Egyptian mythology
The Egyptian Mythology has been one of the biggest and most influential in the world. The daily lives of everyone from every class revolved around their believes and gods. Gods and other believes were often different per region, with the biggest difference between lower and upper Egypt. After Egypt became one country, these believes were often mixed or partially forgotten in favor of a religion for all.
When the Greek influence came to Egypt in the Hellenistic period, this often infuenced the Egyptian mythology. A perfect example of this is the god Hermes Trismegistus, being a mix of a Greek and Egyptian god. This is most notable during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, with notable members Ptolemy XIII and his older sister Cleopatra VII.[1][2]
Pharaohs
Pharaohs were deemed gods on earth. As a ruler of the Egyptian kingdom they were often praised and worshipped as the gods they are. Pharaohs had a busy live, with many different tasks laid out for them. Just like all other classes their daily live revolved around their religion. As gods they would often get offerings and when they died, huge pyramids were created to preserve their Ren, and smooth the transition of their Ba to the afterlife. Sometimes these tombs also contained a shadow box to preserve their Sheut.
These pyramids were often robbed by unbelievers who were in it for the money, as pyramids often contained vast treasures of gold and other valuables. To ensure grave robbers could not get to the actual body of the pharaoh, pyramids were build as mazes, with many hallways ending into empty rooms.
As Pharaohs were deemed gods they also got responsibilities that were realisticly out of their hands, including the job to make sure the Nile floods to irrigate the nearby farmlands.
Flooding of the Nile
Pharaohs were responsible for the Nile flooding and giving the lands and crops water, as they are gods on earth. Unfortunately they didn't have that kind of power as the flooding of the Nile relied on the seasons and the number of droughts. As such, Pharaohs came up with the idea that people had to make sacrafices for the Pharaoh to inspire him to flood the Nile. When Egypt saw more periods of drought than normal, and the Nile wouldn't flood, it was then to blame to the people themselves not scacrificing enough, instead of the Pharaoh not doing his duty.[2]
5 Parts of the soul
A human soul was believed to exist in five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib.
Ib
The most important part was the Ib, or the heart. It was believed that the heart was created from a single drop of blood from the mother around conception. As Bayek often references, the heart is eventually weighted by Anubis against the weight of a feather of the goddess Ma'at at the so called Weighing of the Heart. Ma'at, being the personificiation of truth and justice is always depicted with this same feather, an ostrich feather.
Ba
The Ba of a human soul is the aspect of a person who would live on when a person died. the Ba is the part which makes a person, himself/herself, the personality. The Ba went on to the afterlife (Duat) where a person could live on on their 'lives' peacefully.[3]
Ka
The Ka is the part which makes a human body alive. When the Ka leaves the body of a human, the person dies. Humans were given the Ka at birth from a god, Heqet or Meskhenet, depending on the region. To keep a Ka alive people had to eat and drink.
Sheut
The Sheut was a person's shadow. As a shadow is always there, Egyptians believed that the shadow represents a part of the human soul.
Ren
The Ren was a part of the human soul that was bound to the name of a person. It contained the memories and experiences of someone. As long as the person's name was named or spoken, the Ren would live on. As such, throughout Ancient Egypt names of important people were often carved in stone or memorized in another way, supporting their Ren. Names of the enemies of the state were often removed from such stone buildings to ensure their Ren would not live, as happened with Akhenaten.