Even though we don´t know for sure how far back there existed a priesthood, it is not wrong to assume that at least there were special persons chosen to honour the deites at their shrines. From the beginning this might have been the clan leader or community leader. Later in history the priesthood was to care for the most important citizens of Egypt, the gods and so the average Egyptian could live safe in the knowledge that everything was taken care of, that the gods were treated with the utmost attention and therefore stayed on in the land, thereby keeping it safe and prosperous.

Worshipping has always meant the recitation and singing of hymns, and this knowledge was handed down from generation to generation, until there were hieroglyphs and scribes clever enough to put these abstract concepts into writing. The Kemetic mythologies were probably evolved at religious centres, where learning was recorded and kept in sacred libraries.

These sacred scrolls are read out loud by the "kher heb", the lector priest, who is obliged to read them directly from the papyrus book held open in his hands. He has to recite them exactly as they are written, even if he has read them many, many times before, for making a mistake can offend the god. This was done at the official ceremonies and at the head of the processions, when the god was carried out before the people. The kher-heb could be any well-educated godservant and often the high priest acted as 'lector priest' during various ceremonies in the temples.

The "Hem netjer", or the High Priest

It was not regarded as important to spread teachings about the god´s superiority, nor was it the hem netjer´s task to see to the people´s spiritual or moral welfare. His job was to take care of the god and the god´s needs, to act as a servant of the god. By treating the god as an important citizen of Egypt, it was ensured that the god would live on and care for the people of Egypt. And the highest priest was Pharao, who acted as a servant to all the different gods, in all the different religious centra throughout the land. He appointed High Priests to act for him at the different temples, their number depending on the size of the temple and the cult´s popularity. This appointment to High Priest was both a religious and a political one and sometimes it was held within a powerful family for several generations.

God´s Father

When in the temple, ritual purity was of utmost importance. Each temple had its own lake where the priests purified themselvs and the ritual vessels that were used in ceremonies, and from where water was taken for the libation offerings. Priests could only wear white linen and sandals made from papyrus, all animal products were considered unclean. The priest who held the leading role in a procession or other ceremony, used the cheetah- or leopard skin robe draped across his back. But that one might also have been an imitation.

During temple duty, a priest had to shave off all his bodily hair, even the eye brows and was expected to abstain from sexual activity. Outside of temple duty, they could marry, raise families and live normal lifes.

Then food and drink was put before the god. This was a display of the best that could be found; joints of meat, roasted fowl, bread, fruits, vegetables, beer, wine, and everything in large quantities, out of the temple´s own kitchens, gardens and farms, and of superior quality. The meat came from animals that had been slaughtered out of the sight of the god, and overseen by a priest who had ensured it was fit to put before the god.No blood or unsightly scenes were allowed before the god.

The offerings always included flowers, bound in garlands and in large temples there were gardens with gardeners and florists to ensure the supply and prepare the offerings.

Over these offerings the priest poured libations of water, and in a spoon-like saucer, shaped like a forearm with an open palm holding a small pot, incense was burned. Incense was considered the "Perfume of the gods" and as the intention was to stimulate all the senses of the gods, it played an important part in the rituals. Food and drink meant taste, music and singing meant sound, and flowers were added to make the offering beautiful and presentable. So while the god´s ka was believed to be absorbing these offerings, musicians, singers and dancers enteratined him. The text of the hymns was simple, with many repetitions of the god´s attributes and names, and the music could be rattling of the sistrum or menat, percussion, and for special occasions, harp, flute, drums and cymbals.

When the god had "consumed" all he wanted, the food was taken away and shared among the temple workers and the priests. In the larger temples it was probably put at lesser deities before it went on to the workers and priests. And in the evening, the god´s vestments were taken away and the statue was put back in the shrine, while the Evening hymn was sung. After each of these ceremonies, the priest put the bolts back and sealed the door, and bowingly traced his footsteps backwards from the shrine carefully sweeping the floor to obliterate any trace of his footprints. One never turned his back to the god.

The larger temple centres were like veritable cities and employed all kinds of workers. There were temple bakeries and breweries, and some temples had a fleet of boats and fishermen, hunters and stables with donkeys, there were farms or tenants of land. The produce arrived daily to fill the god´s storehouses and everything was recorded and kept in books by the temple scribes. On top of that the temple employed craftsmen like stonemasons, painters, carpenters, weavers, scribes and administrators, not to mention the priests. It was a huge organisation and as an example there is Karnak, with a list of more than 81.000 employees!

Wages

The temples celebrated regular festive days, the First of the Month and the New Moon. The god´s statue was then paraded around the temple grounds, and at certain places the procession stopped for offerings. These "restingplaces" of the god usually had something in common with the particular festival.

Then there were the larger religious festivals where the god was carried outside the temple precinct in front of the people. As they were not allowed inside the temple, this was a popular occasion, the god carried on his bark, although veiled from the direct look of the commoner, and the sacred books carried on the shoulders of a priest walking in front of the procession. Priests fanned and sheltered the god from the sun with ostrich plumes or fans made from palm fibre. Incense was burned and offerings were made at the resting places along the route. Some of these were permanent little temples, others were erected just for the event. Here, the bark was set down on an "altar" while the rituals were performed. At some occasions the bark was put on the god´s own bargue from the temple quai and was towed further along the Nile, escorted by a flotilla of boats, sometimes even the royal family was present to watch. These were great occasions, in which everybody took part and they usually lasted for several days, when eating and drinking was abundant.

Festivals could also be shared between two temples, like the commemoration of the Sacred marriage of Hathor and Horus at Denderah. All these celebrations had to be held at the right time and day and it was the task of the temple star watcher to keep track of the religious calendars.

The temple was considered the home of the god and only members of the priesthood was allowed to enter beyond the outer court. The ordinary worshipper had to stop there, and when he brought offerings, it was taken care of by a priest who carried it into the temple. All temples were surrounded by a wall and in the outside of this there were a hole or a window to which worshippers could come and whisper their prayers or questions or leave a note with some words scribbled on it. The priest who was on duty then took care of the note in order to bring the words in front of the god.

In the remote corners of the land, far away from the great religious centra, the gods were as ardently revered. Maybe offerings were not as lavish, nor the priesthood as many or as prosperous, but in those villages or little towns where there was no temple, a shrine was erected out in the open. It was often taken care of by the community people, perhaps led by a priest currently not doing temple duty, so the services were performed and the gods attended to in due order.

In the homes there were small shrines and very commonly statues of local deities and of Bes and Tawaret, helpers and protectors of children and women, especially for pregnancy and childbirth. Amulets in the form of sacred symbols were in frequent use for a mutitude of purposes

So religion played an important and vital part in daily life and every Egyptian could be said to be a priest even when he made a simple offering like a piece of bread at the family shrine. There were gods for almost every aspect of life, even down to the most common of chores, like putting on your makeup. The people relied on the gods being honoured and attended to every day in all the temples, so the priesthood was vital to the survival of Egypt. A society without gods was unthinkable to the Egyptian mind. That would upset the law of Ma´at which wold mean that life itself was threatened.

The Temple Bulding

The cult temple in ancient Egypt was more than a place of worship. It was the home of the god, it was believed the deity took up residence in the building and used it more or less for all those various purposes as humans did. It was the place he was given food and shelter, where he was cleaned and clothed. The temple was built to take care of these needs. It provided a rest area, a reception area and storerooms for possessions. There was also a processional access, leading from the outer pylons all the way through the open courts and the hypostyle halls into the sanctum where the statue resided.

The Foundation

Every temple was orientated so that the sun would follow its main axis from east to west during the course of the day. The second axis was orientated to follow the course of the Nile from its source to the delta. Often it was located on a rising slope to help the architecture recreate the conditions of the Primeval Mound.

The ritual for the laying out of the foundation of a new temple building was very precise. It was carried out at night with only the king and certain priests present. The goddess Seshat overlooked the procedure with the king marking out the foundation by stretching a cord between two poles. The cornerstones of the temple was determined by the position of the stars and for this the king used a specific sighting tool.

When this had been done and Seshat had assured the king that the ground plan would endure in eternity, he had to dig down to the watertable, to reach the Primeval Ocean. After that he molded bricks from moist silt mixed with straw to place as cornerstones, symbolizing the thousands of brick that it would take to finish the building. From these cornerstones he built the caissons and filled them with sand, thereby creating the primeval virgin soil. This part of the foundation work was overseen by Horus. When this step was completed the king placed foundation deposits consisting of small plaques with his name in a cartouche, small-scale models of containers, tools and offerings, to leave his mark and to safeguard against possible destruction.

Next the king tamped down the flagging and this part concluded the foundation rituals. The builders, stoneworkers, carpenters, painters and other workers could continue. When the whole temple was completed, it was purified with incense and natron.

Even though the statues and reliefs of the various deities were in place in the newly built temple, it was necessary that the gods themselves actually took up residence there. The statues were all made by human hands and so they were still not imbued with divine presence. For this the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth was used on all images of the deities in the temple. Priests impersonating the various deities performed these rituals with instruments resembling a carpenter's or sculptor's tools, with which the deity's mouth, eyes and nose was touched. By this they were "opened" so that the deity could enter. Then there were animal sacrifices and other offerings presented, and finally the whole ceremony was repeated for the temple as a whole. Only then it was considered to be a functioning home for the god, and with the god in actual residence.

Every Egyptian temple building was a microcosm. All the parts of the temple structure had its specific symbolism, which is most clearly seen in the developed New Kingdom temples. It was a model of the universe. Its' form was rectangular, there was a mud brick wall surrounding the whole temple area, which was built on an alternatingly concave and convex foundation. This symbolized Nun, the primeval waters, out of which Creation had risen. The temple pylons opened into one or several open courtyards which lead into one or several roofed halls with grouped, decorated pillars.

The floor slanted gradually upwards along the processional route through the temple towards the innermost sanctum where the god resided. It symbolized the great wet marshes from where the primeval ground had emerged and the gods had once appeared.

The pillars in the open courtyards and the covered halls accordingly represented papyrus plants, lotus and palm trees while the lower parts of the temple walls depicted different plants which grew in the marshes.

The ceiling in the roofed halls symbolized the sky of this microcosm, it was decorated with stars and flying birds representing different protective deities.

These structural designs of the temple recreated the conditions at the beginning of Creation. There were also those which reflected the daily recreation of Zep Tepi, i.e. 'the First Time':

The symbolic meaning of the pylons was the same as the hieroglyph for "horizon", that point where the sun rose each day. At Edfu the pylons are called "Isis and Nephtys who raise up the sun god who shines on the horizon". They reflect the sun's journey each day as it rises above the pylons in the east, moving across the courtyards and halls during the day, at midday the rays of the sun reaches all the way into the innermost chamber and finally it sets in the west.