Egyptian mythology (English: Egyptian mythology) refers to the theological system and religion believed by ancient Egyptians before the spread of Christianity and Islam. Its belief was born about 3000 BC, and there were many great changes. The biggest difference between Egyptian mythology and Greek mythology is that most of the gods in Egyptian mythology are human bodies and animal heads. The ancient Egyptians believed in polytheism, and most of them could use animals as their symbols. The ancient Egyptians believed that they would go to the underworld after their death. He also believes that the body is the container of the soul. The soul will leave its body every night and come back in the morning. They also believed that the soul would be revived after death, and that the body must be preserved so that the soul could have its own place to live, so they invented antisepsis and mummy making.

1. Myth - Religious Thought
The core of Egyptian civilization is the ancient Egyptian religion. People who do not study the ancient Egyptian religion can hardly say that they have a real understanding of Egyptian civilization. The three main themes of ancient Egyptian religion are nature worship, pharaoh worship and dead spirit worship. Animal and plant worship belongs to nature worship and plays an important role in nature worship. The study of the causes, manifestations and effects of animal and plant worship is an important part of the study of Egyptian civilization. However, due to the late start of the study of Egyptian civilization in China, there is a gap in the study of animal and plant worship in ancient Egypt. This paper intends to make some discussion in these aspects. On the one hand, it can promote our understanding of Egyptian civilization, and on the other hand, it hopes to help the discipline construction of Egyptology.
2. Ancient Egyptian flora and fauna
The worship of animals and plants is the product of the oasis culture complex of the Egyptians living in the Nile Valley under the geographical and human environment at that time. Because of the symbolic primitive thinking, the admiration for the tenacious vitality of animals and plants, and the natural concept of harmonious coexistence, the Egyptians' reverence for animals and plants arises spontaneously.
3. Oasis Cultural Complex
To understand the cause of the worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt, we must understand the Oasis Culture, the agricultural civilization model of Egypt, as its background. In fact, ancient Egypt was a closed agricultural country, surrounded by sea and desert. Because of the desert environment and the lack of water, people's survival is threatened, and they have a deep dependence on plants and oases, so they are eager for green, eager for oases, and their worship of plants arises spontaneously. Therefore, the oasis cultural complex is fully reflected in Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian culture, gods and mortals did not live in two different worlds. The activities between gods and people affected each other, and everything in the nature was given a sacred color. There are all kinds of creatures and gods in the Nile water, fertile fields, animals and plants in the desert, the starry sky, the vast desert, and the vast ocean, which convey eternal mysterious information to the ancient Egyptians. First of all, the reason why the ancient Egyptians worshipped animals and plants was that they were afraid of the harsh natural environment. An Egyptian scribe wrote a letter to another man, saying, "You can't step on the road of Meger, where the sky is always dark and full of pine trees rushing into the clouds.". There are lions, leopards and hyenas running in the forest. When you get there, you will keep shaking. Your hair stands up because of great fear. You have been scared out of your wits. Your road is full of stones of different sizes. In fact, there is no road that can pass through, because the ground is covered with reeds and thorns, and the footprints of wolves. Secondly, the reason why the ancient Egyptians worshipped all kinds of animals and plants was also because of the tenacious vitality of animals and plants in the desert environment. So it is not so much that the ancient Egyptians worshipped animals and plants as that they loved life and worshipped vitality. In view of the tenacious vitality of desert animals and plants, which is admired by Egyptians and the basis of Egypt's survival, Egyptians naturally worship animals and plants. Among many gods, Sekhmet, the god of medicine, occupies an important position. Her name means powerful in Egyptian. She has a sun ring on her head, a lion like face pulled by the sun god and a cobra that is also the symbol of the sun god. These modeling elements represent that she has the dual power of nurturing and destroying the earth like the sun. The second is Osiris, the god of harvest and abundance. In the underworld, Osiris is the protector of the dead, enabling them to live forever after death. Every member of a wealthy family in ancient Egypt hoped to visit the Osiris Temple in Abydos at least once in his life.
4. Egyptian Symbolic Thinking
Hegel believes that living things are higher than inorganic external things, because living organic matter has an internal thing pointed out by the external shape. Because it is internal, it is very hidden or mysterious. Therefore, this kind of animal worship should be understood as the observation of the hidden inner aspect, which, as life, is a power higher than the simple external things. He also believed that Egypt used animal images in a symbolic way. At this time, the animal image is not used solely for its own sake, but to express a universal meaning. The animal image of the ancient Egyptian god obviously does not represent itself, but implies a universal meaning related to it. For example, the lion's head represents kingship and power, and the baboon represents wisdom. In this sense, most Egyptian hieroglyphs are also symbolic.
The symbolic thinking of the Egyptians is concentrated on the image of God. Gods worshipped in temples and common in daily life, or animal heads plus human bodies, or human heads plus animal bodies, such as crocodiles, various fish, frogs and a variety of bird bodies or heads appear on the stone tablets along the Nile River, especially the god stork preferred by the character god Thoth. The fierce animals in the desert, such as lions, dung beetles, scorpions, and king cobras, have become sacred objects that Egyptians revere. The eagles and vultures are birds that protect the pharaoh and queen. The bulls, antelopes, and the longhorn buffalo, which symbolizes the mother god Hathor, all represent the blessings of Egyptians on the prosperity of their families. The ancient Egyptians believed that the energy of life was also hidden in the trunks, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits of all kinds of plants. In the branches were gods who protected the fresh water and air. The sedge flowers and lotus flowers represented the rich land in the Nile basin. The picture of the king unifying Upper and Lower Egypt often appears on both sides of the throne. The picture represents the lotus and reed of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt linked together, symbolizing the unification of Egypt. At the end of the lotus and reed stems are bound Nubians and West Asians, implying that the unification of Egypt is complementary to the subjugation and enslavement of foreigners. Pomegranate is a symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt. In the temple, the Egyptians left corresponding space for the animals and plants that represented the gods.
5. The Natural View of Harmonious Coexistence
An important concept in ancient Egyptian religion is the concept of harmonious coexistence of man, God and nature.
To sum up, we can see that the main reason for the worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt was the Egyptian oasis plot and admiration for the tenacious vitality of animals and plants in the desert environment under the Nile environment. The Egyptian oasis plot, the mystery and attraction of the exuberant vitality of animals and plants, made the Egyptians establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature, man and animals and plants. This became an important feature of Egyptian civilization;
The creation myth of the Egyptians and the main gods in religion are closely related to animals and plants. The veneration of sex organs prevailing in Egypt is undoubtedly an extension of animal and plant worship. This kind of worship added a layer of mystery to the relationship between the Egyptians and nature, and made the Egyptians form such national customs as respecting the laws of nature and harmoniously handling the relationship between people and nature;
The worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt infiltrated into the Egyptian philosophy, folk aesthetics, architectural culture, and even literature and art. Animal and plant worship injected fresh blood into Egyptian civilization through religion. The magnificence of Egyptian civilization is inseparable from the injection of animal and plant worship, a civilization gene. Finally, through the research on the worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt and its influence, it may bring some inspiration to us to deal with the relationship between man and nature harmoniously, respect the laws of nature, and rationally use and develop natural resources.

The ancient Egyptians believed that they would go to the afterworld after death. They believe that the body is the container of the soul. The soul will leave its body every night and come back in the morning. They also believed that the soul would be revived after death, and that the body must be preserved so that the soul could have its own place to live, so they invented antisepsis and mummy making. They believed that Osiris would judge the good and evil for his heart after death, and then decide whether the soul would be resurrected or destroyed. Since it was believed that the soul (Ka "ka") and consciousness (ba "ba") of the dead could be preserved only after the body was preserved, antisepsis was invented in the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians believed in polytheism, and most of them could be symbolized by animals.
At the beginning of Egypt's history, Egyptians worshipped their country's animals: crocodiles, bulls, cats, baboons, snakes, beetles, and so on. Later, they created their gods into human figures, but they still retained animal heads, which were connected with human bodies. For example, the main god of Egypt, Amun Ra (the sun god), sometimes used peony and sheep heads as symbols; Hathor, the goddess of breeding, holds the head of a cow; The ferocious war goddess Sekmet has a lion's head; Thoth, the god of science, is a white crane.
According to the ancient Egyptians, at the beginning of heaven and earth, the sun god Amulla was born from the lotus in the original water, and his children Hugh and Tefnut gave birth to the heaven god Nut and the earth god Kebu. The two combined to give birth to Osiris and Isis, and then Osiris and Isis also married. Nut and Keb also gave birth to Seth and Nefertis, who were also married.
Because of the Egyptians' belief in gods, their belief in immortality and their emphasis on funerals, Egypt has left many shrines and burial arts. Since ancient times, Egyptians have believed that many things have divinity, not only given names to gods, but also believed in them. For example, gods (sacred animals) who believe in animal images are a feature. Some gods are only intact animal images, some gods place an animal's head on the human body, some gods place a symbol of God on the head, and some gods are all human images with a symbol of God in their hands.
From the First Dynasty to the Fourth Dynasty, they all believed in Horus God very much. Everyone believed that Pharaoh was the descendant of Horus God and the representative of Horus God on the earth. Horus is the god of light, appearing in the form of an eagle, and the sacred beast of Horus is also an eagle. Pharaoh's name is usually painted with an eagle.
Fifthly, after the Six Dynasties, the gods worshipped by Egypt gradually changed into the sun god "La". In the era of the new empire, the belief was transferred to Amon, who became the national god of Egypt.
Every god in Egypt has his power range. Every different place has the same requirements for different gods, and different gods may have the same function. As for the character of each god, it is difficult to master.

Original water
The belief in the original water is a common point of view among the three systems, but has different interpretations.
There are eight meanings about Hermopolis, which are also eight gods. These eight gods are expressed by men and women who hold the four characteristics of the original water. The male god Nawu and the goddess Nawunaid represent "abyss"; The male god Fufu and the goddess Hawuhai De represent "infinite"; The male god Cook and the goddess Kakvid represent "darkness"; The male god Amu and the goddess Amaud said "invisible".
Among the eight gods, the male god is the head of the frog, and the goddess is the head of the snake. It is said that these gods swam in the original water and laid the original eggs here. However, there is another saying that these eggs were born by giant ducks or geese. In addition, in the inheritance of the throne, it is said that the lotus was born from the original water, and the lovely children flew out of the lotus and created the world by him; And this child means that the sun in the morning will merge with the lotus at night.
In the myth of Hermopolis, the Lord of the Universe once said: I made gods with my sweat and humans with my tears. In ancient Egyptian paintings, people are called Rumet, which can be interpreted as tears.
In the legend of Heliopolis, it is believed that Atum created the power of various gods in the world. This is also said that Atum is the son of Nuen, the original water, which represents the high ridge or ground created after the flood. Atum stood on the rock and spit out the male god Shu and the goddess Tefnut from his mouth. Shu and the goddess Tefnut combined to give birth to the male gods Gebu and Nute; When the two of them were about to marry, they were pulled away by their father's god, Shula, and put the cloth on the ground to send Nute to the sky. But later they married and gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nefertis, who were four pillar gods.
Worship of the dead
The ancient Egyptians believed that life consists of the living world and the underworld. The Egyptians paid attention to the underworld and built tombs and pyramids because they believed that people existed in another way after death. In order to keep the body from rotting, they made mummies. After the animals were worshipped died, their bodies were specially treated, smeared with oil and bandages, and then mummified and buried in a special cemetery. Because of the close relationship between animals and people, they not only carved huge animal statues in front of the pyramids, but also hoped that the dead people would be protected by animal gods in another world. They hoped that in the underworld, they would still have plenty of grain and enjoy the material supplies provided by plants. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians regarded death as an important place in life, and regarded it as an important transition period to enter another world. During this period, the body of the dead needs to be carefully treated so that the power given by God can continue to live in the underworld. Because of this, mummification is particularly important. After stripping all the internal organs except the heart, the body was washed, dehydrated and perfumed, and then wrapped in linen. Every step of mummification was protected by the jackal god Anubis, and the spirits painted on the amulets and coffins also protected the dead. The murals in the tomb reproduce the daily life of the deceased before his death, and various articles, especially household items, food and clothing, are also placed around the body, so that the deceased can continue to enjoy the same life in the spiritual world. It is with the help of these large cultural relics preserved by Egyptian burial customs that modern people can reproduce the scenes of daily life on both banks of the Nile River thousands of years later. Some scholars interpreted the Sphinx in front of the pyramid from a philosophical perspective: the human head symbolizes spirit, while the animal body symbolizes material power; The combination of human head and animal body symbolizes that the spirit needs to get rid of material power, on the other hand, it also symbolizes that the spirit has not completely got rid of material power, so it has not yet reached freedom.

Generally, Egyptian gods can be divided into three types: (1) animal type; （2） Human form; （3） Abstract type.
In addition, there are three systems according to the region:
（1） The god of craftsmanship in Memphis is also the creation god of the world - Buta. He existed before the world happened. The way he created the world was through his thoughts and words. What he thought in his heart and what he said with his mouth. Everything in the world, including other gods, was created by him.
（2） It was developed in the Old Kingdom. The system centered on Heliopolis believed that before the creation of the world, there was a great god named atum, who self fertilized and produced air (Shu) and water (Tefnut); The combination of air and moisture gave birth to heaven (nut) and earth (geb); The combination of heaven and earth gave birth to four children, Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nefertis, who are the creators of everything in the world.
（3） The process of world creation in the city of hermopolis, which comes from the south of Upper Egypt, is also quite abstract. When the world is chaotic, there are four pairs of gods, which belong to the four natures of "darkness, profundity, invisibility, and infinity". These eight gods created the world, representing the unknown era or the unknown local characteristics.