Ancient Egyptian temple architecture incorporated several very specific elements, all of which were standard due to their assumed religious connotations. Although a variety of decorative motifs and other relatively minor features varied from building to building, each temple had to have a large main gateway, a courtyard surrounded by columns, a hall of columns, and a sacred shrine chamber. Without such elements, by Ancient Egyptian standards, a temple would be not only incomplete, but also unfit for spiritual worship.

The ka represented the spirit of a deceased individual and was believed to travel to the underworld after death. 

The central, focusing principle of Ancient Egyptian religion was the concept of Ma'at, meaning something along the lines of justice, truth, or harmony. Isfet was the opposite principle of disharmony or injustice. All people were supposed to live with Ma'at as a focusing principle in their ethical behavior.

In the ancient Egyptian pantheon, Anubis was the God of mummification and embalming. It is thought that he was originally considered as God of the afterlife, but that he was gradually replaced in this capacity by Osiris. Anubis was revered as the deity who would judge human souls and guide those who were deserving to the afterlife. He, like Osiris, was a manifestation of the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with death and the nature of the afterlife.

In the ancient Egyptian pantheon of Gods, Ra is the Sun God. Ancient Egyptian civilization persevered for so long that the status and significance of Ra changed on many occasions. He was the most important deity during the Old Kingdom period of Egyptian history and was worshipped as the creator of the world by many Egyptian cults. When, during the New Kingdom period, a new deity called Amun rose to pre-eminence he was fused with Ra to create Amun-Ra, the chief God of the New Kingdom of Egypt.

Literacy was extremely uncommon in ancient Egyptian society. The only people who were educated to read and write were the wealthy sons of scribes who were themselves expected to train for and enter into government service.

The Royal Annals, which survive in seven known copies including the Palermo Stone, is a historical list written during the Fifth Dynasty, which narrates the reigns of the previous kings. The Merneptah Stele is also historical in nature, but it concerns the conquests of the Nineteenth Dynasty (New Kingdom) Pharaoh Merneptah. The Stele of Queen Tetisheri is also attributed to a specific king, Pharaoh Ahmose I of the Eighteenth Dynasty (also of the New Kingdom), while the Great Hymn to the Aten is a New Kingdom religious text associated with the radical reformer Akhenaten (of the Eighteenth Dynasty). The Book of the Dead is a continuum of works deriving from a tradition as old as the Old Kingdom, but it is a funerary text rather than a historical narrative or list. 

The Old Kingdom established the political, societal and cultural foundations of the Egyptians dynasties to come. During this time Egypt also began to acquire the diplomatic skills for which it became famous. Contacts between Egypt and other Middle Eastern powers began as a result of Egypt wanting to keep its borders safe and trade for materials. 

The Old Kingdom saw the completion of the pyramids at Giza during the Fourth Dynasty, the Great Sphinx and the Great pyramid, which is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. The Giza pyramids are an early example of quarried limestone, which was cut with extreme precision and then transported to the site. Tools called mallets were used alongside chisels to cut stone. 

The name Kemet, or Black Land, is what the ancient Egyptians called their country. This name stems from the color of the fertile soil after the annual flood of the Nile River.