Egyptians believed that when a person died the body and soul parted. The soul was in two parts, called Ba and Ka. Ba was the soul-bird who could take any shape and fly anywhere. Ka resembled the dead person exactly. Powerful men like pharoahs or nobles were thought to have more than one Ka. Carvings nearly always show a Ka standing behind a pharoah protecting him. Most souls go on a journey after death, before being judgedby the god Osiris. Good people were sent to paradise. Wicked ones had their hearts torn out by a monster.

Osiris was thought to have been killed and then brought back to life. This is why he ruled over the dead. Other powerful gods were Ra, the sun god, Isis the wife of Osiris, and Horus, who was really two gods. As god of heaven, Horus was often shown as a hawk. His eyes were believed to be the sun and moon. His wings were so long they stretched to the ends of the earth. The outer Horus god was the son of Osiris and Isis. Later, Amun, the sun god of the priests at the city of Thebes, became more important than Ra.

The only pharoah who ever tried to change Egypt's religion was Amenhotep IV, who reigned in the fourteenth century BC. Amenhotep claimed that their was only one god whom he called Aten. Aten's Sign was the sun and the pharoah made himself his high priest. He changed his name to Akhenaton, meaning "it is pleasing to Aten", and wrote poems in honour of the god. Here is one of them:

These were sung in the tempels. The high priests of the old gods hated Akhenaton and after his death worship of Aten was banned.