Egyptian Goddesses & Gods
Compiled via Net by Shining Raven-wing
Aahmes-nefertari
Queen, circa 1540 B.C.E., who was elevated to goddess stature as a
protector/punisher of humans.
Aasith
Semitic goddess of war. Originally Syrian.
Ahat
A cow goddess.
Ahemait
An Egyptian underworld goddess who is part lion, part hippopotamus, and part
crocodile, and who eats the souls of the unworthy dead.
Ahti
A malevolent goddess, depicted with the head of a wasp and the body of a
hippotamus.
Aker
An earth-god also presiding over the juncture of the western and eastern horizons in the Underworld.The motif of Aker consists of the foreparts of two lions, or two human heads, juxtaposed so that they face away from each other. Aker opens the earth's gate for the king to pass into the Underworld. He absorbs the poison from the body of anyone bitten by a snake and neutralises the venom in the belly of a person who has swallowed an obnoxious fly. More importantly he imprisons the coils of the snake Apophis after being hacked to pieces by Isis. This idea of enclosure accounts for the socket holding the mast of the Underworld ferryboat being identified with Aker.
In the Egyptian notion of the Underworld Akerr could provide along his back a secure passage for the sun-god's boat travelling from west to east during the hours of night. From the tomb of Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings, the massive tomb of Pedamenopet. (Dynasty XXVI) in el-Asasif necropolis at Thebes, and mythological papyri of the priesthood of Amun in Dynasty XXI, it is possible to reconstruct a 'Book of Aker', concerned with the solar journey from sunset to sunrise. A more threatening side to Aker can be detected when he pluralises into the Akeru or earth-gods. In apotropaic passages in the Pyramid Texts the Akeru are said not to seize the monarch; later there is a general hope for everyone to escape the grasp of the earth-gods. The Akeru appear to be primeval deities more ancient than Geb, earth-god of the cosmogony of Heliopolis.
Akert-khentet-auset-s
One of the seven deities listed in the Egyptian Book of the Dead who provided food for the deceased in the underworld. They are pictured as having a solar disk between their horns. The other six are: Henemet-em-anh-annuit, Het-kau-nebt-er-tcher, Meh-khebitet-seh-neter, Sekhemet-ren-s-em-abet-s, Shenat-pet-uthset-neter, Ur-mertu-s-teshert-sheni.
Akhet
Goddess of the seasons and sunset, sometimes called Goddess of the Nile.
Akusaa
Goddess of the setting sun. Wife of Atum.
Amaunet
A female counterpart to Amon and one of the primordial gods. A goddess whose name means 'hidden one' and whose shadow, among the primeval gods, is a symbol of protection. A deity at Karnak temple at least since the reign of Sesostris I (Dynasty XII), she is predominantly the consort of Amun playing, however, a less prolific role than his other wife Mut. A statue datable to Tutankhamun's reugn which was set uup in the Record Hall of Tuthmosis III at Karnak shows the goddess in human form wearing the Red Crown of the Delta.
Reliefs at Karnak clearly mark her as prominent in rituals closely associated with the monarch's accession and jubilee festival. For instance, in the momument of Tuthmosis III, known as the Akh-menu, Amaunet and Min lead a row of deities to watch the king and sacred bull in the jubilee celebration. Much later in the Greek domination of Egypt she is carved on the exterior wall of the sanctuary suckling the pharaoh Philip Arrhidaeus who is playing the role of the divine child immediately following the scene depicting his enthronement. A late equation at Karnak identifies her with Neith of the Delta- comparable to the analogy made between Mut and Sakhmet- but she retains her own identity well into the Ptolemaic period.
Amemet
Goddess of the underworld. Listed in the Book of the Dead.
Ament
Goddess who lived in a tree at the edge of the desert where she watched the gates of the afterworld, welcoming the newly dead with bread and water.
Amenti
The abode of the dead.
Amit
Fire goddess of Tuat (the underworld).
Ammit
Part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus, she is a goddess of the
underworld.
Amn
Another goddess of the underworld.
Amon
Also called Amun, Ra or Re (the Sun), or Amun-Ra or Amen-Ra (the Great Sun), or
Khepri. The king of the gods during the Theban dynasties, and the god of fertility. He was part of the Theban Triad, along with Mut and Khonsu. Usually associated with the wind, or things hidden.
A bearded Man wearing a cap surmounted by two tall plumes. A ram, a ram headed man, or a ram headed sphinx.
Self created at the beginning of time. Believed to be the physical father of all Pharaohs.
King of the gods of Egypt. Patron of the Pharoahs. Originally a god of fertility, a local deity of Memphis. Ammon became linked with the sun god Ra through the royal family, becoming Ammon-Ra.
Early, a god of air and wind. Later, a fertility god. The Creator of all things. During the New Kingdom he became "The king of the gods". He was said to be able to assume any form he wished, with each of the other gods being one of these forms. From the eighteenth dynasty on he was a national deity. Through political means managed to assimilate many lesser gods.
One of chief Theban deities; united with sun god under form of Amen-Ra. As the city grew from a village to a powerful metropolis so Amun, whose name signifies 'hidden', grew in importance. He ousted the Theban god of war, Mont, and went on to be regarded as chief god Egypt, 'King of the Gods'. Originally he might have been a wind or air god; later he was given several powers and attributes.
As an ithyphallic god, either standing or enthroned carrying a whip, Amun was god of fertility. At Karnak he was considered to be incarnate in a sacred ram which was kept in that temple. Another symbol of sexual power, the goose, was also sacred to him.
From being worshipped as a god of generative power to being worshipped as an agricultural deity responsible for the growth of crops was but a short step for Amun. He then rose to be the patron of the Pharaohs, and because of the inevitable connections between royalty and the sun, became linked to the great god Ra. As Amun-Ra he became supreme amoung the gods and ruler of the Great Ennead. During the reign of Akhenaten, the worship of Amun, like that of all the other great gods, was severely curtailed.
On the death of Akhenaten the new king, the boy Tut-ankh-aten, changed his name to declare his allegiance to the neglected but now ascendant Amun; the youthful monarch is known to us as Tut-ankh-amun. Thebes, home of the god Amun, developed into a state within a state, a rich and powerful inner kingdom ruled by the high priestess of Amun and staffed by men of nobility and genius.
The god's fame extended well beyond the boundaries of Egypt; Ethiopia was virtually a vassal state to the city of Thebes. To the west, in Libya, his cult was the centre of public religion, lasting well into Classical times as the cult of Jupiter Ammon. Even Alexander the Great thought it worthwhile consulting the oracle of Amun.
He received a favorable reply and assumed the title, Son of Amun. Apart from Thebes, which grew so important that it was simply known as 'the city', Amun was worshipped all over Egypt, and his magnificent temples at Luxor and Karnak are among the finest remains of antiquity. Amun formed a triad with his wife Mut and his son Khons.
Ammut
A combination of the head of a crocodile, the middle of a lioness and the hind quarters of a hippopotamus.
We find Ammut during the weighing of the heart of a deceased person against the feather of Maat. It was Ammut who would devour the souls of those who's hearts proved heavier than Maat. This was a terrifying prospect for the ancient Egyptians. It meant the end of existence. They would never meet Osiris and live forever in the Fields of Peace.
Amset
One of the four lesser gods of the dead who supervised the mummification process. His name means "carpenter", and he is pictured with a man's head. See also Hepi, Smotef, and Snouf.
Anatha
Goddess of love and war. Also known as a mountain goddess.
Anatis
A goddess of the moon.
Anhur
sky god associated with Shu.
Anhur is shown as a man with one or both arms raised. He wears four straight feathers on his head and sometimes holds a spear. His name is interpreted as 'skybearer', or 'he who leads that which has gone away'. He was a warrior, and was invoked against both human and animal enemies whom he chased in his chariot. Apart from being a personification of war, he was also regarded as the creative power of the sun. Sometimes he is shown holding a string by which he leads the sun; this to recall the story that when Ra's eye eandered away it was Anhut who went to fetch it back. He was a popular god in the New Empire with cult centres at Sebennytus and This. Married to the goddess Mehit, Anhur was a generally benign god, warlike in order to be helpful. His festival included a playful mock combat between the priests and people, who hit each other with sticks in honour of their saviour god.
Anka
A creator goddess, wife of Khnum.
Ankhtith
Goddess depicted as a serpent with the head of a woman.
Ankt
A spear-carrying Egyptian war goddess.
Antaios
He was originally a falcon god, later believed to have merged into Horus.
Anthat (Anta, Anat)
Syrian war goddess adopted by Egypt. She is pictured holding a spear, shield, and battle-axe and wearing the Crown of the South. Considered by the Egyptians to be a daughter of Ra, Anta is an aspect of Ishtar. She was that of a warrior goddess of Ugarit on the Syrian coast and attested in Egypt from the end of the Middle Kingdom. The Hyksos rulers seem to have promoted her cult and in the Ramesside era Anat was a crown flanked with plumes, her martial nature is emphasised by the shield, lance and battle ace. The fact that Anat can be shown under the iconography of Hathor is not surprising since Hathor can closely relate to foreign deities (ex: Baalat at Byblos or in the Sinai peninsula) as well as possessing a bloodthirsty, albeit usually subdued, side to her nature. Anat is called 'mistress of the sky' and mother of all the gods' but it is her warlike character that predominates in both Egyptian and Near Eastern references to her. Anat's introduction into the Egyptian pantheon was on account of her protecting the monarch in combat.
Anubis
The offspring of Nephthys affair with Osiris. He prepared the dead and led them into the underworld. A man with the head of a jackal. A dog or a jackal. The jackal-headed god. Anubis can foresee a mortal's destiny and is associated with magic and divination. Anubis supervises the weighing of the soul when the departed are brought to the hall of the dead.
Guardian of the Necropolis (cemetery). He was the guide of the dead as they made their way through the darkness of the underworld. As a patron of magic, it was believed he could foresee a persons destiny, in this role he was the announcer of death.
Anubis was the patron of embalming. He was also the keeper of poisons and medicines. He provided unguents and rare herbs to help Isis and Nephthys with the embalming of Osiris. Anubis then performed the funeral of Osiris, which would be the model for all funerals to come. As he received the mummy into the tomb, he performed the 'Opening of the Mouth' ceremony.
In the Hall of Maat - Anubis appears on behalf of the diseased. It was Anubis who saw that the beam of the great scale was in the proper position as he supervises the weighing of the heart of a deceased person against the feather of Maat. The god of knowledge,Thoth, records the results. It is also Anubis that protects the dead from Ammut, the 'Devourer'.
Anuket
An early Egyptian water goddess; she was later merged with Nephthys.
Apep
The great snake of darkness, who sometimes rose up, mouth agape, to try to swallow Ra's solar barque in its travel across the heavens; Ra always managed to escape, but each of Apep's failed attempts resulted in fierce storms or solar eclipses.
Apis
It means "sacred bull". Depicted as a bull with a solar disk between its horns, Apis was another form of Ptah.
Ashtoreth
Moon goddess and goddess of war. She is depicted with the head of a lion. Probably devolved from the Syrian Astarte.
At-Em
Goddess of time.
Aten (Aton)
The Pharaoh Akhenaton decreed him to be the one and only god in his attempt to
establish a monotheistic religion.
Athor
The goddess of Love and Beauty. She is usually shown with cow horns, and
sometimes with a cow's head. Wife of Amun-Ra.
Atum
A primordial god that was represented in the form of a human and a serpent. The
version of the Egyptian god Amon (see above) who creates Shu and his sister Tefnut via masturbation (or expectoration). (Sumeria) A creator god in Mesopotamia, later called Ea.
Baal
Prominent god of the sky and storms whose cult spread from Ugarit in Syria into Egypt, where he possessed a priesthood by Dynasty XVIII. Aliyan Baal, son of a less well-attested god Dagan, dwelt on Mount Sapan (hence Ball-Zaphon) in North Syria but also became associated as a local deity of other sites such as Baal-Hazor in Palestine, and Baal-Sidon and Baal of Tyre(Melkart) in the Lebanon. Although the anme Baal can mean 'lord' or 'owner' it was being used as a proper name for a specific god by the sixteenth century BC.
Baal has a pointed beard, a horned helmet and wields a cedar tree, club, or spear. His epithet in the cuneiform texts, 'he who rides on the clouds', is admirable for a god of tempests and thunder- relating thereby to the Mesopotamian thunder- god Adad and in Egypt to the god Seth. Ramesses II in his almost fatal struggle against the Hittite confederation at the battle of Kadesh is called 'Seth great of strength and Baal himself'. The war cry of Ramesses III is like Baal in the sky, i.e. Baal's voice (the thunder) which makes the mountains shake. His relationship to the warrior-pharaoh image may account for the popularity of his cult at Memphis, capital of Egypt, and the theophorous name Baal-Khepeshef or 'Baal-is-upon-his-sword'.
In the Middle East Baal's dominion was greatly enhanced when he became the vanquisher of Yamm god of the sea. But Baal was killed in a struggle with Mot (possibly a personification of death) and descended into the Underworld. He returns to life by the intervention of his sister-lover Anat, who also slays his murderer. It is curious that the Egyptians did not, in extant texts at any ratem relate this myth symbolising the continual cycle of vegetation to their own Osiris legend.
Bahet
Goddess of wealth and abundance.
Bakha
The sacred bull that was an incarnation of Menthu, a personification of the heat of the sun. He changed color every hour of the day.
Ba Neb Tetet
Ram god whose name means 'ba (or 'soul') lord of Mendes', his cult centred in the north-east Delta.
When the two Gods Horus and Set were making the heavens ring with their wranglings over precedent, it was the ram-god Ba Neb Tetet who sensibly suggested to the gods in council that they should write a letter to the goddess Neith and ask for her opinion. His suggestion opened the way for discussion and arbitration which finally settled the dispute. His character, one of peace and level-headedness, has been sadly perverted in sennsational 'occult' fiction, for Ba Neb Tetet is the benign original for a travesty called the 'goat of Mendes', who is supposed to be some sort of diabolic spirit. At Mendes was kept a sacred ram, worshipped as the incarnation of Ra and Osiris. Originally a local god, Ba Neb Tetet was given the solar disc and uraeus (coiled cobra) and brought into the main-stream of religious life.
Bast or Bastet
Bastet (originally a lion goddess symbolizing the fertilizing force of the sun's rays), became the cat goddess, the patroness of the domestic cat and the home. She is often seen in human form with the head of a cat and holding the sacred rattle known as the sistrim. Bastet is also associated with the eye of Ra, the sun god, and acts as an instrument of his vengeance. She ruled over pleasure, sex, dancing, music, and joy.
Cats were sacred to Bast as a symbol of animal passion. Bast's devotees celebrated their lady with processions of flower-laden barges and orgiastic ceremonies. Her festivals were licentious and quite popular. She appears as a woman with the head of a domesticated cat, sometimes holding a sistrum.
The town of Bubastis was the cult centre of this solar goddess represented as a woman with a cat's head, or simply as a cat. The goddess holds a sistrum or rattle. She was identified and confused with both Mut and Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess. Bastet wore an aegis or shield in the form of a semi-circular plate, embellished with a lion's head. She was goddess of pleasure and inevitably became one of the most popular deities. In her temple were kept sacred cats, who were supposed to be incarnations of the goddess. When they died they were carefully mummified. The Egyptians found something to worship in just about every animal they had: dogs, cats, lions, crocodiles, snakes, dung-beetles, hippos, hawks, cows and ibises.
As the daughter of Re she is associated with the rage inherent in the sun-god's eye, his instrument of vengeance. It was probably this ferocity that made the analogy so plausible between Bastet and lioness. Her development into the cat-goddess par excellence, of the Late Period of Egyptian civilization, retains the link with the sun-god but in some ways softens the vicious side of her nature. She becomes a peaceful creature, destroying only vermin, and unlike her leonine form she can be approached fearlessly and stroked.
It has been suggested that in one myth the Egyptians saw Bastet's return from Nubia, where she had been sent by Re as a lioness and had raged in isolation, to Egypt in the form of the more placid cat as an explanation of the period of unapproachability in the cycle of menstruation. A tangential evidence that advocates of this theory cite the scenes in New Kingdom tomb paintings at Thebes where a cat is depicted under the lady's chair as a deliberate ploy to indicate that she will always be available for sexual intercourse with the tomb owner in the Afterlife.
In her earlies appearances in the Pyramid Era Bastet is a goddess closely linked to the king. A magnificent example of precise engineering in the Old Kingdom, namely the valley temple of King Khafre at Giza, carries on its facade the names of two goddess only- Hathor of Southern Egypt and Bastet of the north. The latter is invoked as a benign royal protectress in the Pyramid Texts where, in a spell to enable him to reach the sky, the king proclaims that his mother and nurse is Bastet.
Besides the king, Bastet has a son in the form of the lion-headed god Mihos and is also the mother of a more artifical offspring combining the natures of Nefertum and the child Horus, personifying her connection with perfume and royalty. With the dramatic extension of the roles of deities to assist Egyptian courtiers as well as the pharaoh that we find in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom, Bastet gives immense protection as first-born daughter of Atum. The aggressive side of Bastet can be seen in historial texts describing the pharaoh in battle. For example, Amenhotep II's enemies are slaughtered like the victims of Bastet along the road cut by the god Amun.
From her epithet 'lady of Asheru', the precinct of the goddess Mut at Karnak, it is clear that Bastet had a place on Theban soil where she could be equated with the consort of Amun- especially since the lioness and the cat were also claimed as sacred animals by Mut. Reliefs in the temple of Karnak show the pharaoh celebrating ritual races carrying either four sceptres and a bird or an oar in front of Bastet who is called ruler of 'Sekhet-neter' or the 'Divine Field'- i.e. Egypt.
Bat
Mother goddess, later merged with Hathor.
Berenice
Wife of Ptolemy Soter, who promised the gods that she would cut off her beautiful hair if her husband returned safely from war. He did, she did, and hung her hair in the temple of Arsinoe. It disappeared from the temple, and appeared in the heavens as the constellation Coma Berenices.
Bes (Bisu)
Bes means "dancing". The patron god of pregnant women. The Egyptian dwarf god
who guards against evil spirits, snakes, and misfortune. He is a god of human
pleasures, music, and dance. Bes was usually pictured full face (often nude, with prominent genitals). He was shown to be ugly and grotesque in appearance, with a large head, protruding tongue, bow legs and the ears, mane and tail of a lion or cat. He bore a plumed crown and wore the skin of a lion or panther. Despite his appearance, he was a beneficent deity and his appearance was meant to scare off evil spirits. He bore swords and knives to ward off the evil spirits, as well as musical instruments which he used to create a din which would frighten them off. Bes was the protector of children and of women in labor, and aided the hippopotamus goddess Taweret in childbirth.
Bubastis
Goddess of childbirth.
Busiris
A king of Egypt, who to avert famine for his people, ordered all strangers that
landed on his shores be sacrificed to the gods. He made the mistake of capturing
Hercules, who escaped his chains and slew the king.
Buto
Serpent goddess of lower Egypt. Mother of the sun and moon. She spits poison on
the enemies of the pharaoh, and burns them with her fiery gaze.
Candace
Title of the hereditary queens of the desert empire of Meroe. One of them led an
army of 10,000 rebels against the Roman occupation of Egypt.
Chem
Also called Ham. He was the god of "increase", considered as the father of their
race. He is usually pictured wearing a women's garment.
Chensit
Another serpent goddess of lower Egypt. She is pictured with the crown of Hathor
or with Maât's feather.
Chonso
Son of Amun-Ra and his wife Athor. Usually pictured with the new moon atop his
head.
Êpet
Goddess protector of children. She is pictured as being a hippopotamus with
woman's breasts and lion's feet, usually carrying a crocodile on her back.
Ermutu
Another goddess of childbirth.
Ernutet
Goddess with the head of a cobra, wearing a headdress with a solar disk between
two horns.
Gate-Keepers, The
Guardian goddesses of the gate to the underworld. The dead must say their names
before they are allowed to pass through. Aakhabit and Clother are mentioned in the Book of the Dead. The others are called by titles like "Lady of the Light", etc.
Geb
Son of Shu and Tefnut, twin brother of Nut, husband of Nut, father of Osiris and Isis, Seth, Nephthys.
As a vegetation-god he was shown with green patches or plants on his body. As the earth, he is often seen lying beneath Nut, leaning on one elbow, with a knee bent toward the sky, this is representive of the mountains and valleys of the earth. He was often pictured with a goose on his head or as a goose.
Geb was thought to represent the earth, he is often seen reclining beneath the sky goddess Nut. Geb was called 'the Great Cackler', and as such, was represented as a goose. It was in this form that he was said to have laid the egg from which the sun was hatched. He was believed to have been the third divine king of earth. The royal throne of Egypt was known as the 'throne of Geb' in honor of his great reign.
Geb was a god without a cult; he was given the world to rule. One day he and a group of friends rashly opened a box in which was kept Ra's uraeus, the divine cobra. The snake's poisonous breath killed Geb's companions and severely burned Geb. The god was healed by the application of a magic lock of hair belonging to Ra, and ever after that was careful to mind his own business.
After a long and uneventful reign he handed his power over to his son Osiris and retired to heaven. There he occasionally assisted the god Thoth, sometimes as a magistrate, sometimes as an envoy. Geb's generative power is shown not only in representations of him as an ithyphallic man, but also in the story that he once had the shape of a gander. He mated with a goose to produce an egg, the sun. Many cultures regard the earth as female; Geb is an interesting exception.
Ha
God of the desert, particularly the regions of the west including the oases. Ha is anthropomorphic and wears the symbol for desert hills on his head. As lord of the desert he wards off enemies from the west, probably referring to invading tribes from Libya.
Hagar
A desert goddess of lower Egypt. Occult lore links her to the moon.
Hak
A frog-headed goddess of resurrection.
Hapimou
Means the Nile. "He" was depicted with the beard of a man and the breasts of a child-bearing woman. A bearded man coloured blue or green, with female breasts, indicating his powers of nourishment. As god of the Northern Nile he wears papyrus plants on his head, and as god of the southern Nile he wears lotus plants. He is often seen carrying offerings of food or giving libations of water from a vase. Sometimes he is pictured offering two plants and two vases, which represented the upper and lower Nile. Hapi was a very important deity to anyone living in the Nile valley. He was the god of the Nile, particularly the inundation, His followers worshipped him even above Ra. After all, without the sun the Egyptians would have lived in darkness, but without the Nile the Egyptians would have perished. It was believed that Hapi's source was two whirlpools in the caves on Elephantine island. On his journey he was thought to flow through the Underworld, through the heavens, and then through Egypt. He was responsible for watering the meadows and bringing the dew. But most importantly he brought the fertile inundation. He provided food and water for nourishment and for offerings to the gods. As a fertility god he is associated with Osiris.
Harpocrates
God of silence.
Hast
Another goddess of the underworld mentioned in the Book of the Dead.
Hathor
The goddess of joy and love, she was a protector of women. Also worshipped as a
sky goddess, Hathor is depicted wearing a sun disk held between the horns of a cow as a crown. Hathor was the patroness of all women, artists, music, dance, and happiness. She is often traditionally present in all ancient Egyptian tombs to ensure safe passage into the after world.
Because her worship stretches back to pre-dynastic times, we find Hathor identified with many local goddesses, and it can be said that all the goddesses were forms of Hathor. At times we find her playing the role of a sky-goddess, a sun-goddess, a moon-goddess, a goddess of the east, a goddess of the west, a goddess of moisture, a goddess of fertility, an agricultural goddess, and a goddess of the underworld.
Hathor was the goddess of joy, motherhood, and love. She was considered the protectress of pregnant women and a midwife. She was the patron of all women, no matter their station in life. As the goddess of music and dancing her symbol was the sistrum. As a fertility goddess and a goddess of moisture, Hathor was associated with the inundation of the Nile. In this aspect she was associated with the Dog-star Sothis whose rising above the horizon heralded the annual flooding of the Nile. In the legend of Ra and Hathor she is called the Eye of Ra.
In later times, when the Osiris cults gained popularity, her role changed. She now welcomed the arrival of the deceased to the underworld, dispensing water to the souls of the dead from the branches of a sycamore and offering them food. Hathor was also represented as a cow suckling the soul of the dead, thus giving them sustenance during their mummification, their journey to the judgement hall, and the weighing of their soul. In the Late Period, dead women identified themselves with Hathor, as men identified with Osiris.
A sky goddess, sometimes represented as a woman with cow's horns between which hangs a solar disc, sometimes portrayed as a cow. Hathor concerns herself with beauty, love and marriage, and watches over women giving birth. Mother and wife of Ra. Hathor is also a goddess of death and offers comfort to the newly dead as they pass into the after-world.
Hathor was originally worshipped in the form of a cow, sometimes as a cow with stars on her. Later she is represented as a woman with the head of a cow, and finally with a human head, the face broad and placid, sometimes she is depicted with the ears or horns of a cow. She is also shown with a head-dress resembling a pair of horns with the moon-disk between them. Sometimes she is met with in the form of a cow standing in a boat, surrounded by tall papyrus reeds. As the "Mistress of the Necropolis" she is shown as the head of a cow protruding from a mountainside. In this case she wears a menat necklace, which is a symbol of rebirth.
Hedetet
A scorpion goddess mentioned in the Book of the Dead.
Heket
Frog-headed goddess of childbirth. Her husband fashioned the bodies from clay and she gave them life. Goddess of creation, birth and the germination of corn. Heket was pictured as a frog, or a frog-headed woman. She is a midwife, assisting at the daily birth of the sun. An earlier theogony made greater claims for her, saying that with Shu as husband she gave birth to the gods. A goddess of very antiquity, her cult never really got off the ground.
Hepi
Another of the four lesser gods of the dead. His name means digger, and he has an ape's head.
Heptet
A serpent-headed goddess of resurrection who is associated with the resurrection of Osiris.
Heqet
Goddess of fertility and regeneration. She assisted Osiris to rise from the dead. Another frog-headed goddess.
Herit
Goddess of the North.
Her-sha-s
Goddess of the mid-day desert.
Her-tept
Another serpent-headed goddess of the underworld. She takes care of the
mummified Osiris.
Het
Het is the Egyptian serpent goddess who rules fire.
Horus
The falcon-eyed son of Osiris and Isis, who was conceived miraculously by Isis and the dead Osiris. The name Horus comes from the Egyptian word 'Hor', which translates as 'face'. He was worshipped as Mekhenti-irry which translates as 'He who has on his brow Two Eyes', the sun and moon representing his eyes. On nights when there is no moon. He was worshipped as Mekhenti-en-irty, 'He who on his brow has no eyes', in this form he was considered the god of the blind.
The followers of Horus invaded Egypt in pre dynastic history, at this time he was venerated as a victorious warlord. He became a part of the state religion and was associated with the sun god, Ra. Horus was so important to the state religion that Pharaohs were considered his human manifestation and even took on the name Horus.
In the more popular religious beliefs of the Osiris cults he was the son of Osiris and Isis. The avenger of his father's murder and the model of a dutiful son. It is in these stories that we find him doing battle with his uncle, Seth.
He was also called:
? Haroeris (Horus the Elder) An early form of Horus. He was a god of light. His eyes represented the sun and the moon. He was also the brother of Osiris and Seth. Sometimes he was the son, or the husband of Hathor.
? Horus Behudety In the form of Horus of Edfu, he represented the midday sun. This Horus was worshipped in the western Delta and later, as his cult spread south into Upper Egypt, a cult center was established in Edfu. Horus of Edfu fights a great battle against Seth and an army of conspirators. He is pictured as a winged sun-disk or as a hawk headed lion.
? Ra-Harakhte (Horus of the two horizons) This horus was identified with Ra and the daily voyage of the sun from horizon to horizon. The two deities combined to become Ra-Harakhte. He was represented as a falcon or a falcon-headed man wearing the solar disk and double crown or the uraeus and the atef crown.
? Harmakhet (Horus in the Horizon) In this form he represented the rising sun and was associated with Khepri. He was also considered to be the keeper of wisdom. He was sometimes pictured as a man with a falcon's head, or a falcon headed lion. But his most recognizable form is that of a sphinx, or as a ram-headed sphinx.
? Harsiesis (Horus son of Isis) This Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was conceived magically after the death of Osiris and brought up by Isis on a floating island in the marshes of Buto. The child was weak and in constant danger from the scheming of his wicked uncle Seth, who sent serpents and monsters to attack him. But his mother, Isis was great in the magical arts and she warded off this evil by using a spell against creatures biting with their mouths and stinging with their tails, and the young Horus survived and grew.
? Harpokrates (The infant Horus) As a child he represented the new born sun and was often pictured being suckled by Isis. he was usually represented as a seated child, sucking his thumb, his head was shaved except for the sidelock of youth. Even as a child, he wore the royal crown and uraeus.
? Harendotes (Horus the avenger of his father)
? Har-pa-Neb-Taui (Horus Lord of the Two Lands)
A complex deity with many aspects. Some of them are: Horus the Elder, a sky god whose eyes are the sun and the moon, continually at war with Set, the god of evil; Horus of the Horizon, symbolized by the rising and setting sun; Horus the Child, whose frequent depiction as a baby at the breast of his mother Isis influenced Christian images of the Madonna and the Christ child; Horus, son of Isis, avenger of Osiris.
The name "HORUS" stems from the ancient Egyptian word hr (her) which in its simple form was the preposition "above", "upon" so Horus the falcon soars above all the land and its inhabitants, and was, the natural symbol of the King who reigns over all Egypt.
Every pharaoh was supposedly an incarnation of Horus, who according to legend conquered Seth the evil god of Upper Egypt. Seth was god of turmoil and confusion who murdered Osiris, Horus's father. Horus avenged his father's death and became the god of order and justice. Therefore the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt became Horus on earth, the ruler of the two lands (Upper and Lower Egypt).
Horus, represented by the hawk, was the god of the Sky, a symbol of divine Kingship, and protector of the ruling King.
The name Horus also means the forsighted, where one eye represents the Sun and other represents the Moon. The Sun was Known as "Horakhty", or Horus in the Horizon., Horus was considered as the god of the east and the rising Sun. Horus has the Shape of a falcon or a hawk or can take a human Shape with a falcon.
Horus was the god of the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt) and Seth was the god of Upper Egypt, but Horus became the Symbol of Kingship and the King of Upper and Lower Egypt because it was he who united the two Kingdoms.
The Kings of the predynastic Egypt were known as the followers of Horus. In this period, Horus was known as the son of Isis and Osiris and inherited the throne of his father.
Horus also was connected with the goddess Hathor. She was the eye of the Sun god Re, the wife of the living King, and the mother of coming King. Her name was written with the hieroglyph of the Horus falcon inside a rectangle-mean "house" or "mansion" of Horus.
Horus, in the shape of a falcon was worshiped in Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt (north of Edfu). Archaeologists found a golden head of a falcon inside the temple in Hierakonpolis, and the name of the city means "City of the Hawk". Another temple was built for Horus in the city of Behdet (now Damnhour in the Nile Delta), where Horus was represented in the shape of a winged Sun disk. The modern name Damnhour itself "town of Horus" derives from the ancient Egyptian dmi-Hor.
Horus took anew form in the late Period (747 B.C.), when he became a popular god and was represented as a naked child standing above a crocodile holding in his hands snakes, scorpions and lions.
Therefore Horus became known as a healer for the people with snake bites and scorpion stings.
One of the most famous scenes of Horus is the representation of the falcon (Horus) perched on a throne behind the head of King Khafre, the builder of the second pyramid at Giza.
The falcon embraces the King with its wings in order to fly with him to the Sky. Another scene shows Isis nursing Horus. She and Hathor nursed and raised him to take revenge on his uncle Seth, the evil King of Upper Egypt, who killed Osiris, Horus's father.
Ancient Egyptian literature relates great battles between Horus and Seth and how Horus conquered Seth and united the two lands of Egypt. Therefore he was also known as Horus the fighter.
Imhotep
His name means "peace".
A rare example of a commoner who reached the rank of god by sheer merit. Like the later Amenhotep of the 18th Dynasty, Imhotep was an architect and polymath. He was made god of learning and medicine and given Ptah, the artificer-god, as a father. Imhotep, whose name means 'he who comes in peace', was an adviser of King Zoser (Jeser, Djoser) of the 3rd Dynasty. It is thought that he was responsible for the design of the Step Pyramid of Zaqqara, and he is also credited with introducing the stone column. Imhotep's cult was centred on Memphis. He is shown seated with an open manuscript roll on his knees and with the shaven head of a priest.
Statue fragments attest that Imhotep was given the extreme privilege of his name being carved alongside that of Djoser Netjerykhet himself. He held the offices of chief executive (vizier) and master sculptor- the Egyptian priest Manetho, who wrote in Greek a history of Egypt in the third century BC, credits 'Imouthes' (i.e. Imhotep) with the invention of the technique of building with cut stone. It is likely he was the architect who planned Egypt's first large-scale stone monument: the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
After his death Imhotep is remembered in Middle and New Kingdom scribal compositions as the author of a book of instruction- a well known genre of Egyptian literature although the one credited to Imhotep has not survived. In the Late Period bronzes of Imhotep show him seated in scribal posture with a papyrus-roll open across his knees. This veneration for him leads to his deification- an extremely rare phenomenon in ancient Egypt. In the Ptolemaic period Imhotep as a god is found in cult centres and temples throughout Egypt.
Ishtar
An astral goddess (although possibly androgynous in origin) worshipped in Mesopotamia as 'lady of battle' and as an embodiment of sexuality and fertility. She is the Eastern Semitic counterpart of Astarte (who figures far more prominently in Egyptian theology) and the Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian goddess Inanna. One of the most important Assyriam goddesses, her fame extends into the realm of the Hurrians and Hittites to the north. Her emblem, as on her gate in Babylon, is the eight-pointed star and her eminence is emphasised by her identification with the brightest planet Venus. Further, she is the daughter of the moon-god Sin.
Ishtar of Nineveh accompanies the Assyrian king into battle breaking the bows of his enemies, armed with her own quiver, bow and sword. Her animal, the lioness, symbolises her martial prowess. It has been suggested that the voluptuous side of Ishtar- her pleasure in love, her 'beautiful figure' and 'sweet lips' as the texts tell us- is an inheritance from the Sumerian Inanna. Certainly, when lamenting the death of her consort Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi), Ishtar decends into the Underworld, all sexual activity ceased on earth. It would be tempting to make an analogy between Ishtar and Isis or Hathor but evidence from the Egyptian sources is lacking.
The role of Ishtar as a goddess of healing traverses frontiers in the Middle East. The best example comes from Egypt, preserved in one of the cuneiform letters from the diplomatic archive discovered at el-Amarna. Towards the end of his reign Amenhotep III suffered a sickness or pain- if the mummy revuried under his name by priest living generations later is definitely that of this king, then the agony of his severe dental abscesses must have made him desperate for relief. To alleviate Amenhotep's illness his father-in-law Tushratta of Mitanni sent- on loan only- a statue of Ishtar of Nineveh to Egypt in the hope that the goddess's curing-power might operate through the divine effigy.
Isis
Daughter of Nut and Geb. Wife and sister of Osiris. The ideal wife and mother. Generally a goddess of the home and person rather than of the temple and the priest. After the twenty sixth dynasty, Isis is increasingly portrayed as a nursing mother, and her cult eventually spread throughout the Roman empire. Her husband/brother was Osiris who was slain by their brother Set. She had his dismembered remains restored. Their son was Horus.
The nature goddess whose worship, originating in ancient Egypt, gradually extended throughout the lands of the Mediterranean world and became one of the chief religions of the Roman Empire. The worship of Isis, together with that of her brother and husband, OSIRIS, and their son, HORUS, resisted the rise of Christianity and lasted until the 6th cent. A.D.
The greatest of Egyptian divinities, the embodiment of ideal motherhood and womanhood. On her head is a miniature throne (the ideogram of her name) and the solar disc between the cow's horns of Hathor. In some cases vestigial cow's ears are all that remain to show her connection with that goddess. Sacred to her were the sistrum, the rattle, to ward off evil spirits, and a magic knot called Tat. She is shown in many attitudes: suckling the infant Horus, enthronged alongside Osiris, protecting her husband and the souls of the dead with her winged arms. Her magical powers were considerable; Isis was the only divinity ever to discover the secret name of Ra. She used a magic snake to torment him with its poison until he revealed his true name to her.
Possession of the name would have given her power of life and death over Ra, and there is in the this story a hint of an inner cult. The outer cult has been described in The Golden Ass by Apuleius. Isis is a splendid example of the prieval mother goddess developed into a regal lady. She is positive and attractive, modest yet active, loving, faithful and humane, civilzed and sensitive. Her name, linked to Ishtar, had charmingly been described as an onomatopoeic derivation of the sound of weeping, and indeed Isis is often shown with tears.
Her sacred symbol is an amulet called the tyet.
Khem
God of fertility.
Khepri
God of morning sun. Sun-god creator in the form of a scarab beetle.
One of the many images of the sun god Ra was the scarab beetle. The Egyptians saw in its tireless mocing of a ball of dung a parallel to the movement of the sun across the sky. They also noticed that small beetles emerged from similar balls and assumed that, like the sun the scarab was a self-created entity. Heliopolis was the cult centre of Khepra worship; the name Khepra means 'scarab' or 'he who becomes', with the added idea of continuinnng and eternal life. The god was shown as a scarab bettle, or as a man with a complete beetle instead of his human head.
Inscriptional evidence for Khepri occurs in the pyramids of the Old Kingdom: a wish is expressed for the sun to come into being in its name of Khepri. The priesthood of the sun-god combined his different forms to assert that Atum-Khepri arises on the primeval mound in the mansion of the Benu in Heliopolis. Referring to the myth of the sun-god's journey through the hours of night. Khepri is said to raise his beauty into the body of Nut the sky-goddess. From noticing the somewhat slimy sonsistency of the scarab beetle's dirt-ball, the earth is made from the spittle coming from Khepri.
From about the Middle Kingdom representations of Khepri as the ovoid scarab regularly occur in three-dimensional form carved as the amuletic backing of seals. These scarabs, by implication, connect the wearer with the sun-god. The underside could be incised, not just with the titles and name of an official, but also with good luck designs, deities and the names of royalty used for their protective power. Kings would use the undersides of large scarabs to commemorate specific events- Amenhotep III has left a number of these news bulletins which inter alia give information on his prowess at lion hunting and celebrate the arrival of a Syrian princess into his harem.
The scarab could form the bezel of a ring or be part of a necklace or bracelet- the tomb of Tutankhamun has provided us with splendid examples of scarabs made of semi-precious stones like lapis lazuli set in gold. One of the young king's pectorals in particular stresses the dominance of Khepri the sun-god as well as being a masterpiece of the jeweller's craft: in the centre of the design is a scarab carved from chalcedony combined with the wings and talons of the solar hawk, representing Khepri whom as controller of celestial motion, is shown here pushing the boat of the moon-eye.
Paintings in funerary papyri show Khepri on a boat being lifted up by the god Nun, the primeval watery chaos. In some depictions Khepri coalesces with other conceptions of the sun-god to present the appearance of a ram-headed beetle. On a wall of the interior chamber in the tomb of Petosiris (fourth century BC) at Tuna el-Gebel, Khepri was carved quite naturalistically in low relief, painted lapis lazuli blue, wearing the 'atef' crown of Osiris.
Less frequently Khepri could be shown as an anthropomorphic god to the shoulders with a full scarab beetle for a head. Bizarre as it might seem, the Egyptian artist has left some magnificent depictions of Khepri in this form- e.g. in the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens. Although relatively few examples are extant in museums or in situ, it seems likely that the major temples each possessed a colossal hard-stone statue of Khepri. Raised on a plinth, the scarab symbolised architecturally the concept that the temple was the site where the sun-god first emerged to begin the creation of the cosmos.
Khnum
God of fecundity and creation from the Cataract area.
Originally a local ram-god, his sanctuary was on Elephantine Island; he was visualized as a man with a ram's head and wavy horns. He guarded the source of the Nile, which to the Egyptians was the same as guarding the source of life. From a guardian god he developed into a demiurge (creator), and it was said that he shaped the world on his potter's wheel. As a potter shapes clay so does Khnum shape man's flesh; it is he who is responsible for the formation of the foetus in the womb. In Nubia there was a ram-god called Doudoun with whom Khnum may be associated. The Egpytians married Khnum off to the goddess Heket, who was a frog.
Khonsu
The son of Amon and Mut, and one of the main gods of Egypt when the Theban
dynasties ruled.
Kneph
The god of animal and spiritual life. He has the head and horns of a ram.
Ma'at
Goddess of truth and justice. Her symbol is the feather. Wife of Thoth.
A woman wearing a tall ostrich feather on her head - an ostrich feather.
The goddess Maat represents the ideals of law, order, and truth. The word, Maat translates "that which is straight." it implies anything that is true, ordered, or balanced. She was the female counterpart of Thoth. We know she is a very ancient goddess because we find her in the boat of Ra as it rose above the waters of the abyss of Nu on the first day. Together with Thoth, they charted the daily course of the sun god Ra. She is sometimes called the 'eye of Ra' or the 'daughter of Ra'.
Maat also plays an important part in the Book of the Dead. It is in the Hall of Maat the judgement of the dead was performed. This was done by weighing one's heart (conscience) against the feather of Maat. If a balance was struck the deceased was deemed to be worthy of meeting Osiris in the after life. If the heart of the deceased was found to be heavier then the feather of Maat it would be devoured by Ammut.
Mafdet
A panther-goddess whose ferocity prevails over snakes and scorpions. The scratch of her claws is lethal to snakes, hence symbolically the barbs of the king's harpoon become Mafdet's claws for decapitating his enemies in the Underworld. When Mafdet is described as leaping at the necks of snakes, the imagery seems to suggest her form takes on that of a mongoose. In one epithet Mafdet wears braided locls, probably a reference to her displaying the jointed bodies of the scorpions which she has killed.
Mehturt
Goddess of the sky.
Menthu
A god of war.
Meshkent
A goddess of childbirth.
Meskhenet
Goddess of fate.
Min
A god of fertility, virility, rain, thunder, and travelers.
Mo
Sometimes the god, sometimes the goddess, of Truth and Justice. Is depicted with
ostrich feathers on the head.
Mut
Sky goddess and wife of Amun-Ra. Mother of all the gods, mother of all living things.
A woman wearing a vulture headdress, with the double crown of upper and lower Egypt. In some pictures the heads of vultures project from her shoulders. Sometimes she holds a papyrus sceptre.
Mut was the divine mother, the queen of all gods. She was the female counterpart of Amun. Mut usurped many of the other Egyptian goddess that exhibited the attributes of motherhood. During the New Kingdom, The marriage of Mut and Amun was one of the great annual celebrations. Amun would be brought from his temple at Karnak, a great following would escort him to visit Mut at her temple at Luxor. In spite of her marriage to Amun, Mut was bisexual, perhaps to reinforce her position as the mother of all things. Her hieroglyphic symbol was a vulture, it was worn on the crowns of Egypt's queens to typify their motherhood. Mut is another name of Isis.
Neb-Ti
The ruling goddesses of the north (Uadgit) and south (Nekhebet, the protector of
childbirth).
Nefertem
God of lotus flowers.
NehebKau
A snake-god, 'He who harnesses the spirits', whose invincibility is a source of protection both in Egypt and in the Underworld.
Looking like a serpent but with human arms and legs, Nehebkau lurked in the Underworld as a constant menace to gods and men. He was however a subject of Ra and would often give food to the dead. He is sometimes shown with two heads at one end of his body and another head at the other end.
Neith (Neit)
Means the Heavens. She is goddess of the sky, crafts, and wisdom.
Nephthys
The twin sister of Isis, Nephthys is the goddess of night and the protectoress of the dead. She is also Set's sister and wife, although, through her subterfuge, she bore a child (the jackal-headed Anubis) by Osiris.
Nut
Goddess of heavens & sky; consort of Geb. God of the primal waters.
Nut united with her brotherm the earth god Geb, in a tight and passionate embrace until separated by Shu ('air') on the orders of Ra. Ra was annoyed because Geb and Nut had come together without his knowledge or agreement. Expecting that there would be a natural result of their affection, he declared that Nut could not give birth to children on any day of any month of any year. The god Thoth came to Nut's help.
He had been playing draughts with the moon and he had won enough of the moon's light to make up five new days. Since these days were not on the offical calendar, Nut was able to bear a child on each. She gave life to Osurus, Isis, Set, Nephythys, and Horus the Elder. Nut is represented as a slim-limbed girl; supported only on the tips of her fingers and toes, she arches over the fallen body of Geb, who sprawls with limbs awry and phallus erect. Nut is supported by the god Shu in some representations, and her star-spangled belly forms a canopy for the earth.
When Ra decided to go away and have nothing to do with men, he rose to the heavens on the back of Nut who had taken on the form of a cow. Nut grew rapidly to such an enormous height that it was feared her legs would snap, so to each leg was appointed a god whose duty was to stiffen and strengthen it. Nut arches over the earth morning from between her thighs.
Osiris (Serapis)
God of underworld and judge of dead; son of Geb and Nut.
The ancient Egyptian god whose annual death and resurrection personified the self-renewing vitality and fertility of nature.
God whose domain is Duat- the Egyptian Underworld.
Legendary ruler of predynastic Egypt and god of the underworld. Osiris symbolized the creative forces of nature and the imperishability of life. Called the great benefactor of humanity, he brought to the people knowledge of agriculture and civilization. In a famous myth he was slain by his evil brother Set, but his death was avenged by his son HORUS. The worship of Osiris, one of the great cults of ancient Egypt, gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world and, with that of ISIS and Horus, was especially vital during the Roman Empire. Originally a vegetation god closely linked to corn; later god of the dead, the supreme funerary deity. Osiris was born at Thebes of Geb and Nut and succeeded to the throne on his father's abdication. He took Isis as his queen and set about teaching the Egyptians the arts and crafts of civilizations. He showed them how to use grain for bread and grapes for wine. He started relgion, built temples, composed rituals, and carved statues.
He taught them weaving and music, founded towns, and introduced codes of law. Having brought the Egyptians up to a reasonable standard of personal and social behaviour, Osiris set off to do the same for other nations.
He was accompanied in these journeys by Thoth, Anubis, and Wepwawet. In his absence his kingdom was successfully governed by Isis. After the return of Osiris, Set who had been growing more and more jealous of his brother's successes and popularity, invited him to a great banquet. During the feast a huge and beautifully decirated coffer was brought into the hall.
Set jokingly declared that the coffer would become the property of whomsoever it fitted. Osiris was invited to be the first to try it. Amidst general mirth he clambered inside and lay down. Immediately the lid was slammed on and nailed down tight. The banquet guests, who were all in the conspiracy, sealed the coffer with molten lead. Secretly, in the darkness, the coffer was carried to the Nile and dropped into the swift waters.
The coffer floated out to sea and eventually came to land at Byblos in Phoenicia. It beached near the roots of a tamarisk tree. The tree, as if sensing the presence of something divine, spread around the coffer magically, protectively. The tree grew rapidly to a huge size, so that the great box was entirely closed in its magic trunk. The local king, Malcandre, heard of the wonderful giant tree and had it cut down to be used as a column in his palace.
The column gave off a sweet perfume. News of this wonder reached Isis, who understood what had happened and set off for Byblos in disguise. There she was given the royal baby to look after by the queen, Astarte.
Isis wanted to give the gift of immortality to the child and began tto burn off its mortal being with magic fire. Astarte saw the flames, misunderstood what was happening and spoiled the spell with her anxious intervention. Isis then confessed her true identity and told them the reason for her visit.
King Malcandre gave her the column and the goddess retrieved the coffer containing her dead husband. Returning to Egypt, she hid in the swamplands of Buto and managed to revive the body long enough for it to make her pregnant. But Set, out hunting in the swamps, came across the hiding place and found the body. Furiously he dismembered the corpse into fourteen parts and dispersed them about the land. Isis searched for the pieces and patiently reassembled her husband.
One part, the phallus, was missing, for it had been consumed by a Nile crab. With the assistance of other gods and goddesses Isis embalmed the body, and Osiris was revived into eternal life. He retired to the Underworld. Osiris, chief god of Busiris, had many incarnations and aliases. He was the corn and the vine, born every year and slain every year; he was the Nile which rises and falls, the rising and setting sun, the fertile land about the Nile threatened by the desert, Set.
Shown as a mummy with a man's head crowned with the tall white cap of Upper Egypt, his crossed arms hold the flail and hook of royalty. His skin is shown with a greenish tinge. He is also the bull Onuphis, the ram of Mendes, the Bennu bird. One of his symbols is the djed pillar, a tree-trunk. It was considered to represent his spine and indicated stability; the stability of eternal life.
Pasht
The goddess of Virtue. She is pictured with a cat's head.
Ptah
The artificer, the creator god, according to the priests of Memphis, the ancient capitol of Egypt.
He was supposedly the founder of all creation. God of artisans and artists, designers, builders, architects, masons, metal workers.
Ptah's consort is Sekhmet, goddess of war.
A man wrapped as a mummy with a shaved head and beard. Hanging from the back of his neck is the Menat, a symbol of happiness. Holding a staff that is a combination of three symbols. An ankh, a djed, and a was scepter.This staff represents life, stability, and longevity.
Ptah represents the sun at the time when it begins to rise above the horizon and or right after it has risen. As early as the Second Dynasty, he is regarded as a creator god. The patron of architects, artists and sculptors. It was Ptah who built the boats for the souls of the dead to use in the afterlife. In the Book of the Dead we learn that he was a master architect, and responsible for building the framework of the universe. It was said that Ptah created the great metal plate that was the floor of heaven and the roof of the sky. He also constructed the supports that held it up. Some creation legends say that by speaking the names of all things, Ptah caused them to be.
Qetesh
Goddess of beauty and love.
Ra
God of the sun - sometimes identified or considered synonymous with Atum. The Supreme God. Son of Nut. Pharoahs claimed descent from him. Pharaohs claimed descent from him; represented as lion, cat, or falcon.
His mask - head - was that of a hawk crowned with a solar disk and uraeus.
Father of the first divine couple, Shu and Tefnut. Grandfather of Geb and Nut, whose children were Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nephthys.
Sun god, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. Called the creator and father of all things, he was chief of the cosmic deities. Early Egyptian kings alleged descent from him. Various other Egyptian gods, e.g., AMON, were identified with him. His symbol is the pyramid.
Finding himself alone in the watery mists of Nun, the sun god Ra achieved the remarkable feat of making himself pregnant. He then have birth to air, Shu, and moisture, Tefnut, by spitting them out of his mouth. Shu and Tefnut mated to produce the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut.
These grandchildren followed their parents' incestuous example with such enthusiasm that they engendered four great-grandchildren for Ra. There were two of each sex, which was convenient, for Osiris mated with Isis and Set with Nephythys. They are known collectively as the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, the nine major gods of Ancient Egypt.
Ra had several aspects. As Atum he is a man wearing the double crown of Egypt; as Khepra he is a dung beetle tirelessly rolling its ball to hide in the sand - as tirelessly as the sun is moved across the sky. As Ra he is a falcon-headed man wearing the uraeus, the coiled cobra, and sun disc. Every day Ra travelled from Manu, the hill of sunrise, across the sky in a boat called Manjet.
As he traveled, he aged from boy to old man. At night he assumed a ram's head and transferred to the boat called Mesektet for his night journey through the waterways of the Underworld. The reliability of his sailings, the eternal validity of his season-ticket, were constant facts in Egyptian life. Ra is said to have created man from his tears; a problem to the gods. And sure enough there was trouble.
Men were wicked unruly and treacherous. Eventually Ra had had enough; he ordered Hathor to kill mankind. The goddess went about the work so efficiently and enthusiastically that Ra changed his mind. Aghast at the slaughter, he ordered her to stop. Hathor ignored him, and he had to resort to trickery to cease the carnage. Ra found men so distasteful that he took to sailing, assuming what is now known as a low profilel if that is possible for the sun.
Ra had trouble with his eye, the sun. Not only did it stay out at night, but it actually began to wander off on its own. The god had to send Anhur (some say Thoth) to bring it back. When the sun realized that its place in the sky had been taken by a rival, the moon, there were angry scenes. Ra had to play the diplomat and find places and suitable times for both of them.
There was a close interdependence between Ra and the Egyptian kings. The kings claimed not only relationship with the sun but also identity. Thus a Pharaoh was the son of the sun, and also the incarnation of it. Ra was the sun and the kinf was Ra. This identification was strengthenned by royal titles in which the name Ra predominatedm by the wearing of the golden cobra or uraeus, and by the pratice of incest in the royal family.
All this ensured stability for the king and for the priesthood of Ra. Many lesser, local or foreign gods were solarized by assuming that they were the children of Ra; or by actual identification, as in the case of Amun. Such is the effectiveness of a strong and ruthless priesthood with a vested interest in political power. Ra was king of gods, and god of kings.
Ra had 4 children:
NUT (SKY) - SHU - TEFNUT (together the AIR) - GEB (EARTH)
NUT and GEB created 4 children:
SET- OSIRIS - ISIS - NEPHTHYS
ISIS AND OSIRIS created - HORUS
The most important Egyptian god during most of Egyptian history was Re, the god of the sun. For the sun itself powerfully represented the stability and underlying rationality of the universe in its stable and regular journey through the sky during the day and through the Underworld during the night. Egyptians earlier associated the sun with the god Horus, whose eye was the sun itself (hence the symbolic value of the eye in Egyptian art and hieroglyphics), but later the sun would be associated with Re or Amun-Re
Egyptian religion is a difficult world view to get a handle on. Although Egyptian religion was polytheistic ("many gods"), individual villages and cities would concentrate their spiritual efforts on a single god. When someone became king, they would often elevate the god of their city or village to the supreme god. This is how Re became the dominant god of Egypt. But more than anything else, the Egyptian king or pharoah was associated with the sun; like the sun, the king gave life and stability to the Egyptian kingdom. The king was himself a god who embodied the virtues of all the gods, but he especially was associated with the sun-god.
The Egyptians, then, freely associated gods with the sun. As the pharoahs endowed local temples, the gods of those temples would be partially collapsed with the sun-god; for instance, the crocodile god Sebek eventually became Sebek-Re, that is, both Sebek and Re. Suffice it to say that by the New Kingdom, the worship of the sun was the dominant religion in Egypt no matter what the local village or city god was.
The early Egyptians believed that the sun was born by Nut, the sky-goddess, every morning and died in her arms every evening. If you think about this, it means that every Egyptian saw every day a celestial demonstration of the reality of birth and rebirth, of the underlying sameness and rationality of time and change. In this view of the sun, it became a symbol of the promise of continual life. This view of the course of the sun persisted all throughout Egyptian history. The dominant view of the sun, however, was that it passed through the sky in a boat called "The-Boat-of-a-Million-Years." In the morning it was the Dawn-Boat (manzet-boat) and in the evening it was the Evening-Boat (mesektet-boat). The sun-god rode in the boat with his followers across the sky during the day and through the underworld during the night. While the day journey was uneventful, the Underworld was a dangerous place, full of darkness and monsters. (The Egyptians believed that the sun only gave off heat but not light.)
Ranno
God of gardens.
Renenet (Renenutet)
Goddess of children and nursing mothers.
Sati
Also known as Satis and Satet, is an Egyptian archer goddess who personified the
waterfalls of the river Nile.
Sebek (Sobek)
A crocodile, a mummified crocodile or as a man with a crocodile-head. Sometimes wearing horns like those of Amon-Ra, and the solar disk.
Son of Neith of Sais.
Admired and feared for his ferocity. At the command of Ra, He performed tasks such as catching with a net the four sons of Horus as they emerged from the waters in a lotus bloom. Sometimes identified with Seth when Seth took the form of a crocodile. It is said that in the Osiris legends, Horus takes the form of a crocodile in order to retrieve the parts of Osiris's body that were cast into the Nile by Seth.
Seker
A god of death.
Sekhet
The ennead of Memphis was headed by a triad composed of the father Ptah, the
mother Sekhet, and the son Imhotep, main gods of Egypt during the Memphite
dynasties.
Sekhmet
Goddess of war and battles, consort of Ptah. Hathor took Sekhmut's shape when she made war on men. Sekhmut is usually portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness, sometimes brandishing a knife in an upraised hand.
A sun goddess. She represents the scorching, burning, destructive heat of the sun. She was a fierce goddess of war, the destroyer of the enemies of Ra and Osiris. Her temper was uncontrollable. In the legend of Ra and Hathor, Sekhmet's anger became so great, she would have destroyed all of mankind if Ra had not taken pity on us and made her drunk.
Lion-headed goddess of war and battle of Memphis. Although she was the malignant sun, Sekhmet attracted osteopaths to her cult.
Her name simply means the 'powerful' and is extremely apt in view of the destructive aspect of her character.
Sometimes the linen dress she wears exhibits a rosetta pattern over each nipple, an ancient leonine motif that can be traced to observation of the shoulder-knot hairs on lions. She is daughter of the sun-god Re.
A superbly carved limestone fragment from the valley of Sneferu (Dynasty IV) at Dahshur shows the monarch's head closely juxtaposed to the muzzle of a lioness-deity (presumably Sakhmet) as if to symbolise Sneferu breathing in the divine life-force emanating from the goddess's mouth. This would be in line with a statement in the Pyramid Texts to the effect that Sakhmet conceived the king. Certainly, under Sahure of Dynasty V the goddess received a shrine at Abusir.
A corresponding relationship was made between Sakhmet of Memphis and the goddess Mut, wife of Amun at Thebes, a fusion facilitated by the fact that both goddesses could manifest themselves under leonine forms. Hundreds of statues of Sakhmet were set up in the reign of Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) in the precinct of Mut's temple (known as 'Isheru') south of the Great Temple of Amun of Karnak. Their quantity is attributable to their ritual purpose in receiving offerings, each statue being so honoured on one particular day of the year.
Sakhmet's black granite statues either show her seated holding the sign of life ('ankh') in her hand or standing with a sceptre in the shape of the papyrus, heraldic plant of north Egypt. Inscriptions on these statues emphasise her warlike aspect, e.g., 'smiter of the Nubians'.
The goddess is adopted by the pharaohs as a symbol of their own unvanquishable heroism in battle. She breathes fire against the king's enemies, such as in the Battle of Kadesh when she is visualised on the horses of Ramesses II, her flames scorching the bodies of enemy soldiers. The wrath of the pharaoh towards those who rebel against his rule is compared by a Middle Kingdom treatise on kingship to the rage of Sakhmet.
In a passage intended to flatter the pharaoh in the story of Sinuhe, it is said that the fear of the king pervades foreign countries like Sakhmet in a year of pestilence. Her title 'lady of bright red linen', which on the surface is a reference to the colour of her homeland of Lower Egypt, carries, from her warlike nature, the secondary force of meaning the blood-soaked garments of her enemies. One myth in particular reveals the bloodthirsty side of Sakhmet. it is found in a number of cersions in royal tombs at Thebes. It involves also the goddess Hathor in her vengeful aspect. The two goddesses are both 'Eyes of Re', agents of his punishment.
There was a temple to Sakhmet-Hathor at Kom el-Hisn in the western Delta, and in his temple at Abydos Sety I (Dynasty XIX) is suckled by Hathor whose title is 'mistress of the mansion of Sakhmet'. In this legend the sun-god Re fears that mankind plots against him. The gods urge him to call down retribution on men by sending his avenging Eye down to Egypt as Hathor. As the goddess slays men, leaving them in pools of blood in the deserts where they fled, she transforms into the 'powerful'.
During the night the god Re, trying to avert a total massacre of the human race by the goddess who clearly has become unstoppable in her bloodlust, orders his high priest at Heliopolis to obtain red ochre from Elephantine and grind it with beer mash. Secen thousand jars of red beer are spread over the land of Egypt. in the morning Sakhmet returns to finish her task of destroying the human race, drinks what she assumes is blood and goes away intoxicated, unable to complete her slaughter.
Spells exist that regard plagues as brought by the 'messengers' of Sakhmet. On the assumption that the goddess could ward off pestilence as well as bring it, the Egyptians adopted Sakhmet 'lady of life' as a beneficial force in their attempts to counteract illness. her priesthood seems to have had a prophylactic role in medicine.
Selket
The beautiful scorpion goddess Selket, has her scorpion strike death to the wicked. She also saves the lives of the innocent stung by a scorpion.
Serapis
-means "underworld". An ancient Egyptian god of the lower world, also worshiped
in ancient Greece and Rome. He is shown as having a bull's head. Also an alternate name for Osiris.
Seshat
Goddess of books and writing.
Seth (Set) (See Also: Horus)
Lord of upper Egypt
Son of Geb and Nut. Brother of Isis, Nephthys, and Osiris. The husband of Nephthys or sometimes the husband of Taurt.
Man with the head of an unknown animal. Some times he takes the form of a crocodile. He is represented as a hippopotamus or a black pig in his battles with Horus. Red of hair and eyes, pale of skin, Set is the god of evil, of drought, of destruction, thunder and storm. Set tore himself from his mother's womb in his hurry to be born. Every month Set attacks and devours the moon, the sanctuary of Osiris and the gathering place of the souls of the recently dead.
Early in Egyptian history, Seth is spoken of in terms of reverence as the god of wind and storms. He was even known as the Lord of Upper Egypt. Horus being the Lord of Lower Egypt. It was Seth who stood in the front of the solar barque to defended the sun god Ra from his most dangerous foe, the serpent Apep. At this time, he seems to have had no conflicts with the cults of Isis or Osiris. In fact, he was part of the same family of gods, and married to his twin sister, Nephthys.
However, it appears the followers of Seth may have resisted the followers of Horus and the First Dynasty pharaoh, Menes, when he united Upper and Lower Egypt. This struggle for control of Egypt seems to be reflected in the mythology. At this point, Seth is portrayed as questioning the authority of his brother, Osiris. The Osiris cults took this opportunity to discredit the followers of Seth; he was now considered to be Osiris' evil brother. And the story was told that Seth was evil since birth, because he ripped himself from his mother's womb by tearing through her side. In the Osiris legends, it is Seth who tricks and murders Osiris. He is also the antagonist of Horus. By the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Seth was the embodiment of evil. He was depicted with red eyes and hair. The ancient Egyptians beleived red represented evil.
Setekh
means "hound".
Shai
God of fate.
Shu and Tefnut
They were Ra's children. Shu was the god of air and held up the sky. Tefnut, his
sister and wife, was the goddess of dew and rain. They were the parents of Geb and Nut.
Smotef
Another of the four lesser gods of the dead. His name means shaper, and he has a
jackal's head.
Snouf
Another of the four lesser gods of the dead. His name means bleeder, and he has a hawk's head.
Sottef
He sometimes replaces Smotef as one of the four lesser gods of the dead. His name means cutter or purifier.
Tauret
The great lady.
A pregnant hippopotamus with human breasts, the hind legs of a lioness and the tail of a crocodile.
Daughter of Ra, sometimes considered the mother of Isis and Osiris. Sometimes considered the wife of Seth.
Protectress of pregnant woman and infants. Also protectress of rebirth into the afterlife.
Tefnut
Responsible For: Order, Justice, Time, Heaven and Hell, Weather
Totemic Form: Lion
Tefnut helped support the sky, and each morning received the sun on the eastern horizon. She was one of the "great nine" who sat in judgment of the dead. She was considered the goddess of the second hour of the night of the fourteenth moon.
In art, Tefnut usually appeared as a lion-headed goddess with a solar disk on her head, or as a woman, or as a lion.
In the mythology of Heliopolis, the first event of creation was the emergence of the god Atum from the chaotic wastes of Nun. He gave birth to his son Shu by spitting him out, and to his daughter Tefnut by vomiting her forth. Shu and Tefnut were brought up by Nun and looked after by Atum's Eye. Atum had only one eye, and it was physically separable from him and independent in its wishes. Shu and Tefnut became separated from Atum in the dark wastes of the waters of Nun. Atum sent his Eye to look for them and eventually Shu and Tefnut came back with the Eye. While the Eye had been searching for them, Atum had replaced it with another, much brighter one. The original Eye was enraged with Atum when it returned at finding its placed usurped. So Atum took the first Eye and placed it on his forehead where it could rule the whole world he was about to create. Once, Tefnut left Egypt and went to live in the Nubian desert. Ra was lonely and sent the baboon Thoth to ask her to return to Egypt. She came back and there were great celebrations in all the temples.
Theban Pantheon
Anit, Atumu, Hathor, Horus, Isis, Montu, Nephthys, Nut, Osiris, Shu, Sibu, Sit,
Tafnuit, and Tanu. Sometimes the group includes Khonsu, Maut, Mont, and Mut.
Thoth
The god of learning, he was the lunar god usually depicted with the head of an ibis, though he was worshipped as a baboon in Hermopolis. He acted as secretary to the gods, and was the master over writing, languages, laws, annals, and calculations.
Ua
Goddess of the underworld (as mentioned in the Book of the Dead).
Uadjet
A goddess of the underworld who endows justice and truth. She is pictured as a
cobra (sometimes winged and crowned) or as a snake with the face of a woman. She
is the sister of Nekhebet, and together they are known as the Nebti.
Uat
Goddess of water.
Udjat
There are two versions of the "Udjat eye":
1. It is the Eye of Ra (or of Heru). It refers to the eye of the falcon-headed god Horus after it had been torn out by Seth during one of their never-ending battles over the throne of Egypt. The eye was then healed by Thoth, hence it was considered a symbol of healing or revitalization.
2. According to some other texts, Atum (the creator) gave birth to his son by spitting him out. His daughter he vomited out. Shu (the son) represented the air and Tefnut (the daughter) was a goddess of moisture. After some time Shu and Tefnut became separated from their father and lost in the watery chaos of Nu. Atum, who had only one eye (the Udjat eye), which was removable, removed it and sent it in search of his children. In time they returned with the eye. At this reunion Atum wept tears of joy.
Where these tears hit the ground, men grew (the beginning of the human race).
To see an image of the Udjat amulet go to: The Udjat Amulet
Umm s-Subyan
A death goddess who causes infants to die.
Unen-em-hetep
Goddess protector of the dead.
Urt-hekau
The lion goddess (sometimes the lion god) who is the protective power in the Eye of
Horus.
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