Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

For all ancient people, mystery filled the world. In the world around them, much of what they experienced was unknowable and frightening. GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT reflected aspects of the natural and “supernatural” environment of the Egyptians and helped them understand its many aspects.

Nut, Shu and Geb 

Nut was the mother of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephythys, and Nut is generally seen in human form; the sky symbolises her elongated body. As her body extends over the world, each limb reflects a cardinal point. Each evening, Nut swallowed the setting sun (Ra) and gave birth to him every morning. On the walls of the tombs, the inner lid of the coffins, and the ceilings of the temple, she is also portrayed.

Shu was Tefnut’s husband and Nut and Geb’s father. The first gods created by Atum were him and his wife. Shu was the god of sunlight and air, or, more specifically, of dry air, and his wife represented humidity. He was usually portrayed in the form of a plume, which is also the hieroglyph for his name, as a man wearing a headdress.

Geb was Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephythys’ father, and was a god without a cult. He was associated with fertility as an earth god and it was thought that earthquakes were Geb’s laughter. He is described as imprisoning the buried dead inside his body in the Pyramid Texts.

Amun

Also Known as Amen, Amun, Ammon, Amun was the supreme Theban god whose influence expanded in the Middle and New Kingdoms as the city of Thebes grew from an unimportant village in the Old Kingdom to a wealthy metropolis. He grew to be the patron of the pharaohs of the Theban and was finally merged with the sun god, Ra, who had been the ruling deity of the Old Kingdom, Amun-Ra, King of the Gods of Ancient Egypt and ruler of the Great Ennead. GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

The name of Amun means “Hidden One, Mysterious of Form,” and although he is most frequently portrayed as a human being wearing a double plumed crown, he is sometimes portrayed as a ram or a goose. The assumption is that he will never disclose his real identity.

Amun’s chief temple was Karnak, but his fame extended well beyond the borders of Egypt. He spread his cult to Ethiopia, Nubia, Libya, and much of Palestine. He was thought by the Greeks to be an Egyptian manifestation of their Zeus god. Even Alexander the Great considered it worthwhile to consult Amun’s oracle.

Illustration of a Egyptian God Amun ,Amon, Amen

Anubis

The Dead Protector
As a jackal-headed man, or as a jackal, Anubis is shown. Seth was his father and Nephythys was his mother. Cynopolis, now referredas El Kes, was his cult centre. He was closely linked to mummification and to being the protector of the dead. It was Anubis who led the deceased to the judgement hall.

Bastet

Bastet is depicted as a woman or simply as a cat with a cat’s head. Originally a vengeful lioness deity, she evolved into a pleasure goddess.
The centre of her cult was in the western delta town of Bubastis. At her temple, many cats lived and were mummified when they died. In the area, an immense cemetery of mummified cats has been found.

Thoth

Thoth was the god of writing and intelligence, and was represented as a man with an ibis ‘head holding the pen and palette of a scribe, or as a baboon. He was identified with Hermes by the Greeks and attributed the invention of all sciences as well as the invention of writing to him. He is also depicted making calculations or writing.

From most of the other gods, Thoth stands apart. He was as ancient as the oldest of the gods, also serving as an intermediary between the gods. He was aligned with the moon and is often seen wearing a crescent headdress and a moon disc. On the day of their judgement, one of his most important tasks was documenting the deeds of the deceased, and this is also found in the Book of the Dead.

Seth

Set, Setekh, Suty and Sutekhh are also known as
Seth was Geb and Nut’s uncle, and Osiris’ evil brother. He was the god of darkness, disorder, and uncertainty, and is depicted by the Greeks, who identified him with the god Typhon, as a man with an unknown animal head, often described as Typhonian. Often he is described as being a hippopotamus, a goat, or a donkey.

Eventually, Horus overcame Seth, but their fight was thought to be an everlasting struggle between good and evil. While Seth failed to retain Egypt’s throne, he continued to be Ra’s companion. At times, in his solar boat, he followed Ra through the atmosphere, triggering storms and bad weather.

Some venerated Seth, and his main centre of worship was in Naqada. Some kings will compare themselves to one another but for the most part the people loathed him and his defeat by Horus was regularly celebrated.

Sobek

Sobek was a crocodile deity, portrayed on an altar as a crocodile or as a man wearing a headdress with a crocodile head in the shape of a sun-disk with upright feathers and horns. At Medinet el Fayum and at the temple of Kom Ombo, which he shared with Horus and which still exists today, Sobek’s principal cult centres were. There was a lake of holy crocodiles at Kom Ombo and it is still possible to see original mummified crocodiles at the temple.

Ra

As a man with the head of a hawk, crowned with a solar disc and a sacred snake, the Supreme Sun God was portrayed. Nevertheless, he is portrayed as ram-headed in the underworld in which he passes each night.

Ra flew through the sky in the shape of the sun every day, sailing in his solar boat, and every night he travelled through the underworld, defeating the allies of chaos. Every morning, he was reborn in the form of the sunrise. His power was so powerful on the other gods that many of their personalities were subsumed by him. So Amun became Amun-Ra, Montu became Montu-Ra and Ra-Horakhty became Horus.

The Egyptian kings claimed to be descended from Ra, and called themselves “The Son of Ra.” During the time of the Old Kingdom, when Sun Temples were constructed in his honour, his cult was very powerful. The base of his cult was in Heliopolis, which is now occupied by the northern suburbs of Cairo.

Ptah

Ptah was the god of creation, said to have created the universe out of his heart’s thoughts and his words. With his hands protruding from the wrappings and holding a staff, he was portrayed as a mummy. He had shaven his head, and he was wearing a scull hat. Ptah was synonymous with craftsmen, and the High Priest retained the title of Great Chief of Craftsmen at his Temple in Memphis.

Osiris

Osiris was originally a vegetation god linked with the growth of crops. He was the mythological first king of Egypt and one of the most important of the gods. It was thought that he brought civilization to the race of mankind. He was murdered by his brother Seth, brought back to life by his wife Isis, and went on to become the ruler of the underworld and judge of the dead.

Usually he is represented as a mummy carrying the crook and the flail of the kingship. He wears the white crown of Upper Egypt on his head, flanked by two feathered plumes. He is seen with the horns of a ram often. His skin is portrayed as blue, the colour of the dead; the colour of the fertile earth is black; or the resurrection is represented by green.

The head of Osiris was thought to have been buried at his main cult centre, Abydos. There was a procession every year during his festival and a reenactment of his storey in the form of a mystery play.

Isis

Isis, a very significant figure in the ancient world, was Osiris’ wife and Horus’s mother. She was identified with funeral rites and the first mummy from the dismembered parts of Osiris was said to have been made. She was also the giver of life, a healer and defender of kings, as the enchantress who resurrected Osiris and gave Horus birth.

Isis is portrayed with a throne on her head and the baby Horus is also seen breastfeeding. She was known as “Mother of God in this manifestation.” She represented the ideal wife and mother to the Egyptians; loving, dedicated, and caring.

Her most famous temple is in Philae, although her cult spread throughout the Mediterranean world and reached as far as northern Europe during the Roman era. In London, there was also a temple dedicated to her.

Horus

Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris, and the enemy of Seth, the evil God. He is represented as a hawk or as a man with a hawk’s head. He is often seen as a youth with a side lock, sitting on the lap of his mother. He was the god of the sky and the kings’ divine protector.

Throughout Egypt, Horus was worshipped and was especially associated with Edfu, the site of Mesen’s ancient city, where his temple can still be seen.
His battles against his uncle Seth, who murdered his father and usurped the throne, have many tales to tell. Horus finally defeated Seth and became Egypt’s king.

Hathor

Hathor was Ra’s daughter and the goddess-patron of women, love, beauty, pleasure, and music. She is portrayed in three forms; as a cow, as a woman with a cow’s ears, and as a woman wearing a cow’s horn headdress. She holds the solar disc between her horns in this last manifestation. She was Horus’ consort, and her name simply means “Horus’s house.” She had many temples the most famous of which is at Dendara.

Hathor had a dark hand. Ra was thought to have sent her for his wickedness to torment the human race, but Hathor wreaked such bloody havoc on earth that Ra was terrified and determined to get her back. By brewing large amounts of beer mixed with mandrake and the blood of the slain, he fooled her. It was thirsty labour to murder humanity.

Khepre

Khepre was a creator god depicted as a scarab beetle or as a man with a scarab for a head, also known as Khepri, Khepra, Khepera. The Egyptians observed young scarab beetles spontaneously emerging from balls of dung and associated them with the creation process. Khepre was one of the first self-created gods, and his name means “the one who came into being,”Atum took his form as he rose in the myth of creation out of the chaotic waters of the Nun. Khepre was thought to have rolled the sun across the sky in the same way that a dung beetle rolls dung balls across the ground.

The Gods of ancient Egypt were worshipped around 740 deities. A large number of the Egyptian godswere animals that represented the presence of a higher power in their life. For instance God Horus (Eagle) & Anubis (Jackal). Our qualified Egyptologists will be accopanying you to explain all the religious symbols and you will be learning about and the Gods and Goddesses of ancient Egypt, that shall be a good introduction to your Egypt tours, Egypt Travel Packages, Egypt Luxury tours, Egypt Day Tours, Cairo Day Tours and Cairo day tours from airport.