Did geography or anxiety about the unknown play the major role in determining the character of ancient Egyptian and Greek religions?

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Did geography or anxiety about the unknown play the major role in determining the character of ancient Egyptian and Greek religions? Discuss this question with reference to aspects of Egyptian and Greek religion you have studied in this unit.

Many unknown aspects of their lives, which caused much anxiety, surrounded the ancient Egyptians. Fears of expression of ones own mind, living under the rule of the pharaoh; fear of being unholy in the face of their gods and most of all fear of death and afterlife. Much of the Egyptian culture centered on an interest in death. The ancient Egyptians knew every soul would taste death and focused much of their time, worship and even artworks to preparing for the moment of death and their afterlife. The Egyptians relied heavily on their unseen Gods, all their good tidings, blessings and safe passing through the unseen underworld after death, was at the mercy of these gods, thus they felt forever indebted to them and spent most of their time consumed in worship.

These acts of great worship where seen practiced by the pharaohs and common Egyptians. Temples were dedicated to the gods, statues built for worship, and given sacrifices for the hope that these deities will be pleased with them. The Egyptians made many preparations for the after life, which they believed to be eternal. An example of this is the fact that the houses of the living, even the palaces of the kings, were constructed chiefly of perishable materials such as mud-brick, reeds and wood. The tombs of the dead, for the most part, were made of stone (Taylor, 2001). Thus illustrating the face that life was only for a set period of time, and that the after life was eternal.

For the ancient Greeks however, like their Egyptian counterparts,