 Egyptian gods guide the human race to paradise. They had human forms but were much more powerful.  Egyptians belief system was part totemism, polytheism, and part ancestor worship.  Many of their gods lived invisibly in the mortal world while acting through sacred things.  In Egypt not everyone believed in or worshipped the same gods.  Local areas, nomes, sometimes had special gods only known by that region.  Each god had 5 names associated with an element, celestial bodies, or a descritve statement about the god.

 Amaunet- female counterpart to Amon  Amon- associated with wind and hidden things; became known as Amon-Re at Thebes  Re- sun god; becomes a national god and combined with Amon in the 5 th Dynasty  Nut- mother of sun, moon heavenly bodies  Min- god of fertility joined together with Amon and Horus  Horus- sky-god; 1 of the earliest royal gods; the great sphinx is considered to be of him  Isis- mother of Horus, sister and companion of Osiris There are many other gods also worshiped in Egypt.

 Priests were directly under the king in religious matters because their duty was to take care of the images of the gods.  They prepared the statues or images for religious festivals.  Later on they were considered the voices of the oracles, and oracles were thought to be the peak decision of the gods.  Priests were thought to be what one would consider a wizard. They were hardly ever by people, excluding the king, unless reading texts of performing rituals.

 In pre-dynastic times kings were thought to be gods. By the 3 rd Dynasty kinfgs supposedly became transformed into gods.  Future kings had 2 aspects to themselves: 1. his physical being 2. his “ka”/ spiritual counterpart  1 st Dynasty- the king Menes united upper and lower Egypt. At the capital Memphis he dedicated a temple to the god Ptah. All beliefs at that time were altered to coordinate this and almost all myths about gods came from this.

“Egyptian Mythology.” Egypt: Gods of Ancient Egypt Main Menu (6 Oct. 2005). (6