Decline of ancient Egyptian religion

Background

Egyptian religion stretched back to prehistoric times, and for roughly three thousand years, the country absorbed outside conquerors without major cultural or genetic change. State backing kept the faith remarkably consistent across ancient history. Different towns and regions emphasized particular gods, and most temples served a single deity. This religion shaped every Egyptian's daily life.

History

The Late Period of ancient Egypt is generally dated from 664 BC, when the Twenty-sixth Dynasty began, until 332 BC. This era saw a revival in Egyptian culture, national identity, and religious life. Although the Achaemenid Empire invaded Egypt twice, Persian kings like Cambyses II and Darius I did not try to suppress local religion or customs. The Greek historian Herodotus painted Persian rule as harsh, pointing to forced military service and some enslavement by Persian elites, but he did not claim that religious practices were harmed.

An Egyptian admiral named Wedjahor-Resne, who served under Cambyses, wrote that the Persian king honored religious traditions. For instance, when Cambyses stationed troops near the Temple of Neith at Sais, Wedjahor-Resne persuaded him to move them to avoid offending the gods. The Thirtieth Dynasty, the last line of native Egyptian rulers for more than two thousand years, allowed culture, religion, and art to thrive. Nectanebo I built and restored temples across Egypt and started work at Philae.

His grandson Nectanebo II, who took power through a coup, continued this building and showed great devotion to the gods. His reign left a clear mark on later Ptolemaic art. Still, Nectanebo II could not reverse Egypt’s long decline. The Persians under Artaxerxes III conquered Egypt again in 343 BC, and Alexander the Great followed in 332 BC.

The end of Nectanebo II’s rule in 343 BC marked the loss of Egyptian autonomy until 1953, but ancient Egyptian culture did not disappear.

Legacy

One of the final bastions of Egyptian religion, the Coptic language survived Christianisation and later Islamisation, remaining fundamentally similar to the language of Pharaonic Egypt. It endured for over a millennium before becoming a liturgical language by the 16th century. Coptic gave Egyptologists crucial insight into Egyptian phonology because its writing system records vowels. The most recognisable legacies are the monuments erected in honour of Egyptian religion, including temples, statues, pyramids, and the Great Sphinx of Giza.

Their distinct style reached the modern day through Egyptian Revival architecture and integration of religious motifs into Western art after Napoleon's campaign. In late antiquity, deities like Isis and Bes spread across the Mediterranean, and Hermeticism arose from the wisdom of Thoth. The contemporary revival of ancient Egyptian religion, known as Kemetism, arose along with other neopagan movements in the 1970s.