Egyptian Gods and Goddesses: A Fascinating Look at Ancient Egyptian Mythology
Ancient Egypt is famous for its pyramids, hieroglyphics, and mysterious artifacts, but its gods and goddesses are equally fascinating. Studying these figures helps us better understand the Egyptians’ beliefs, daily lives, and worldview. And as someone who visited Egypt recently, and has been studying the culture for some time now, few civilizations have sparked my curiosity as much as this one. But what were the beginnings of these deities?
Let’s begin by taking a closer look at where these ancient deities came from and how early Egyptians worshipped them.
The Early References to Deities
The earliest references to these deities date all the way back to 3100 BCE in the form of prehistorical religious beliefs, as shown in artworks of the time period. The theories surrounding them were that the gods and goddesses were a symbol or a marker of a town or region. These deities are believed to bring them luck and counsel in many things, even ward off evil. The gods and goddesses are celebrated, thanked, and honored, and every other word we can use to describe how important their presence was to the everyday life of Egyptians at that time.
Egyptians believed these gods and goddesses were celestial beings that could unlock the universe’s secrets. This was why they were honored through physical forms that would be found all over Egypt. Many of them made worshipping these gods and goddesses their lives, as they believed these deities played a significant part in their journey through life and death.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the major Egyptian gods and goddesses who held significant sway over the lives of ancient Egyptians. Each deity had its own unique characteristics, myths, and symbols, reflecting a specific aspect of life or nature that they were believed to govern. From Ra, the sun god who was revered as the king of all gods, to Isis, the goddess of motherhood and fertility, each one played a pivotal role in shaping the religious landscape of ancient Egypt.
The Major Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, there have been around over a thousand gods and goddesses. All of these gods and goddesses were held to the highest regard, and everything about them served as literal truth.
Most of these deities were assigned a specific characteristic or had a sweeping association with many. Such associations were either tangible or intangible, but are nevertheless believed to be important. The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt also tended to rise or fall in importance over time as the civilization further developed.
Here are some of the most important Egyptian gods and goddesses to know.
Amon
The god Amon was originally worshipped in the city of Thebes in southern Egypt. At the time, Amon was associated as the god of the air, and the name likely meant the “Hidden One.” Amon was usually depicted as a man wearing a crown that had two vertical plumes. He is represented by the ram and the goose.
Following the rebellion by the rulers of Thebes against a dynasty of foreign rulers, the Hyksos, they restored native Egyptian rule. Amon is often credited for their victory. In a form where he is merged with the sun god Ra, Amon became the most powerful god in Egypt. He would retain that position for most of the New Kingdom from 1539 to 1292 BCE.
Today, one of the most visited monuments in Egypt is the temple complex devoted to Amon-Ra at Karnak.
Anubis
Perhaps one of the most popular Egyptian gods, Anubis, is also known for funerary practices and the care of the dead. Anubis is usually depicted as a jackal or a man with the head of a jackal. The Egyptians’ association of a jackal with death and funerals was likely because Egyptians would see jackals scavenging around cemeteries.
During the Old Kingdom, which was from 2575 to 2130 BCE, before Osiris became the god of the underworld, Anubis was considered the main god of the dead. Anubis’s role was evident in such descriptions as “He Who Is Upon His Mountain” also known as the necropolis, or “Lord of the Sacred Land,” “Foremost of the Westerners,” and “He Who Is in the Place of Embalming.” Anubis was also credited with inventing embalming.
According to the Osiris myth, Anubis was the one who embalmed and wrapped Osiris’ body. Therefore, Anubis became the patron god of embalmers. Anubis was also associated with the Greek god Hermes.
Bastet
The goddess Bastet was often associated with a cat. In her earliest forms, Bastet was often depicted as a woman with the head of a lion or a wild cat. In the first millennium BCE, Bastet was depicted as a domestic cat. Bastet was also depicted as a regal-looking seated cat in the later periods, sometimes wearing rings in her ears or nose.
During the Ptolemaic period, Bastet was associated with the Greek goddess Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the moon.
Geb
Geb was the Egyptian god of the earth. He, along with his sister Nut, was part of the second generation of the Ennead, or the group of nine gods in Heliopolis. Geb was usually shown in Egyptian art as lying at the feet of the air god Shu, with Nut, who was the goddess of the sky, above them.
He was usually depicted as a man without any distinct characteristics. However, Geb was sometimes represented with a goose on top of his head, which is the hieroglyph of his name. Geb was the third divine ruler among the gods, and the pharaohs claimed to be descended from him. Thus, the royal throne in Egypt was called “the throne of Geb.”
Hathor
The Egyptian goddess Hathor embodied motherhood and fertility. Hathor was also a goddess of music, dancing, and drunkenness. She was often depicted as a cow or as a woman with the head of a cow or a woman with cow’s ears. It’s believed that Hathor also protected women in childbirth.
Hathor is also known as “the lady of the west,” and was deemed a significant figure in funerals. This is because tombs were generally built on the west bank of the Nile River.
In some traditions, Hathor would welcome the setting sun every night. Thus, living people hoped to be welcomed into the afterlife in the same manner. In her previous incarnation, she was known as Sekhmet, the destroyer.
Horus
Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis and is depicted as a falcon or as a man with a falcon’s head. He was associated with war and hunting and was also the embodiment of divine kingship. In some eras of ancient Egypt, the reigning king was thought to be a physical manifestation of Horus.
In the myth of Osiris, Horus was magically conceived by him and Isis after he was killed by Seth. Horus was then raised to avenge his father’s murder. According to one tradition, Horus lost his left eye while fighting Seth, but was healed by Thoth. Horus’s right and left eyes were associated with the sun and the moon, the loss and restoration of his eye was a mythical explanation for the phases of the moon.
Isis
Compared to many Egyptian gods and goddesses, how Isis came to be isn’t clear. Isis isn’t associated with a specific town. She isn’t mentioned in some of the earliest Egyptian literature, either. Despite her ambiguous origins, Isis became one of the most revered goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon.
She has strong connections to Egyptian kingship and is often depicted as a beautiful woman with a sheath dress and the hieroglyphic sign of the throne or a solar disk with cow horns on her head. The animals that represented Isis were a scorpion, a bird, or a cow.
Isis is the wife of Osiris, having reassembled him when he was murdered by Seth, according to the myth. She also took charge of raising her son Horus. Isis is known to embody the traditional Egyptian ideals of a wife and mother. With Osiris being the god of the underworld, Isis is also associated with rituals concerning the dead. Isis was a divine mourner, while her maternal care is often depicted as extending to the dead in the underworld.
A magical healer, Isis also cured the sick and brought the deceased back to life.
She was also one of the last ancient Egyptian deities to still be worshipped. During the Greco-Roman period, Isis was associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and her cult of followers extended to the Far West, like Great Britain, and the Far East, like Afghanistan. Pagans still worship Isis to this day.
It is believed that the depictions of Isis with Horus influenced Christianity’s imagery of Mary with the infant Jesus.
Nephthys
Nephthys was believed to be the wife of Seth, and the second sister of Osiris. She was apparently created in opposition to Isis in this regard. Nephthys is also part of the group of gods and goddesses known as the Ennead, and was described as the “Goddess of Mourning and Protection.”
According to the myth, Nephthys mourned with Isis over Osiris’ death. As her name means “mistress of the castle,” Nephthys is believed to be the embodiment of Osiris’ residence.
Nut
Nut was the Egyptian goddess of the sky, the vault of the heavens. She was often depicted as a woman arching over her brother Geb. Nut was often represented as a cow, as this was believed to be the form she took to carry Ra on her back to the sky. Being the goddess of the sky, Nut was also believed to swallow the sun in the evening and give birth to it again in the morning.
On five special days before the New Year, Nut gave birth to the gods Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys. Except for Horus, the rest of them were usually referred to as the “children of Nut.”
Osiris
Osiris is one of Egypt’s most important gods. He was the god of the underworld but also had dominion over death, resurrection, and the cycle of floods in the Nile River. Much like his sister and wife, Isis, Osiris’ origins were also somewhat obscure. Osiris was believed to be a local god of Busiris in Lower Egypt and possibly embodied chthonic or underworld fertility.
It was around 2400 BCE that Osiris was known to be the god of fertility, the embodiment of the deceased, and a resurrected king. From 2000 BCE onward, it was believed that every man, not just royalty, would be associated with Osiris at death. But this association with Osiris did not mean resurrection. Rather, it represented the renewal of life in the next world and through their descendants on Earth.
In popular mythology, Osiris was once a king of Egypt who was murdered and dismembered by his brother Seth. He was reassembled by his wife Isis, and they were able to conceive a son, whom he named Horus. This was due to the Egyptian concept of divine kingship, with the ruler becoming Osiris and the deceased king’s son becoming Horus, making them father and son.
Osiris was represented as a mummified king with his face and bare hands exposed. Through the ideas associated with Osiris, his cult spread throughout Egypt, and often merged with local fertility and underworld cults.
Ptah
Ptah is one of the gods that are worshipped at Memphis. The two other members of the triad Ptah is part of include his wife Sekhmet and the god Nefertem. Nefertem may have been Ptah’s and Sekhmet’s son.
Originally, Ptah is believed to have been associated with builders and craftsmen. The 4th dynasty architect Imhotep, for one, became a deity after his death as a son of Ptah. According to scholars, the Greek word Aiguptos – which is the source of the name Egypt – likely started as a corruption of Hwt-Ka-Ptah, which is the name of one of the god’s shrines.
Ra
Ra, whose name is also spelled as Re, is one of several Egyptian gods associated with the sun. He is usually depicted as a human with the head of a hawk. It was believed that Ra sailed across the sky in a boat daily and then passed through the underworld every night. At that time, Ra would have to defeat the snake god Apopis to rise again.
Ra’s cult was based in Heliopolis, which is now a suburb of Cairo. Over time, Ra was merged with other sun gods, most especially Amon.
Seth
Set (or Set) is the Egyptian god of chaos, violence, deserts, and storms, and is also the brother of Osiris. In the myth, Seth kills Osiris, but in other versions of the story, Seth tricks him into lying in a coffin and seals it closed. Set is often depicted as either an animal or a human with the head of an animal. However, Egyptologists are still unsure of which animal Seth is supposed to be depicted by.
The animal in question usually has a long snout and long ears that are squared at the tips. In his full animal form, Seth has a thin body similar to a dog’s with a straight tail that has a tuft at the end. According to many scholars, no such animal exists, and Seth’s animal is some kind of mythical amalgamation.
Thoth
Thoth was the Egyptian god of writing and wisdom. He was usually depicted as a baboon, or a sacred ibis, or as a man with the head of an ibis. Thoth was believed to have invented language and the hieroglyphic script and served as as a scribe and adviser to the gods. The embodiment of wisdom, Thoth was said to possess knowledge of magic and secrets that are not available to other gods and goddesses.
Thoth is featured in depictions of scenes showing the judgment the deceased faces before going into the afterlife. He is often shown as weighing the hearts of the deceased and reporting the result to Osiris.
Egyptian Mythology and the Gods and Goddesses
Much like the mythologies of other countries and their religions, Egyptians had their own versions of important events in human history. These stories or myths, mainly about the gods, were often seen written on the temples in Luxor or passed down from generation to generation.
These myths highlighted the complexity of the gods and goddesses and their relationships.
The Creation Myth
The version of creation in ancient Egypt was that there was nothing but Nun. Nun was the ocean of chaos that had the seeds of what else was to come. In the midst of the waters, the sun god was reposed and later emerged as Ra, the sun god, who gave birth to Shu and Tefnut.
Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, produced Geb and Nut, the god of the earth and the goddess of the sky. This resulted in the creation of the physical universe. Ra’s tears created man and after some time, the race of men plotted against him. Outraged, Ra called for a council of the gods and they decided that mankind must be destroyed.
Ra sent the goddess Hathor to wipe out humankind, and she killed tens of thousands until only a small number remained. Ra eventually spared the last remaining men, but grew tired of the world and returned to the heavens. Shu was left to reign in his place, establishing the present world.
The Ennead
The Ennead is a celestial group made up of gods and goddesses who were worshipped in Heliopolis. The group is made up of Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. All of them were believed to be related through blood and marriage and they played a significant part in the creation of the world. The Ennead was also associated with other aspects of Egyptian culture, including kingship, cosmology, and morality.
The Osiris Myth
In the Osiris myth, it all started with Ra, who made a wife, Nut, who was also the goddess of the sky. Osiris was one of Ra’s grandchildren and was considered his favorite grandchild. Ra made Osiris the first Pharaoh in Egypt, and he married Isis.
However, Osiris’s brother Seth, the god of chaos, was jealous of him. In a fit of rage, Seth killed Osiris and dismembered him. Seth threw his dismembered brother into the Nile River afterward. When Isis heard of what Seth had done, she gathered the pieces of her husband and brought them to Anubis. Anubis helped Isis put her husband back together but did not possess the power to make him human again.
Ra was outraged by Seth killing Osiris and thus made his grandson the god of the dead. Osiris and Isis’s son, Horus, sought to avenge his father’s death and killed Seth.
Having been a king, Osiris was honored by the pharaohs by carrying a crook and a flail. The crook would become the sign of rulers. This myth is also associated with why the Nile River rises every year. According to this story, once a year from the time of Osiris’ death, Isis travels to the Nile, crying as she remembers and dreams about him. Her tears caused the Nile River to rise.
The Book of the Dead
In ancient Egypt, the Book of the Dead was a collection of spells that allowed the deceased’s soul to navigate the afterlife. Western scholars gave the book its title, but the actual title translates to The Book of Coming Forth by Day or Spells for Going Forth by Day, or The Egyptian Book of Life.
The book’s purpose was to assure that a person will not only survive physical death but the promise of an afterlife. Its spells gave assurance through details of what one can expect after death and what one should know about when they reach the afterlife.
The Worship of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Many at the time when these gods and goddesses were widely worshipped, made their devotion to them their entire lives. Part of their spiritual awareness was the magic represented by these gods and goddesses, also called “Heka.” This referred to a divine power that held everything together in all life.
Over time, especially during the unification of Egypt and the formation of the Egyptian religion, the concept of kingship became its central focus. At this point, pharaohs took control of the connection between the rulers and the gods.
As said earlier, the gods and goddesses were seen as powerful beings that could change the course of peoples’ lives and influence natural events. The Egyptians interacted with these deities through shrines and rituals to give thanks and to receive counsel, protection, or blessings.
Temples and shrines
One of the ways Egyptians honored these gods and goddesses was through the temples. Most of the deities the Egyptians worshipped were local gods and were honored only by their respective regions and families. The more prominent gods and goddesses became the subjects of Egyptian stories, and their depictions were included on extravagant monuments.
Many pharaohs built large temples, which were more like complexes, to worship their gods. These complexes included large statues, gardens, memorials, as well as a place of worship. There would be towns that have their own temples built to honor their local gods and goddesses. Local village gods were often worshipped at small shrines or in private offering tables in homes.
Priests and priestesses
In ancient Egypt, priests and priestesses served the gods, not the people. Their primary role was to tend to the daily needs of the gods. They recited hymns and prayers for the souls of the deceased and performed rituals that ensured the continued goodwill of the gods to the people.
A god or goddess was believed to live in the statue in the innermost part of the temple. This can only be accessed by the high priest. It was the practice until the Middle Kingdom from 2040 to 1782 BCE, when the position of God’s Wife of Amun was elevated. The female priestess served in the role of God’s Wife of Amun and was the counterpart of the high priest in helping care for the statue in the temple of Karnak.
Festivals and rituals
Another way Egyptians worshipped their gods and goddesses was through holding celebrations and performing rituals. They believed these festivals allowed them to experience the god or goddess that they worshiped on a more intimate level. The celebrations have also helped maintain the belief structure of the culture.
Conclusion
Overall, gods and goddesses played a central role in ancient Egyptian culture. Egyptians saw these deities as influential beings whose guidance affected daily life, and they regularly sought their blessings, protection, and advice. People deeply respected and honored these gods, believing they held powerful secrets about life, death, and the universe.
Throughout history, Egyptian gods and goddesses have captured our imagination. Their stories have inspired countless books, movies, and other media, leaving vivid impressions that continue to fascinate and intrigue us today. Stay tuned for more articles to come from our Egyptian series! We hope you love geeking out over this as much as we do!
(Content reviewed by experts in Egyptian history and mythology to ensure accuracy and authoritativeness.)