| المستخلص: |
Religion is one of the main areas of strong contacts between the Sudan and Egypt in antiquity, during 3200 B.C. - 340 A.D. of the Historical Period in particular. It is formed of three main elements; namely, religious beliefs, worship and funerary customs. The author has chosen ‘religious beliefs’ as subject for the present study. The paper itself falls in six main sections, which, mainly, are as follows: Section 1 is general, in which are pointed out the main factors facilitating cultural contact between the Sudan and Egypt, as well as those obstructing it. Section 2 explains what is meant by Religious beliefs. Section 3 contains brief, but significant, information on the main deities, of the main Egyptian centres of worship, that were respected by the Sudanese. These were those of Heliopolis, Memphis, Ashmunein, Thebes and Elephantine. Section 4 cites instances of particular Sudanese acts of worship towards deities generally attributed to Egypt. Section 5 is reserved to deities of definite, or possible, Sudanese origin that were worshipped in both of the Sudan and Egypt. Section 6 deals with deities that were exclusively Sudanese in origin and worship during the Meroitic Period, and demonstrates religious duality in the period in question. Such duality was evident in the co-existence of common Sudanese and Egyptian religious features with those exclusively Sudanese. The paper is meant to serve two main purposes. One is to demonstrate some elements of Sudanese and Egyptian common heritage in antiquity. The other is to argue that participation in this common heritage was mutual, in which the Sudan, though the lesser partner, was not always the recipient, but sometimes the giver.
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