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ancient polytheism:
Egyptian Overview
Norse Overview
War Deities
Underworld Deities
The Egyptian religion developed strongly based on the regional conditions--the conditions led to the disjointed characteristics, as well as the strong worship of the Sun and the underworld. The worship of the Sun came about because Egypt's hot climate with ample sunlight influenced those who wrote the mythos of Egypt. The Sun god(s) were among the most highly-held gods, and the primary Sun god, Ra, was the ruling god of the Egyptian religion. Just below the Sun god(s) were the gods of the underworld. These gods included Osiris and Isis. The underworld was prominent to the Egyptians because it was considered the cool peaceful life after the sun-scorched life in the desert. The underworld, being under the earth, was seen as a darker, comfortable resting place for those souls who lived good lives through the painful heat of the Egyptian world. The importance of the hot climate is also apparent in the disjointed nature of the religion. Often, people who lived in Egypt were unable to move about the land. Isolated in their towns by the scorched landscape separating the towns, the Egyptian people knew only the religion that was already in their city. Cut off from most outside contact, many towns' religions changed over time as the stories changed by word of mouth, and some deities were raised to a greater importance because of different cities' problems, such as drought or famine in some cities, versus pillaging and thievery in others.
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