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at this point we've already learned about the Pharaohs, but just in

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case we need a refresher they were the rulers of ancient Egypt who controlled [pharaohs pictured]

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both the government and the military. might seem like the pharaohs were at the

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very top of the Egyptian society but that's not quite true.

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why? because ancient Egyptians even the pharaohs had deep respect for the gods

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of Egyptian mythology. after all it's pretty tough to compete

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with gods no matter how fancy your hat may be. in ancient Egyptian mythology [man in Egyptian garb frowns]

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there isn't just one God like in judeo-christian tradition, or two deities

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like in Zoroastrianism, but thousands of gods. luckily you didn't have to pray to

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all of them if you did it'd be really tough to get anything else done. well

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these gods were often part animal like Anubis who had the head of a jackal. that

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said not all animals were treated as equals. the Cobra and the vulture were

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treated with mad respect, since they were royal symbols. somehow pigs and worms [cobra wears crown, bird stands next to him]

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never quite made it to the same level- gee we wonder why. ancient Egyptians

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weren't just into gods because of their cool animal parts though. the gods were

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deeply linked to ancient Egyptian ideas about chaos and order. in their mythology

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at the start of time there was just a god called Nun, who was a chaotic

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watery waste. for the ancient Egyptians everything that exists comes from this [hieroglyph pictured and water]

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chaos and they believed that by attending temple daily and following a

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religious codes they could keep their society from returning to chaos. because

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hey even if you really liked swimming no one wants to live in a watery chaos

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forever. but one thing that's kind of surprising about ancient Egyptian

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mythology is the amount of respect given to women. although lots of civilizations

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both past and present see men is the most important members of society [women walk together]

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ancient Egyptian society saw men and women as equals, a groundbreaking idea

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even in this day and age we know. Egyptian goddesses were creator deities

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and protectors of Pharaohs. and they had their very own temples and followers

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distinct from the of male gods. in fact in ancient Egyptian

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mythology the goddesses were arguably even more important than the gods. the [Egyptian man gasps]

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two protectors of the realm of Egypt were both female. a vulture goddess of

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Upper Egypt named Nekhbet and a Cobra goddess of Lower Egypt named Wadjet. we

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guess men don't seem quite so powerful if they have to compete with huge [Egyptian gods pictured]

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goddesses that are part vulture and part Cobra.

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