Do Egyptians and Greeks still practice the religions of their ancestors?

Question

The religious beliefs of ancient Egyptians and Greeks have always fascinated me. Do modern Egyptians still believe in the gods like Rah, Osiris, etc? Do greeks still believe in Zeus and Athena?

I'm just curious as to why those religions might have died out (if at all). On average, a majority of people in India, Asia, Japan, even Native Americans, still follow the spriitual beliefs of their ancestors.

Answer 1

Most modern Egyptians are Muslim. So no, most do not honor the old Gods. But, there are some of us around that still very much love them.

Answer 2

Yes some people still follow the religions of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.

Answer 3

Indirectly they do. Christianity was born out of Egyptian centric Greek paganism influenced by Hellenistic Judaism.

Greek Paganism has it's origins in Egyptian polytheism as well.

Islam had it's roots in Arabic polytheism, Christianity, and Judaism, with Arabic polytheism having it's roots in Egyptian polytheism.

So, since Greece is primarily Christian, they are still practicing the evolved religion of their ancestors. Since Egypt is Islamic, they are also practicing the evolved religion of their ancestors.

Answer 4

Like many ancient spiritual beliefs that were around at that time..most people would think that they have disappeared..but actually they are still many that do practice them but do so in secrecy because of the fear of what their society would do where they live. The only way you would be allowed to observe or participate in one of these would be if someone you knew took part and asked if you could as a guest.

Answer 5

Yes, but only a small minority: the worship of Isis and other gods/goddesses lives on.

These old faiths faded away after Zeus became known as Yahweh, Isis morphed into Mary, Osiris transformed into Jesus, and so on (e.g., Osiris had even been murdered and resurrected and had many titles including 'King of Kings', 'The Good Shepherd', etc.)

For other similarities:
http://tektonics.org/copycat/osy.html

Answer 6

i don't know about Greeks but in Egypt (few people in the west desert) there r people still follow their religious teachings but don't believe in the old Egyptians gods & some of those may be muslims also the christaninty & islam in egypt has been affected by the old religions

Answer 7

I don't know if they do, but I know there are many religions now that revere the same deities. Asatru is centered around the Greek pantheon. A lot of Pagan religions are centered around these two mythological systems. Try googling for them.

Oops... sorry about the Asatru mix up-- you can tell I don't really know anything about it! I thought I read Greek once, my bad. :-/

Answer 8

Some do, yes. They died out because during, what we call the Dark Ages and on thru till just recently, there was a certain religion that claimed if you did not follow it, and only it, you were a heretic and therefore should be put to death. That would kind of put a damper on other religions. ^_^

Answer 9

There is a movement in Greece to de-criminalize the worship of the Olympic Gods. And I know of several pagans who follow a reconstructionist Egyptian path (Kemetic).

(Edited to add:)
Asatru is Norse heathenism, centered around the Norse pantheon (Odin, Thor, Freyr, etc.) - not Greek. =)

Answer 10

Well I live in Egypt and I can tell u they dont... Most of egyptians are now muslims and just believe in one god... Osiris, Ra and others are just a part of their history that was killed with the time and the incursion of different cultures in Egypt...