During this period temples and shrines were built in the major cities and local towns although few remains of these survive. Depictions of deities have been found on palettes and labels from royal burials, and sometimes on the tops of standards paraded in royal ceremonies. Rituals and cult statues are mentioned in later royal annals relating to this period.

By this time gods and goddesses were already being portrayed in human, animal or hybrid forms. Deities known from this period include the craftsman-god Ptah, the goddess Neith, important at the royal court, and the hawk-god Horus and Seth, both of whom were closely linked to the king. Also known are Min, god of fertility and the Eastern desert, Bat, a celestial cow-goddess, the jackal gods Anubis and Wepwawet, and the vulture Nekhbet and the cobra Wadjet who were goddesses specifically protecting royalty.

An important royal ritual was the Heb Sed or Jubilee Festival, which the monarch celebrated after a lengthy period of rule. This was a ceremony intended to rejuvenate the powers of the king and involved the enthronement of the monarch as ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt and demonstrations of his physical capabilities such as running between markers symbolising the land of Egypt. Other rituals included ‘Spearing the Hippopotamus’ and the ‘Running of the Apis Bull’.