptians to build architectural masterpieces. For example, if the Cheops pyramid had a narrower base, it would lose stability.

Literature. The genre variety of Egyptian literature, unlike other peoples of antiquity, was not limited to religious texts. Deciphering the hieroglyphs helped to highlight genres such as biography, historical story, lesson, fairy tale, love lyrics and humorous stories. Among famous works it is worth highlighting the satirical essay "Song of the Harper".

Unique hieroglyphic writing is one of the main achievements of Ancient Egypt. Its first samples appear in the 4th millennium BC. Hieroglyphs were primarily used to write religious and state texts. For everyday writing, hieratic writing was used.

Members were obligatory literate royal family, nobles and priests. The rest of the population studied writing in temple schools. True, not everyone could afford such a luxury.

Music. Ancient Egyptian feasts were often accompanied by music, so it is not surprising that it was in this culture that the harp and flute first appeared. The music was most often performed by orchestras, whose members played the lute, flute and harp. It is worth noting that only women played the harps.

The achievements of the ancient Egyptians prove that there were many talented scientists among them, whose successes were based on deep knowledge collected over the centuries, and not on contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations or Atlanteans. And, of course, we must not forget about the favorable socio-economic conditions conducive to the development of science and culture.

Introduction

Ancient Egypt- one of the most ancient civilizations, which arose in the northeast of the African continent along the lower course of the Nile, where the modern state of Egypt is located today. The creation of civilization dates back to the end of the 4th millennium BC. - the time of the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the rule of the first pharaohs. Its development continued over the next three millennia, in which several stable kingdoms alternated with periods of relative instability known as transition periods. Ancient Egypt reached its highest prosperity during the New Kingdom, after which a gradual decline began. During this late period, a number of powers consistently conquered Egypt. As a result, the reign of the pharaohs officially ended in 31 BC, when the early Roman Empire took over Egypt, making it their province.

The success of the ancient Egyptian civilization in to a large extent was the result of its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile river valley. Regular annual spills, fertilizing the soil with fertile silt, and the organization of an irrigation system for agriculture made it possible to produce grain crops in excess quantities, which ensured social and cultural development. The compelling and organizing force of this activity was a well-developed bureaucratic apparatus of the best scribes, religious leaders and administrators, led by the Pharaoh, who is the guarantor of the cooperation and unity of the Egyptian people, in the context of a complex system of religious beliefs.

The achievements of the ancient Egyptians included mining, field geodesy and construction equipment used in the construction of monumental pyramids, temples and obelisks; mathematics, practical medicine, irrigation, Agriculture, shipbuilding, Egyptian faience, glass technology, new forms in literature and the oldest known peace treaty. Egypt has left a lasting legacy. His art and architecture were widely copied, and his antiquities were exported to all corners of the world. Its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. New interest in antiquities and archaeological excavations in the 19th century led to scientific research Egyptian civilization and better understanding of it cultural heritage for world civilization.

Ancient Egyptian Art

From time immemorial, the ancient Egyptian civilization has attracted the attention of mankind. In the V century. BC. the ancient Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt and left a detailed description of it. For the Greeks, Egypt is a land of wonders, the cradle of wisdom, the birthplace of the most ancient gods. The name of the country - "Egypt" - comes from the name of the ancient Egyptian capital Hikupta (Het-Ka-Ptah - "house of Ka Ptah", Greek - Memphis). The Greeks, paraphrasing this word, called the whole of Egypt the word "Ayguptos" ( ???????? ). From this, in turn, the term migrated to all other European languages. The very word "Egypt" ("mystery", "mystery") is of Greek origin, while the Egyptians called their country Kemet, which means "black land", meaning the fertile land of the Nile delta). In the III century. BC. Egyptian priest Manetho wrote in Greek "History of Egypt", in which he singled out the periods of the Ancient, Middle and New kingdoms, and also listed thirty-one dynasties of the pharaohs. Ancient Egypt, like no other civilization of antiquity, creates the impression of eternity and rare integrity. Geographical position countries - a narrow fertile valley of the mighty African river Nile, pressed from the west and east by the sands of the deserts - limited the world of the ancient Egyptians. For thousands of years, their civilization existed and developed according to its own laws, rarely being exposed to external invasions that fell to the lot of other countries and peoples. Of the ancient world... The nature of Egypt - the vastness of heaven and earth, the fiery disc of the sun, a huge, slowly flowing river, mountains with flat tops, palm groves, thickets of papyrus and lotus flowers - gave art motives and forms, served as a source of inspiration.

The existence of Egypt depended on the floods of the Nile, which brought fertile silt to the fields: if they were late, the country was threatened with crop failure and famine. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Egyptians closely followed the flooding of the river. Their observations formed the basis of the ancient Egyptian calendar. In order for the land to give high yields, it had to be irrigated, and this influenced the development of the art of construction and the exact sciences. Clear organization government controlled became possible thanks to the creation of hieroglyphic writing. All inhabitants of Ancient Egypt obeyed the unlimited power of the Pharaoh (Greek "farao", from Egyptian "per-o" - " big house ") - this is how the local rulers were traditionally called. Pharaoh was deified during his lifetime and bore the title of "son of the Sun". Its existence was subject to complex ceremonies, the splendor of which increased as Egypt expanded its dominions. Pharaoh declared war, made peace, received foreign ambassadors, received rich gifts and distributed awards himself. Religion played a major role in the spiritual and practical life of ancient Egyptian society. The ancient Egyptians deified the forces of nature, plants, animals, birds and worshiped many gods. The Nile was revered as the god of Hapi, the giver of moisture and harvest. The Egyptians represented the universe as a combination of the heavenly Nile, where the sun god Ra floats in a boat, and the underground Nile, along which Ra returns, having overcome the forces of evil and darkness in the form of the serpent Apop. Osiris - the god of fertility, dying and resurrecting nature, was considered the fourth mythical king of Egypt. He happily ruled the country with his sister and wife Isis - the goddess of fertility, water and wind. God Osiris taught people to cultivate the land, plant gardens, build cities, bake bread. After Osiris handed over the royal throne to the god Horus, his son, the royal throne, he withdrew to the kingdom of the dead, becoming the ruler and also the judge in the afterlife. The most important place in the religion of Ancient Egypt was occupied by the funeral cult. The Egyptians believed that a person's life continues after physical death, but on condition that his body remains incorruptible. This is how the custom arose to mummify the bodies of the dead, i.e. subject them to special processing, due to which they are stored for a very long time. According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, a person is endowed with several souls. One of them lived in a statue of the deceased. Such a statue was placed in a tomb - an architectural structure, the size and splendor of the decoration of which depended on the nobility of the deceased. The images with which the burials were decorated were supposed to provide the soul of the deceased person with the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits that surrounded him during his lifetime. It was religion that determined the features of ancient Egyptian art: mysterious, intimate, it was addressed not so much to the world of the living as to the kingdom of the dead. The works of art hidden in the tombs were not intended to be viewed. They, as their creators believed, possessed special magical powers, helped the deceased on his journey to the world of eternity. It is no coincidence that among the Egyptians themselves the word "artist" had the meaning of "creating life." For many years, the names of the ancient Egyptian masters remained unknown. Meanwhile, architects, sculptors and painters held a high position in society. They were proud of the deeds of their hands, the perfection of knowledge. Many classical architectural forms (pyramid, obelisk, column), new types of sculpture and painting first appeared in the art of Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians have achieved the highest skill in the processing of various materials. With the dominant role of architecture, all types of arts formed a magnificent harmonious unity in Ancient Egypt.