/lit/ - Literature

fucking Coronavirus

>>15164534
The Egyptian pantheon expanded with foreign influence with Mesopotamia (Such as the goddess Astartes) overtime as Egyptian foreign policy extended towards Asia, however the vast majority of Egyptian deities were endogenous to their local cities (And were probably derived from the significance of certain aspects of wildlife, e.g. Hathor and Khnum from the importance of cattle to early state formation and their associations with creation and fertility.
Of course with the Greeks and Romans the religion was syncretised like you mentioned.

The "monotheism" which took place under Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten was very complex and we can't reconstruct the beliefs of that period with the archaeological record available unfortunatley. We do know that Akhenaten closed down temples to gods other than the Aten during his reign and promoted the worship of the sun-disc chiefly in his new capital city of Akhetaten (Modern day Amarna). It is worth noting however that the championing the primacy of one god over the others was not new to Egypt, even if Akhenaten's reign was more extreme. The influence of individual gods was based around the significance of their associated city. Ancient Abydos was the "birthplace" of the Osirian cult, prominant in the Early dynastic Period. Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) was a highly influential centre during the predynastic period (pre 3000BC) and cult centre of Horus. Thebes was the centre of the Amun cult, which grew to unprecendented significance from during the 2nd Intermediary period and New Kingdom onwards when Thebes overthrew foreign 'Hyksos' domination.
Complicating things further, Nubia was greatly associated with Amun and Osiris, both being considered the birthplaces of the gods. This is tied in with foreign policy too: It provided a religious justification for expansion southwards. Cultural entanglement theory leads us to believe that both Egypt and Nubia influenced eachother immensely, which extended to mortuary beliefs and practices.

Anything else you'd like to know? I'm currently writing an essay on this subject right now so I'd be happy to answer any anon's questions