Egypt's religion lasted 3,500 years and counted about 1,500 gods
Around 1,500 Egyptian deities are known by name, and the faith that honoured them endured for roughly 3,500 years. Pharaohs were its linchpin, feeding the gods with offerings to hold chaos at bay. Its final traces faded only in the 530s, long after Rome had conquered the Nile.
At the centre of official worship stood the king. Pharaohs were thought to hold divine power because of their office, and they had a duty to sustain the gods with ritual and gifts. In return the cosmos kept its order, called Ma'at, and its opposite, Isfet, meaning chaos, stayed outside. The state poured huge resources into ceremonies and temple building to keep that bargain running.
Ordinary Egyptians had their own channels. They could pray to a god for help or try to force one to act through magic. These private practices sat apart from the temple institutions but were bound up with them, and they grew in importance as the prestige of the pharaoh declined over the centuries. Concern for life after death shaped much of what survives: tombs, grave goods and offerings were all meant to keep both the body and the spirit of the dead intact.
Nothing about the pantheon stayed fixed. Gods rose and fell in importance and their relationships were constantly reshuffled. At different times Ra the sun god, Amun the creator and Isis the mother goddess each stood above the rest. Once, briefly, the pharaoh Akhenaten swept the traditional gods aside in favour of a single deity, the Aten.
Decline began after Rome took Egypt in 30 BC, when the religion lost its central structure. Christian rulers later suppressed it, mummification stopped, and by the 530s it is regarded as fully extinct. After Amr ibn al-As led the Arab conquest, Egyptians began turning to Islam. Its texts and monuments, though, left a lasting mark on both ancient and modern cultures.
Source: Ancient Egyptian religion
