Was the Nile sacred to the ancient Egyptians?

While the Nile was sacred to the Egyptians, blood, associated with the remission of sins, was a vital part of Hebrew belief. The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1971, effectively ending the flooding that for centuries had provided Egypt with fertile, naturally fertilized land.



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The Nile was also an important part of ancient Egyptian spiritual life. Hapi was the god of the annual floods, and both he and the pharaoh were thought to control the flooding. The Nile was considered to be a causeway from life to death and the afterlife.

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The god of the Nile was known as Hapi (also Hapy) and was a powerful Egyptian god who personified the blessing of the annual floods of the Nile River.

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Every year the Nile would flood its banks, this would provide vital fertile silt and water to the land so that it could continue to grow crops. The ancient Egyptians developed irrigation methods to increase their crop yields that in turn supported the large population and mighty civilization of ancient Egypt.

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The Nile River, due to its importance for Egyptian life, was present in their religion. Egyptians believed that the Nile River was the river way that was taken from life to death and then to enter the afterlife.

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The ancient Egyptians thought that the Nile is the gift of the gods. They equated it with life itself, and they organized their daily lives according to the high and low levels of its water. The Egyptian calendar was based on the three seasons of the Nile: The flood, agriculture, and harvest.

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ASWAN, Egypt (Reuters) - A granite inscription tells us that for seven years during the reign of the ancient Egyptian king Djoser, the Nile failed to go through its annual flooding cycle, causing a devastating drought and famine.

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The pharaohs were rich and powerful, but they had many responsibilities. They led Egypt's armies into battle, and they were also thought to control the flooding of the River Nile, which was essential for growing the kingdom's food.

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Blood. To unleash the first plague upon the Egyptians, Moses struck the river Nile with his staff, turning its waters to blood. At the same time, his brother Aaron performed an identical transformation in the canals, tributaries, ponds and pools throughout Egypt.

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The Nile and the creation myth The Nile is an integral part of a creation myth associated with the myth of Osiris. Death and rebirth is symbolised by the annual cycle of vegetation accompanying the rise and fall of the Nile waters. Witnessing the natural processes of the Earth influenced beliefs in an afterlife.

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