Ancient man used religion as a basis to explain everything around him that he did not understand. The Egyptians' religious beliefs were manifested in a rich cornucopia of art and architecture that adorned their various temples and tombs, which point to a variety of gods that were worshipped in those times.

A lot of the gods took the features and powers of animals like Anubis the jackal headed god of funerary rites and embalmment, Sobek, the crocodile headed "co-god" of Kom Ombo, Horus, the falcon headed son of Osiris, and so on. The Egyptians also needed to explain the sky, the sun, the earth and other grand elements of the world around them. The worship of the sun was almost universal, and the sun god was Re (Ra).

With an increasing sophistication of society and a little less awe at the mysteries presented by Nature, the nature, animal and man elements began to be fused into a human form. Hathor, the goddess of love and childbirth, had a human body and head, but retained an element of the animal, a pair of cow's horns.

Since Egyptians believed that death was a continuation of life, so much time was spent preparing for it. Osiris was the king of the dead, ruling the netherworld with his wife Isis. The most popular story you will get to hear in Egypt is that of Osiris and Isis: Osiris was supposedly a benevolent ruler, but was beheaded by evil brother Set, and his body was cut and scattered all over the land. Isis then went about collecting these pieces and embalmed the body with the help of Anubis. The charms that Isis spoke over the body were so strong that Osiris was resurrected, and lived on as god of the netherworld. Meanwhile, Isis gave birth to Horus and reared him to become his father's avenger. After Horus killed Set, he ruled the earth.

Sounds interesting? Now that you have some background, you could begin the tour. All aboard the Egyptian Express!