Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses The ancient Egyptians worshiped a whole bunch of gods, over 2000 of them. Their gods were very unique. For example, the eye of Ra was considered a separate being from Ra, the Sun God, even though it was his eye.

Gods and Goddesses In the ancient world around the Mediterranean, most civilizations had gods that looked like people, at least sort of like people. This was not true in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptian gods had animal heads or green bodies or something that set them apart from people.

Gods and Goddesses In the ancient world around the Mediterranean, most civilizations built many temples to honor their gods. But each temple honored only one god. This was not true in ancient Egypt. There were many cities built along the Nile River.

Gods and Goddesses These cities built many temples. Each temple was used for a variety of purposes including store rooms, guest rooms, school rooms, and more. Each Egyptian temple was also used to honor many gods. The statues inside a temple were called temple gods. What you did was pray to one or more temple gods. The temple god would get the word to the god you wanted to reach.

Ra The sun god Ra was worshipped in many forms, including an old king, a falcon, a scarab beetle and a ram. He was believed to have come into being as a child at the beginning of creation, rising out of a lotus (waterlily). Ra was considered to be the father of the kings of Egypt. He was involved in mortuary rituals and in the daily crossing of the sun in the heaven.

Maat The goddess of law, order, and truth. She made sure the sun rose each day at the appointed place and at the appointed time with absolute reliability. Her symbol is a feather.

Osiris Osiris began as a fertility god but in later eras became the judge of the dead. He judged and sentenced souls in his realm in the West. He was the lord of Duat, the Underworld, and personified dead kings and other deceased. He was normally depicted as a man in mummy wrappings, wearing a plumed crown.

Isis Isis, a perfect wife and mother, was the sister and wife of Osiris as well as the mother of Horus. She was one of the longest-lived deities of Egypt, surviving into Roman times. She was perhaps the most traveled as well, for she became a popular goddess in Italy, worshipped by the Romans, who often adopted and brought home gods and goddesses of other cultures. She was shown as a woman with a throne headdress. A protector of the living and the dead, she was especially revered for her magical powers.

Horus The sky god, whose eyes were the sun and moon. Known as the falcon god, sky deity and the living ruler, he was eventually incorporated into the Isis-Osiris myths to connect the ruler of Egypt with the idea of rebirth. Worshipped originally in Upper and Lower Egypt, he became the first state god of Egypt, whose spirit entered the king. This strengthened the power of the royal families.

Thoth The God of scribes and knowledge, and keeper of all sacred and magic knowledge, Thoth was usually depicted in one of three forms: as an ibis, a man with the head of an ibis, or as a baboon. He assisted the Pharaoh in deciding where his pyramid would be built.

Ptah The creator god who invented the arts, and the local god of Memphis, Ptah was depicted as a man in the form of a mummy, holding the djed. Over time he was merged with Sokar and Osiris to become Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, connected with the bull of Apis.

Hathor Known as a patroness of pleasure and music, Hathor was represented as a woman wearing the sun disk and cow horns, or as a cow holding the sistrum. Called the “Golden One,” it was she who raised the sun up to heaven on her horns. A favorite in Egypt for centuries, she was goddess of love, beauty, and children, goddess of the sacred sycamore, and an important sky goddess honored at Dendera, Thebes, Memphis, Abu, Simbel and other important sites.

Anubis God of cemeteries and embalming, and guardian of the land of the dead, he was usually represented in one of two forms: as a crouching black jackal or as a priest wearing a mask of a jackal. The early Egyptians who buried their dead in shallow graves had probably seen desert jackals feed on the bodies. In order to protect the corpses, they adopted the jackal as god and protector.

Hapi The personification of the Nile, honoring the river’s inundations and fertile deposits on the fields of Egypt, Hapi was normally depicted as a fat man holding the symbols of abundance. In some reliefs he was depicted as two men, in a mirror image.

Sobek Particularly worshipped at the Faiyum, where crocodiles abounded, he was normally represented by the crocodile or as a man wearing a crocodile’s head. Sobek was associated in legends with Egypt’s first king, Aha.

Wadjet Shown as a woman with a cobra head or as a cobra about to strike at the nation’s enemies, Wadjet was always viewed as a protectress of Egypt. She was patroness of Lower Egypt, involved in the coronation rituals, and part of the Osirian myths.

Bastet A goddess with an ancient cult center at Bubastis in the Delta, she was depicted as a cat-headed woman or as a lioness. She was the goddess of life and fertility, love and joy. She was at times a war goddess and at other times the protector of pregnant women.

Nekhbet Depicted as a vulture or as a woman wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, she was the patroness of Upper Egypt. She was involved in the coronation rituals.

Mut Given as a wife of Amon at Thebes, she was depicted as a woman with a vulture head-dress or crowns, or as a lion- headed woman. She was a war goddess whose great temple at Thebes demonstrated her position of honor in Egypt.

Khons A moon god usually depicted as a mummified youth with a lock of hair on his head and sometimes with the crescent of the moon, Khons could be depicted with a falcon’s head as well. He was associated with both Amon and Mut at Thebes.

Bes Always shown as a hideous dwarf or pygmy, Bes had a wide, snub-nosed face with a shaggy beard and huge eyes under shaggy eyebrows. His protruding tongue and ears that stuck out from his head provoked laughter and were meant to frighten off evil spirits. He was one of the most popular gods, for he was the bearer of happiness to homes, a bearer of peace to the dead, and protector of the family, of women in childbirth, and their newborn babies. He was married to Taurt.

Taurt Depicted as a female Hippopotamus, with the paws of a lion and the tail of a crocodile, she was the protector of women in childbirth.