Egyptian Gods & Goddess

Egyptian Gods & Goddess

Ra / Re / Amen-Ra • King of the Gods • Sun god • Falcon head with a sun on top. • Sometimes seen as the creator of men (Egyptians called themselves "the cattle of Ra”) • Since heaven and the underworld have water, Ra uses a boat (Madjet (“strong”) while rising and Semektet ("becoming weak") when setting. He often has help from other gods to successfully navigate his boat. • He constantly had to fight monsters (Sebau, Nak, and Apep) • The phoenix is one of his symbols

Ra’s three aspects • In the morning he is called Khepri • At noon he is Ra • In the evening he is called Atum • But none of these is his secret name. Only Isis knows this name until she shares it with Horus.

Osiris or Asir • God of the earth and vegetation • Symbolized the yearly drought and flooding of the Nile. • Gave Egypt civilization. • Married his sister, Isis • Osiris rules Egypt and he leaves Isis in charge when he is gone • Set and 72 conspirators kill him by chopping him up into pieces • Isis found almost all the pieces and put him back together (making the missing part out of clay) • King of the afterlife • Usually shown as a bearded, mummified human with green skin and wearing the atef crown. His hands come out from the mummy wrappings and hold the flail and crook.

Horus • Falcon headed • The Pharaoh was supposed to be his earthly embodiment. • Son of Osiris (after his resurrection) • Set is always trying to hurt him • Stunted from his waist down • In art, he is often shown standing on crocodiles • His sons are born from Isis. Each take care of the organs during the mummification process • Duamutef (stomach) • Imsety (liver) • Hapi (lungs) • Qebehsenuef (intestines)

Nephthys • Wife of Seth • Seduced her brother Osiris (possibly getting him drunk or by looking like Isis) to get pregnant with Anubis • BFFF Isis

Isis • Isis was the sister/wife of Osiris • Shown as a a woman wearing a vulture head-dress and the solar disk between a pair of horns • Isis suckles the pharohs • May be one of the judges of the dead • Has great magical powers • Created the cobra and uses the cobra bite to make Ra reveal to her his secret name • The purest example of the loving wife and mother

Set • God of evil, the desert, storms, and chaos • A devil figure • Antelopes are sacred to him • Hates Osiris (jealous) • Kills Osiris and becomes king before he is killed by Horus • Part pig and part donkey

Hathor • Usually depicted as a cow or as a beautiful woman wearing a horned headdress • She is both wife/ daughter of Ra • Also married Horus • Suckled Horus when he was young and took care of him after Set blinded him • Her milk is food of the gods • She offers food and drink to the dead • Women aspire to be her

Anubis • Son of Nephthys and either Set or Ra – adopted servant of Isis • Head of a jackal • Guides the dead to the underworld and weighs their heart (bad deeds make your heart weigh more) • Works with Osiris in the underworld • Mummification god

Ammut • “Eater of the Dead” • She stands by the scales of the hearts and eats the hearts of the wicked (a final death) • Head of a crocodile, body of a leopard, hind legs of a hippo (apparently wicked hearts are fattening – who knew?)

Aten • The actual disk of the sun • His hands are the sun’s rays • May be the creator of men

Nut • The Sky • She and her brother, Geb (the earth), could not stop “holding hands” so now their father (Shu – air) stands between them holding them apart.

Thoth • Moon god • Head of an ibis • Scribe (records the weight of the hearts in the underworld) • Invented writing • From the Book of the Dead:“Hear the word of the very truth. I have judged the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the great balance and no sin has been found in him.”

Bast or Bastet • Cat-headed • Goddess of love, sex, and childbirth • Cats are sacred (many catswere mummified in her honor • The ancient Egyptians placed great value on cats because they protected the crops and slowed the spread of disease by killing vermin. As a result, Bast was seen as a protective goddess.

Bes • Popular, household god • Dwarf • Frightens evil spirits away • Hangs out with Taweret, a goddess of childbirth (she is scary looking) • Roman soldiers wore amulets with his likeness for protection

Taweret-hippopotamus, crocodile, lion and human The Ancient Egyptian goddess Taweret, ‘the Great One’, is depicted by scholars and in ancient Egypt as being the protective goddess of mother and child during pregnancy and childbirth The amulet of Taweret is an apotropaic item that is valued to protect the living and the dead because the ancient Egyptians believed that when one was newly dead they were in an equally weak state as when they were born (Robins 2008). ,

Hapy • God of the Nile floods • Keeps the land and river fertile • He has long hair, large breasts, and a protruding stomach (all symbols of fertility) and also a beard and is blue • In some areas, he was worshipped over Ra

Neith • A mother goddess • Invented childbirth • Created gods, humans, and animals • Warrior goddess • Once she spit into the Nile and this spit turned into Apep, a serpent who lives in the underworld and tries to eat Ra each night

Apep or Apophis • Apep was a huge serpent (or crocodile) which lived in the waters of Nun or in the celestial Nile. Each day he attempted to disrupt the passage of the solar barque of Re. In some myths, Apep was an earlier and discarded sun-god himself. • Egyptians would go to the temples and make images of snakes out of wax. They would spit in the images, then burn and mutilate them. Doing this and reciting the spells in the Books of Overthrowing Apep helped ensure Re's continued success and victory over the snake.

Apep • Apep was a genuine threat to Re and his daily travels. At times he was successful and when this occurred stormy weather would occur. When Apep swallowed the barque, there was a solar eclipse.

Sebau and Nak • Two lesser monsters who chase the sun barque

Picture of the Sun Boat, surrounded by the giant figure of the goddess Nut "She who protects". Ra is depicted at the front of the sun boat, crowned by the sun disk in the company of gods who featured in the creation myth.

Solar Barge facts • Fact 1: A "sun boat" (also "solar barque", "solar barge" and "solar boat") is a mythical representation of the sun riding in a boat. • Fact 2: The Ancient Egyptians used to bury a "solar boat" near the tomb of their pharaoh because they believed that their ruler needed transportation in the afterlife. • Fact 3: According to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, the soul of the dead accompanied the sun on its eternal journey in the Upper Waters (the heavens) around the world. A boat or at least a model of a boat was therefore included in every tomb. • Fact 4: The solar barge was called the 'Boat of Millions' because all of the gods and the souls of the dead might be needed in its crew to fight evil. • Fact 5: The Sun god Ra was often depicted alone on the Day boat but was accompanied by other gods in the night boat • Fact 6: The Solar Barge was believed to be subject to attacks by not only Apep but also dangerous crocodiles, and snakes • Fact 7: The prow and stern of the solar barge were often depicted with images of crowns, snakes, animal and human headsthe Mesektet Boat, glorious its trappings, and its colours are of amethyst and emerald, jasper and turquoise, lazuli and the lustre of gold. • Fact 8: The Matet Boat was described as glorious in its trappings, and its colors were of amethyst, emerald, jasper and turquoise, lazuli and the lustre of gold. Whereas the Sektet boat was plain and without trappings of grandeur.

Sekhmet • Lion headed • Wife of Ptah (an early creator god) • Breathes fire against her enemies • Delivers punishment to the gods • She is often represented as a woman wearing a red dress with the head of a lioness wearing a sun disc circled by a cobra on her head. She often holds the ankh – the symbol of life, when seated. When standing or striding, she is seen holding the papyrus specter symbolizing Lower Egypt. However, some scholars believe that she was a deity introduced to Egypt from Sudan because lions are plenty in that area.

Ptah Ptah is the creator-god of Memphis, the city that served as the capital of the ancient Egypt for most of its history and which was known, during that history, as Het-ka-Ptah or "House of the Soul of Ptah". Ptah is one of several Egyptian deities attributed with a myth about fashioning creation. Ptah, as the god Ta-tenen (the primordial mound), creates in the so-called "Memphite Theology" the world, its inhabitants, and the kas (or spirits) of the other gods. Ptah's wife is usually Sakhmet or, less commonly, Bastet. Gods attributed as his children are Nefertem, Imhotep (a deified architect of the Old Kingdom), and Maahes. Apis, the bull of Memphis, was associated with Ptah as his oracle.

http://www.landofpyramids.org/apep.htm • http://www.landofpyramids.org/sun-boat.htm • http://egyptianmythology.org/gods-and-goddesses/horus/ • http://egyptian-gods.org/egyptian-gods-sekhmet/

Egyptian Gods & Goddess