=Predynastic Religion.=—From the evidence derived from a number of Predynastic graves it is perfectly clear that the Predynastic Egyptians believed in a future life; for otherwise they never would have buried with the dead food and flint weapons, etc., for the chase in the Other World. Whether they believed that the future life would be eternal cannot be said; but they certainly hoped that it would resemble the life on this earth. =Dynastic.=—The religion of the ancient Egyptians was of African origin, and in the earliest times had much in common with that of many of the peoples and tribes who live in Equatorial Africa at the present day. Earth, air, sea and sky were believed to be filled with spirits, some of whom were occupied in carrying on the works of nature, and others in aiding or injuring man upon earth. Every object, both animate and inanimate, was inhabited by a spirit, which could assume any form it pleased, and occupy the body of any man, woman, quadruped, bird, fish, insect, reptile, tree, etc. The incarnations of certain of these spirits became gods at a very early period, _e.g._, the hippopotamus,[19] crocodile, lion, bull, ram, dog-headed ape, dog, wolf, jackal, ichneumon, hawk, vulture, ibis, swallow, dove, and heron, certain kinds of snakes, uraeus, frog, beetle, grasshopper, mantis, and several kinds of fish. All the above were regarded as powers of good from the earliest to the latest times. On the other hand, certain animals, _e.g._, gazelle, the animal which is the symbol of Set, 𓃩, or 𓃫, the hyaena, the lynx, the scorpion, the turtle, were incarnations of powers of evil. The heavenly bodies were regarded as powers of good, probably, in the earliest times; but the scorching heat of the sun, lightning, hurricanes, storms, flood, darkness, mist and fog were regarded as manifestations of spirits hostile to man.