Transcript The Goddesses and Gods of Ancient Egypt Amon (Amen, Amun

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
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Human and semihuman forms of some of the chief Egyptian deities:
1) Horus, son of Osiris, a sky god closely connected with the king.
2) Set, enemy of Horus and Osiris, god of storms and disorder.
3) Thoth, a moon deity and god of writing, counting and wisdom.
4) Khnum, a ram god who shapes men and their kas on his potter's wheel.
5) Hathor, goddess of love birth and death. 6) Sobek, the crocodile god, Lord of the Faiyum.
7) Ra, the sun god in his many forms. 8) Amon, a creator god often linked with Ra.
9) Ptah, another creator god and the patron of craftsmen.
1O) Anubis, god of mummification. 11) Osiris, god of agriculture and ruler of the dead.
12) Isis, wife of Osiris, mother of Horus and Mistress of Magic
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Welcome to the Gods and Goddesses
of Egypt
Contents:
•Why the Egyptians used animals to
represent Gods
•Alphabetic listing of Gods and Goddesses
•Egyptian History Timeline
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The ancient Egyptians did not think of their deities
(gods) as abstract and distant beings, but that they
had they same desires and physical needs as all
living things. The Egyptian gods controlled
everything and literally nothing happened that they
did not arrange. There are so many different gods
that rivalries and contradictions were unavoidable.
For example, HORUS, who avenged the murder of
his father Osiris, was worshipped but so was Seth,
the murderer of OSIRIS. The Egyptians were
optimistic and believed that "the gods were content
and happy of heart, and life is spent in laughter and
wonder."
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The Egyptians wanted to be close to their
gods and goddesses, but no living person was
allowed to look at them. Therefore, people
chose a special animal or bird for each deity
(god). The spirit of the god or goddess would
enter the body of the creature, so that it could
be near his or her worshippers and bring them
comfort. Cats were especially popular, and
many animals were mummified like their
owners
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The Goddesses and Gods of
Ancient Egypt
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Amon (Amen, Amun): the great
god of Thebes of uncertain
origin; represented as a man, the
sun, and sometimes as
ithyphallic; identified with Re as
Amen-Re; his sacred animals
were the ram and goose.
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Anat: goddess of Syrian origin,
with warlike character;
represented as a woman holding a
shield and an axe.
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Anubis (Anpu): the jackal-god,
patron of embalmers, healers, and
surgeons; in both healing and
mummification ceremonies,
Anubis was the patron deity
which prepared the dead and
healed the living. Anubis is
considered to be the great
necropolis-god.
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Anukis (Anqet): goddess of the
cataract-region at Aswan; wife of
Khnum; represented as a woman
with a high feather head-dress.
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Arsaphes (Herishef): ramheaded god from, Heracleopolis.
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Astarte (As-start-a): goddess of
Syrian origin; introduced into
Egypt during the 18th Dynasty.
She is also known as The Queen
of Heaven and her cult often
times overlapped with Isian
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Aten: god of the sun-disk,
worshipped as the great creatorgod by Akhenaten.
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Atum (Tum): the original sungod of Heliopolis, later identified
with Re; represented as a man.
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Bastet (Bast): A cat-goddess
whose cult-center was at Bubastis
in the Delta; in the Late Period
regarded as a beneficent deity.
She was seen as the patron of
cats, of women, and protection.
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Bes: A dwarf-deity with leonine
features. Seen as a domestic god,
protector against snakes and
various terrors; helper of women
in child-birth.
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Edjo (Wadjet, Buto): the cobragoddess of Buto in the Delta;
tutelary deity of Lower Egypt,
appearing on the royal diadem,
protecting the king.
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Geb: the earth-god; husband of
Nut; member of the ennead of
Heliopolis; represented as a man.
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Hapy: god of the Nile in
inundation; represented as a man
with full, heavy breasts, a clump
of papyrus on his head, and
bearing heavily laden offeringtables.
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Haroeris: a form of Horus, the
'Elder Horus'; identified with the
falcon-god and particularly the
patron of the king.
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Harpocrates (Hor-Pa-Khred):
A late form of Horus in his aspect
of being son of Isis and Osiris;
represented as a naked child
wearing the lock of youth and
holding one finger to his mouth.
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Harsiesis: A form of Horus,
specifically designated 'son of
Isis'.
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Hathor: Goddess of many functions and attributes;
represented often as a cow or a cow-headed woman,
or as a woman with horned head-dress; the suckler of
the king; the 'Golden One'; cult-centers at Memphis,
Cusae, Gebelein, Dendera; the patron deity of the
mining-region of Sinai; identified by the Greeks with
Aphrodite. She was sent by Re to cleanse the land of
disbelievers. After slaying all who opposed Re, she
asked to rest, and became the equivalent to the Greek
form of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, fertility,
women, and also their protector. There are many
myths surrounding the goddess Hathor.
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Hat-mehit: Fish-goddess of
Mendes in the Delta; sometimes
represented as a woman with a
fish on her head.
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Heqet: Frog-goddess of
Antinoopolis where she was
associated with Khnum; a helper
of women in child-birth.
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Horus (Haroeris, Harpocrates, Harsiesis, Re-Harakhty):
The falcon-deity, originally the sky-god, identified with the
king during his lifetime. Known more importantly as the son
of Osiris and Isis. Horus was also the avenger of his father
Osiris, who was killed by Set. The eye of Horus came from a
myth of his battles where Horus gave up his right eye in
battle. Since then the Eye of Horus, has come to represent
strength, vigor, and self-sacrifice. His cult-centers were in
many places, Behdet in the Delta, Hierakonpolis and Edfu in
Upper Egypt.
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Imhotep (Imouthes): The deified chief
minister of Djoser, and architect of the
Step Pyramid; in the Late Period
venerated as the god of learning and
medicine; represented as a seated man
holding an open papyrus; equated by the
Greeks with Asklepios.
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Isis: Isis is known as the divine mother, and as wife of Osiris and mother of Horus; Isis is
one of the four great protector goddesses (Bast, Nephythes, and Hathor), guarding coffins
and Canopic jars. Isis is sister of Nephthys with whom she acted as a divine mourner for the
dead, and is divinely represented by the Ankh. In the Late Period Philae was her principal
cult-center. She is also known as The Queen of Heaven (similar to Astarte), and rules over
all matters concerning life, mothering, and sorcery. In the origin myth of Re and the world, it
was written that she found out Re's name by enchanting a poisonous snake to bite him. The
snake bit Re, and Isis could only heal him by knowing Re's true name. By knowing Re's
name, she then had power equal to him and was then given all of her magical power and was
thenceforth known as the divine sorceress. Another of the Isian myths concerns, both Isis,
Osiris, and Horus. In this myth, Set kills Osiris and scatters his body in sixteen pieces
around the world. Isis goes to find these pieces while she is bearing Horus. During this time
Osiris became lord of the dead. Horus was given birth to and was committed to avenging his
fathers death by killing Set. Isis from then on lived as the divine mourner on earth and in
heaven.
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Khepri: The scarab-beetle god,
identified with Re as a creatorgod; often represented as a beetle
within the sun-disk.
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Khnum: Ram-headed god of
Elephantine, god of the Cataractregion; thought to have molded
man on a potter's wheel.
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Khons: The moon-god,
represented as a man; with Amun
and Mut as father and mother,
forming the Theban triad.
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Maat: Goddess of truth, right, and orderly
conduct; represented as a woman with an
ostrich-feather on her head. It is said that in
the judgement of the dead she holds the scales
which weigh the human heart.
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Min: The primeval god of
Coptos; later revered as a god of
fertility, and closely associated
with Amun; represented as an
ithyphallic human statue, holding
a flagellum.
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Month (Munt): Originally the
local deity of Hermonthis, just
south of Thebes; later the wargod of the Egyptian king;
represented as falcon-headed.
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Mut (Mutt): The divine wife of
Amun; cult-center at Asheru,
south of the main temple of
Amen-Re at Karnak; originally a
vulture-goddess, later represented
usually as a woman.
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Nefertum: The god of the lotus,
and hence of unguents;
worshipped at Memphis as the
son of Ptah and Sakhmet;
represented as a man with a
lotus-flower head-dress.
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Neheb-kau: A serpent deity of
the underworld, sometimes
represented with a man's body
and holding the eye of Horus.
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Neith (Net): Goddess of Sais;
represented as a woman wearing the red
crown; her emblem, a shield with
crossed arrows; one of the four
'protector'-goddesses who guarded
coffins and Canopic jars; identified by
the Greeks with Athena.
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Nekhbet: Vulture-goddess of
Nekheb (modern El-Kab);
tutelary deity of Upper Egypt,
sometimes appearing on the royal
diadem beside the cobra (Edjo).
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Nephthys (Nebet-het): Sister of Isis;
one of the four 'protector'-goddesses,
who guarded coffins and Canopic jars;
with Isis acted as mourner for Osiris and
hence for other dead people; represented
as a woman.
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Nun (Nu): god of the primeval
chaos, the Nu was also seen as
the primeval water from which
the gods, earth, and humans were
created from, i.e. the chaos from
which order was created.
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Nut (Nuit): the sky-goddess,
wife of Geb, the earth-god;
represented as a woman, her
naked body is curved to form the
arch of heaven.
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Onuris (Anhur): God of This in
Upper Egypt; the divine
huntsman; represented as a man.
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Osiris (Asar): The god of the
underworld, identified as the king of the
dead; also a god of the inundation and
vegetation; represented as a mummified
king; principal cult-center, Abydos.Osiris
is seen as the great judge of the dead.
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Ptah: Creator-god of Memphis,
represented as a man,
mummiform, possibly originally
as a statue; the patron god of
craftsmen; equated by the Greeks
with Hephaestus.
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Ptah-seker-osiris: Composite
deity, incorporating the principal
gods of creation, death, and afterlife; represented like Osiris as a
mummified king.
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Qadesh: Goddess of Syrian
origin, often represented as a
woman standing on a lion's back.
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Re (Ra): The sun-god of Heliopolis; head of the
great ennead, supreme judge; often linked with other
gods aspiring to universality, e.g. Amen-Re, SobkRe; represented as falcon-headed. Seem as the father
of the gods, it was from him that all the gods and
goddesses were created. He is also known by three
aspects, which correspond to the positions of the sun,
Amen at dawn, Re in the evening, and Set at dusk.
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Re-harakhty: A god in the form
of a falcon, embodying the
characteristics of Re and Horus
(here called 'Horus of the
Horizon').
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Renenutet (Ernutet,
Thermuthis): Goddess of
harvest and fertility; represented
as a snake or a snake-headed
woman.
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Reshef (Reshpu): God of war
and thunder, of Syrian origin.
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Sekhmet: (Sakhmet) A lionheaded goddess worshipped in
the area of Memphis; wife of
Ptah; regarded as the bringer of
destruction to the enemies of Re.
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Sarapis: a god introduced into Egypt in the
Ptolemaic Perod having the characteristics of
Egyptian (Osiris) and Greek (Zeus) gods;
represented as a bearded man wearing the
modius head-dress; the Egyptian writing of
the (i.e. Osiris-Apis) may not signify the true
origin of this god.
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Satis (Satet): A goddess of the
Island of Siheil in the Cataractregion; represented as a woman
wearing the white crown with
antelope horns; the daughter of
Khnum and Anukis.
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Selkis (Selkit, Selkhet, Serqet):
A scorpion-goddess, identified
with the scorching heat of the
sun; one of the four 'protector'goddesses, guarding coffins and
Canopic jars; shown sometimes
as a woman with a scorpion on
her head.
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Seshat: The goddess of writing;
the divine keeper of royal annals;
represented as a woman.
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Seth (Set, Sutekh): The god of storms and
violence; identified with many animals,
including the pig, ass, okapi, and
hippopotamus; represented as an animal of
unidentified type; brother of Osiris and his
murderer; the rival of Horus; equated by the
Greeks with Typhon.
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Shu: The god of air; with Tefnut,
forming the first pair of gods in
the Heliopolitan ennead; shown
often as a man separating Nut
(sky) from Geb (earth).
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Sobk (Sebek, Suchos): The
crocodile-god, worshipped
throughout Egypt, but especially
in the Faiyum, and at Gebelein
and Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt.
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Sokaris (Sokar, Seker): A
falcon-headed god of the
necropolis; cult-center in
Memphis.
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Sopdu: The ancient falcon-god
of Saft el-Henna in the Delta; a
warrior-god, protector of the
eastern frontier; represented often
as an Asiatic warrior.
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Sothis (Sepdet): The dog-star
Sirius (see the constellation
Canis), defined as a goddess;
shown as a woman with a star on
her head.
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Tatjenen: The primeval earthgod of Memphis; later identified
with Ptah.
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Tefnut: The goddess of moisture;
with Shu forming the first pair of
the Heliopolitan ennead.
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Thoeris (Taurt, Taweret): The
hippopotamus-goddess; a
beneficent deity, the patron of
woman in child-birth.
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Thoth: the ibis-headed god of Hermopolis; the
scribe of the gods, the inventor of writing, and the
great god of all knowledge; the ape as well as the
ibis are sacred to him. In the judgment of the dead he
was the scribe who recorded the confessions and
affirmations of the dead on his scrolls, and also kept
a record of who went into paradise and who was
eaten by the dogs of judgment.
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Unnefer (Wenen-nefer,
Onnophris): A name meaning
'he who is continually happy',
given to Osiris after his
resurrection.
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Wepwawet (Upuaut): The
jackal-god of Asyut in Middle
Egypt; a god of the necropolis
and an avenger of Osiris.
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TIME LINE OF EGYPTIAN
HISTORY
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6000-3200 BC
Pre-Dynastic Period. Different
cultures separated-Merimdeon,
Tasian, Badarian.
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3000 BC
Menes unifies Upper and Lower
Egypt, and a new capital is
erected at Memphis.
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C3100-2686 BC
Early dynastic period, with a
succession of kings that
strengthened the unification of
the two Egypts.
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2700 BC
365 -day calendar is invented (for
Egyptians new year started with
June)
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2686-2181 BC
OLD KINGDOM
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2900 BC
First hieroglyphs
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C2686-2613 BC
Third Dynasty
Zoser builds first pyramid, Step
Pyramid at Sakkara, with the
great help of the chief architect
and priest Imhotep.
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2600 BC
Khufu (Cheops) builds the great
Pyramid at Giza, followed by
Chephren with a second pyramid
and the Sphinx and Mycerinus
with another pyramid.
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C2494-2345 BC
During the 5th dynasty, worship
of sun god Ra becomes the
predominant religion.
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C2181-2040 BC
FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD- increases
in power of provincial governors through the
6th dynasty, leads to breakdown of central
authority and chaos throughout the country.
This is the period of the upsurge of the cult of
Osiris.
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C2100 BC
Mentuhotep II, first king of the
11th dynasty reunites Egypt, and
established the capital at Thebes.
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C1700-1550 BC
SECOND INTERMEDIATE
PERIOD. 13th dynasty collapses
after a succession of short-lived
and little known kings.
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C1674 BC
Memphis falls to Hyksos.
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C1550-1085 BC
NEW KINGDOM-Ahmose
completes defeat of Hyksos and
unites Egypt under new dynasty.
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1512-1448 BC
During Tuthmosis III, Egyptian
rule is extended as far as the
Euphrates River to the east and
south to the Fourth Cataract of
the Nile.
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C1450 BC
Tuthmosis IV digs the Sphinx out
of the sands.
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1391-1358 BC
Amenhotep IV changes name to
Akhenaten and tries to institute a
monotheistic religion by
worshipping only the sun-disk
god Aten.
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1368-1349 BC
Tutankhamen restores the old
cults at Thebes, but shortly after
is assassinated.
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C1299 BC
Ramses II fights Hittites at the
Battle of Kadesh. Builds temples
at Thebes and Abu Simbel. He is
considered the most prolific
pharaoh to construct temples.
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1224-1165 BC
Ramses III repulses invasion of
Seas Peoples. He is considered
the last great Egyptian pharaoh.
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C1070-712 BC
THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIODEphemeral kings whom little is known. It
is a period of overlapping rulers, with no
strong central power. Invasion by
Assyrians.
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C712-332 BC
LATE DYNASTIC PERIOD
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C671-667 BC
Assyrians invade Egypt,
"sacking" Thebes and Memphis.
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736-656 BC
25th dynasty. Egypt ruled by
Kushite pharaohs.
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525-404 BC
27th dynasty. Conquered by the
King Conlyses who establishes
first Persian domination of
Egypt.
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332 BC
Alexander the Great of
Macedonia defeats Persians at
Issus in 333 BC and is given
Egypt by the Persian Satrap. He
builds a capital at Alexandria.
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332-395 AD
Greco-Roman Period.
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304-30 BC
The Ptolemies.
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641 AD
Arab conquest.
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