Religion: the Gods
Religion: the Gods
 Amon/Ra |
In origin one of the eight primordial divinities worshipped
in Ermopoli. He then becomes the supreme god. The solar divinity Amon-Ra. The
city Tebe is the main centre of his cult. His name means "the mysterious one",
together whit his wife Muth and his son Khons forms the threesome in
Tebe. His
animal is the ram, as it can be seen by the cerimonial path of his main temple
in Karnak.
Ra's story |
Anubi |
The jackal god in Cinopolis, he assists
Horus and thot in
the weighing of the dead person's heart, keeper of secrets. He's
Osiris's and
Nefthi's illegittimate son.
Anubi's story |
Anuket |
Goddess of Sehel island and of the first cataract; she was represented with a strange headgear, maybe of foreign origin. Together with Khnum and Satet she formed the threesome in Elefantina. |
|
Apis was considered the god Ptah's "ba", who lived inside
the temple and was kept by the priests. Only one sacred bull at a time was
warshipped and when the animal died it was embalmed and buried with solemn
ceremony. The Apis, dying, became an Osiris that is the Osiris-Apis, from which
the identification with Serapis. Not all the bulls were sacred. Only the ones
that had a white spot on their head and other characteristics. The Serapeum |
 Apophis |
Name of the snake that in the Duat (afterlife) reign fights against the sun god to oppose to his landing in orient. |
Atum |
Main god in Eliopoli, the creator, then identified with the sun. His sacred animals were the lion and the snake. |
 Bastet |
Goddess of Bubasti. Represented with the head of a
cat,
she's past of a myth that sees her as the last transformation of the cycle: the
eye of the son was furious and transformed in a lione, (Sekhmet) she ascaped to
Nubia; here reached by that, was calmed by the god. More calm, she transformed
into a woman with the head of a cat, of a more peaceful nature. |
Bes |
Protector god of the house and children
Bes' story |
|
Horu's son, with the head of a jackal. Funeral god,
represented on the canpoy rase that held the stomach. He's under Neith's
protection.
Duamutef's story |
 Geb |
God of the earth, Nut's husband and brother. Geb's story |
Hathor |
Hathor was goddess of
Afroditopolis and Dendera. Goddess of love, patron of music and
dance, generally
represented by a cow. Her emblem was the sistro.
Hator's story |
 |
Divinity that represented the Nile. It's not the deified
river, but its spirit, its dinamic essence. It was represented by a man with
heavy breast and a prominent stomach, to symbolize abundance; the divinity
always brought gifts, flowers and plants.
Hapi's story |
|
Horus' son, with the head of a baboom funeral god,
represented on the canopy vases that held the lungs. He's under Nefthi's
protection
Hapy's story |
| Heh | They are million, in partnership to other Hehs represent the presence of the air. |
|
God of Behdat. Hawk god, split in Horus the
great and child Horus. In the mythology god of the sky, of the light and of
goodness. One of the main Egyptian divinities, Horus was Isis's son, goddess of
nature, and Osiris's, god of the underground world; when Osiris was killed by
his world; When Osiris was killed by his evil brother Seth, god of darkness and
of evil, Horus avenged his father's death killing his uncle. Usually he is
represented as a hawk (or whit the head of a hawk), he is also represented as a
child with a finger on his lips (and for this he was considered god of silence
by the Romans). Horus was know by the greek and the Romans with the name
Arpocrate.
Horus' story |
 |
Horus' son, with a human head. Funeral god, represented on the canopy vase that held the liver. He's under Isis's protection. |
| Iusaas | God Atum's wife |
|
She's the great sorceress, the mother and queen goddess.
Osiris is her husband-brother, Horus is her son. The name
Isis means "the
throne".
Isis' story |
 Khepri |
Name that indicates the morning aspect of the sun, generally represented as a scarabs. |
|
God of Tebe associated to the
moon. With
Amon and Muth he
formed the threesome in Tebe.
Khons's story |
|
Goat god of Hypselis, Esna and Elefantina, inventor of men (modelled on the potter's lathe) and as "Master of the waterfall", he regulate the floods of the Nile. |
|
|
Symbol of truth and justice. Figure of the judging ceremony of the dead person. Goddess of the "the rule" which bad to be followed by men, kings and gods. |
|
God of the earth and of fecundity, Horus's appellative. He was the local god in Coptos and in the desert area between the Nile and the read sea, as also in Panopolis. He was always represented as an itifallic god. |
Montu |
Warrior god, patron of war and its arts. |
| Muth | Goddess of a place near Karnak, where there is her temple. She's represented as a woman or as a vulture.The queens' headgears, that often have wings and the head of a vulture, are untitled to the goddess, Amon's wife. |
Nefertum |
God of the Menfi region. He was Ptah's and Sekhmet's son. |
| Nefthi | Goddess in Diospolis Parra. Geb's and Nut's daughter, Osiris's, Isis's, and Seth's sister, also bride of the latter (though not in love) and Anubi's mother. |
|
Goddess in Sais. Her cult, of tribal origin, continues in history, when it becomes the funeral divinity know with the name Mahust. Goddess creator of was, later goddess of hunting. In Esna she was Khnum's mate. |
|
Vulture goddess in El Kab. She was associated to royalty. |
 Nun |
Primordial liquid mass from which the god-son Atum-ra emersed. Besides in the myths of creation he appears in the one of the destruction of human race as the divinity who suggested to Ra to send his own eye against the rebels. |
 Nut |
Goddess of the sky, Geb's sister and bride, Osiris's, Isis's, Seth's and Nefthi's mother. |
Osiris |
God in Busiride. He's the god-king in Egypt,
Isis's
husband-brother and Horus's father. After death he reign in the other world, where besides being the sovereign, he is the supreme judge. As god of vegetation he is often represented as a mummy from which plants grow.
Osiris's story |
Ptah |
God in Menfi and creator of the universe. His existance should be precedent to Atum-Ra's one. Patron of the sculptors and of the shapers, his sacred animal was the bull Apis. |
| Quebhsenuf | Horus's son, with the head of a falcon. Funeral god, represented on the canopy vases that kept the intestine. He is under Selket's protection. |
Renenutet |
She was the divinity in the FAyyum region worshipped as the "lady of the Fertile hard" and "Lady of the barns" to which Amenemhat III dedicated a temple in Medinat Ma'adi. The goddess of fertility and of harvest was represented as a cobra or as a woman with the head of a cobra and often she was represented with a child in her arms, the god of barley, Nepri. |
 |
She belongs to the group of sorceress goddesses associated to Isis. Scorpion goddess, she was represented as a scorpion with the head of a woman or as a woman with the head of a woman or as a woman with a scorpion on her head. According to the local legends she was Harakhte's mother (the sun at the horizon) and Horus's bride. |
|
Goddess in Elefantina and Khnum's bride. Satet's story |
Sekmet
|
Goddess in Rehesu, she was the goddess of health and of evil of the same time, matron of war and medecine. She was represented as a lioness and believed to be Ptat's bride. She was bound to Bastet, the cat goddess, in whom it was believed she was transformed. |
|
Goddess od destinity. |
Seth |
God in Ombos, Nefthi's brother and husband. God of drought and bad time, destructive power, symbol of evil. According to the legend he killed his brother Osiris. He is represented as an indefinable animal, maybe because today it's extinct, halfway between a donkey and a dog. |
Shu
|
God of dry air, Atum-ra's son and Tefnut's twin. He generates Geb and Nut. |
| Croccodile god in Fayyum and in Kom Ombo, connected to the waters and to fertility. LAter creator god. | |
|
God of the menfita necropolis, patron of metallurgy and of smiths. |
Tefnut |
Goddess in Oxyrhynchos. Goddess of damp air, Atum-ra's daughter and Shu's twin and bride. |
Thot |
God in Hermopolis. God of wisdom, messenger of the gods. In afterlife he assists to the weighing of the dead person's heart. Represented with the head of a baboom he is god of science, of writing, of magic arts and of the moon cyrcle. |
| Tueret | Hyppopotamus goddess, protector of the house and of pregnancy. |
| Uaget | Snake goddess in Buto, she was matron of royalty and associated to Nekhbet in the pharaoh's title. |
| Upuaut | The opener of streets. |
