Egyptian Gods Prof. Cindy Ann Nieves 12 Grade English Course
Metropolis High School 10/18/2012
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Amun The Hidden One Cult Center: Thebes, the temples of Luxor
and Karnak. Attributes: Early, a god of air and wind. Later, a
fertility god. The Creator of all things. During the New Kingdom he
became "The king of the gods". He was said to be able to assume any
form he wished, with each of the other gods being one of these
forms. From the eighteenth dynasty on he was a national deity.
Through political means managed to assimilate many lesser gods.
Representation: A bearded Man wearing a cap surmounted by two tall
plumes. A ram, a ram headed man, or a ram headed sphinx. Relations:
Self created at the beginning of time. Believed to be the physical
father of all Pharaohs. Other Names: Amon, Amen, Amen Ra, Amon
Re
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Anubis Guardian of the Underworld Cult Center: Thinis,
Lycopolis, quickly spreading throughout Egypt. Attributes: Guardian
of the Necropolis (cemetery). He was the guide of the dead as they
made their way through the darkness of the underworld. As a patron
of magic, it was believed he could foresee a persons destiny, in
this role he was the announcer of death. Anubis was the patron of
embalming. He was also the keeper of poisons and medicines. He
provided unguents and rare herbs to help Isis and Nephthys with the
embalming of Osiris. Anubis then performed the funeral of Osiris,
which would be the model for all funerals to come. As he received
the mummy into the tomb, he performed the 'Opening of the Mouth'
ceremony.
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Anubis Guardian of the Underworld In the "Hall of Maat", Anubis
appears on behalf of the deceased. It was Anubis who saw that the
beam of the great scale was in the proper position as he supervises
the weighing of the heart of a deceased person against the feather
of Maat. The god of knowledge, Thoth, records the results. It is
also Anubis that protects the dead from Ammut, the 'Devourer'.
Representation: A man with the head of a jackal. A dog or a jackal.
Relations: Son of Nephthys and Osiris, some believe him to be the
son of Seth. Later adopted by Isis.
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Ammut The Devourer. Cult Center: A female demon, she is found
in The Book of the Dead, She plays an important role in the Hall of
Maat. Attributes: We find Ammut during the judgment of the
deceased, when his heart is weighed against the feather of Maat. It
was Ammut who would devour the souls of those who's hearts proved
heavier than Maat. This was a terrifying prospect for the ancient
Egyptians. It meant the end of existence. They would never meet
Osiris and live forever in the Fields of Peace. Representation: A
combination of the head of a crocodile, the middle of a lioness and
the hind quarters of a hippopotamus. Other Names: Amam,
Am-mit.
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Bastet The Tearer. Cult Center: Bubastis in the Delta.
Attributes: As a sun goddess she represents the warm, life giving
power of the sun. Her cult appears as early as the Second Dynasty.
Like a cat, she was admired for her agility and strength. Bast
defended Ra against the serpent Apep. Representation: A woman with
the head of a domesticated cat, sometimes holding a sistrum.
Relations: Daughter and wife of Ra, mother of Khensu and Maahes.
Other Names: Bast.
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Hathor Lady of Heaven Cult Center: Dendera and throughout Egypt
Attributes:.Because her worship stretches back to pre-dynastic
times, we find Hathor identified with many local goddesses, and it
can be said that all the goddesses were forms of Hathor. At times
we find her playing the role of a sky- goddess, a sun-goddess, a
moon-goddess, a goddess of the east, a goddess of the west, a
goddess of moisture, a goddess of fertility, an agricultural
goddess, and a goddess of the underworld.
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Hathor Lady of Heaven Hathor was the goddess of joy,
motherhood, and love. She was considered the protector of pregnant
women and a midwife. She was the patron of all women, no matter
their station in life. As the goddess of music and dancing her
symbol was the sistrum. As a fertility goddess and a goddess of
moisture, Hathor was associated with the inundation of the Nile. In
this aspect she was associated with the Dog-star Sothis whose
rising above the horizon heralded the annual flooding of the Nile.
In the legend of Ra and Hathor she is called the "Eye of Ra." In
later times, when the Osiris cults gained popularity, her role
changed. She now welcomed the arrival of the deceased to the
underworld, dispensing water to the souls of the dead from the
branches of a sycamore and offering them food. Hathor was also
represented as a cow suckling the soul of the dead, thus giving
them sustenance during their mummification, their journey to the
judgment hall, and the weighing of their soul. In the Late Period,
dead women identified themselves with Hathor, as men identified
with Osiris...
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Hathor Lady of Heaven Representation: Hathor was originally
worshipped in the form of a cow, sometimes as a cow with stars on
her. Later she is represented as a woman with the head of a cow,
and finally with a human head, the face broad and placid, sometimes
she is depicted with the ears or horns of a cow. She is also shown
with a head-dress resembling a pair of horns with the moon-disk
between them. Sometimes she is met with in the form of a cow
standing in a boat, surrounded by tall papyrus reeds. As the
"Mistress of the Necropolis" she is shown as the head of a cow
protruding from a mountainside. In this case she wears a menat
necklace, which is a symbol of rebirth. Relations: Daughter of Nut
and Ra. Wife of Ra, mother of Ihy. Many legends portray her as the
mother of Horus the Elder. Other as the wife of Horus of Edfu, The
fruit of this union was Horus the Younger
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Horus He who is above. Cult Center: Throughout Egypt.
Attributes: The name Horus comes from the Egyptian word Hor, which
translates as 'face'. We find him worshipped as Mekhenti-irry which
translates as 'He who has on his brow Two Eyes', the sun and moon
representing his eyes. On nights when there is no moon we find him
worshipped as Mekhenti-en-irty, 'He who on his brow has no eyes',
in this form he was considered the god of the blind. The followers
of Horus invaded Egypt in pre dynastic history, at this time he was
venerated as a victorious warlord. He became a part of the state
religion and was associated with the sun god, Ra. Horus was so
important to the state religion that Pharaohs were considered his
human manifestation and even took on the name Horus.
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Horus He who is above. In the more popular religious beliefs of
the Osiris cults he was the son of Osiris and Isis. The avenger of
his father's murder and the model of a dutiful son. It is in these
stories that we find him doing battle with his uncle, Seth.
Representation: You will find different Representations of Horus
that fit with the different names that are listed below, however,
the most common is a falcon or falcon headed man. Other Names:
Haroeris (Horus the Elder) An early form of Horus. He was a god of
light. His eyes represented the sun and the moon. He was also the
brother of Osiris and Seth. Sometimes he was the son, or the
husband of Hathor. Horus Behudety In the form of Horus of Edfu, he
represented the midday sun. This Horus was worshipped in the
western Delta and later, as his cult spread south into Upper Egypt,
a cult center was established in Edfu. Horus of Edfu fights a great
battle against Seth and an army of conspirators. He is pictured as
a winged sun-disk or as a hawk headed lion.
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Horus He who is above. Harpokrates (The infant Horus) As a
child he represented the new born sun and was often pictured being
suckled by Isis. he was usually represented as a seated child,
sucking his thumb, his head was shaved except for the sidelock of
youth. Even as a child, he wore the royal crown and uraeus.
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Isis The Throne. Cult Center: A temple is dedicated to her on
the Island of Philae, near the first cataract. She is revered
throughout Egypt. Attributes: Isis is one of the earliest and most
important goddess in ancient Egypt. She was regarded as the
feminine counterpart to Osiris, a role she probably occupied before
the dawn of dynastic Egypt. No other Egyptian deity has stood the
test of time as well as Isis. Her cult was not extinguished with
the other Egyptian gods, but was embraced by the Greeks and Romans,
her worship has even lasted into the present day. She was revered
by the Egyptian people as the great mother- goddess and represents
the maternal spirit in its most intimate form. She is often seen
suckling a young Horus. In the Osiris legend she is seen as a
dutiful wife, a grieving widow and as a protector of the dead.
Slide 14
Isis The Throne. As a winged goddess she may represent the
wind. In the Osiris legend there are references to Isis wailing and
moaning like the wind. She is also continually travelling up and
down the land in search of her lost husband. Upon finding Osiris'
body, she takes the shape of one of the swiftest birds, a kite.
Flapping and darting above his dead body she wails in mourning. She
restores life to Osiris by flapping her wings and filling his mouth
and nose with air. Isis was a great enchantress, the goddess of
magic. Together with Thoth, she taught mankind the secrets of
medicine. She was the embalmer and guardian of Osiris. She is often
rendered on the foot of coffins with long wings spread to protect
the deceased.
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Isis The Throne. Representation: A woman wearing on her head
the hieroglyphic symbol of her name, which represents a throne or
seat. Often seen wearing horns and a solar disk on her head.
Sometimes she is pictured with wings, It is noteworthy that she is
one of only a few deities that we find with wings in ancient
Egyptian mythology. Relations: Daughter of Nut and Geb. Sister of
Osiris, Nephthys, and Seth. Wife of Osiris. Mother of Horus.
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Osiris King of the Dead. Cult Center: Busiris, later Abydos.
Attributes: Supreme god and judge of the dead. The symbol of
resurrection and eternal life. Provider of fertility and prosperity
to the living. Representation: A bearded man wearing white mummy
wrappings. Wearing the atef crown and holding the symbols of
supreme power, the flail and crook. His skin is green to represent
vegetation or red to represent the earth. See also the Osiris
legend. Relations: Son of Geb and Nut. Brother of Isis, Nephthys,
and Seth and in some myths he is brother of Horus. Husband of Isis
and father of Horus. Father of Anubis by Nephthys.
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Ra Father of the gods. Cult Center: Heliopolis and throughout
Egypt. Attributes: From very early times Ra was a sun god. He took
on many of the attributes and even the names of other gods as
Egyptian myths evolved. A good example of this is the god Ra and
Amun merging to become Amun-Ra or Ra and Horus combining to become
Ra-Harakhte. Since Ra was a god of great antiquity, there are far
to many stories connected with him to relate them all. I will
relate some that I find interesting, including the legend of Ra and
Hathor. One legend states that each day, Ra was born and began a
journey across the sky. Ra was believed to travel in the
Manjet-boat. or the 'Barque of Millions of Years'. He was joined on
this daily journey by a crew of many gods. The Manjet-boat would
sail through the twelve provinces, representing the twelve hours of
daylight. At the end of each day Ra was thought to die and embarked
on his night voyage. For this journey he was called Auf, which
means 'corpse'. Ra sailed in a boat called the Mesektet-boat or
night-barque on his journey through the twelve hours of
darkness.
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Ra Father of the gods. It was not always smooth sailing on
these ships. During the day Ra had to defeat his chief enemy, a
serpent or snake named Apep. A great battle was fought between Ra
and Apep, and Ra was usually victorious, however on stormy days or
during an eclipse the Egyptians believed that Apep had been
victorious and swallowed the sun. Because no wind blows in the
Underworld, Auf (Ra) had to rely on various unfriendly spirits and
demons to help tow his barque along the river in the underworld.
Auf's main job in the Underworld was to bring light to the souls of
the dead as he passed through their realm. After his departure
these souls fell back into a lonely darkness. The Underworld of
these early solar myths was a very different place then the fields
of peace that we find in the Osiris cults of the later
periods.
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Ra Father of the gods. Representation: He is often pictured as
a hawk or as a hawk headed man with a solar disk encircled by a
uraeus on his head. He is often pictured wearing the double crown
of upper and lower Egypt. Relations: Father of the first divine
couple, Shu and Tefnut. Grandfather of Geb and Nut, whose children
were Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nephthys.
Slide 20
Sekhmet Mighty One. Cult Center: Memphis. Attributes: A sun
goddess. She represents the scorching, burning, destructive heat of
the sun. She was a fierce goddess of war, the destroyer of the
enemies of Ra and Osiris. Her temper was uncontrollable. In the
legend of Ra and Hathor, Sekhmet's anger became so great, she would
have destroyed all of mankind if Ra had not taken pity on us. He
tricked her by dyeing beer blood- red which she drank believing it
to be human blood and became drunk. She soon forgot her anger and
we were saved from destruction. Representation: A woman with the
head of a lion. Relations: Daughter of Nut and Geb. Wife of Ptah,
mother of Nefer-Tem Other Names: Sakhmet, Sekhet, Nesert.
Slide 21
Seth The Lord of Upper Egypt. Cult Center: Ombos. Attributes:
Early in Egyptian history, Seth is spoken of in terms of reverence
as the god of wind and storms. He was even known as the Lord of
Upper Egypt. Horus being the Lord of Lower Egypt. It was Seth who
stood in the front of the solar barque to defended the sun god Ra
from his most dangerous foe, the serpent Apep. At this time, he
seems to have had no conflicts with the cults of Isis or Osiris. In
fact, he was part of the same family of gods, and married to his
twin sister, Nephthys. However, it appears the followers of Seth
may have resisted the followers of Horus and the First Dynasty
pharaoh, Menes, when he united Upper and Lower Egypt. This struggle
for control of Egypt seems to be reflected in the mythology. At
this point, Seth is portrayed as questioning the authority of his
brother, Osiris. The Osiris cults took this opportunity to
discredit the followers of Seth; he was now considered to be
Osiris' evil brother.
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Seth The Lord of Upper Egypt. And the story was told that Seth
was evil since birth, because he ripped himself from his mother's
womb by tearing through her side. In the Osiris legends, it is Seth
who tricks and murders Osiris. He is also the antagonist of Horus.
By the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Seth was the embodiment of evil. He
was depicted with red eyes and hair. The ancient Egyptians believed
red represented evil. Representation: Man with the head of an
unknown animal. Some times he takes the form of a crocodile. He is
represented as a hippopotamus or a black pig in his battles with
Horus. Relations: Son of Geb and Nut. Brother of Isis, Nephthys,
and Osiris. The husband of Nephthys or sometimes the husband of
Taurt. Other Names: Set, Suetekh.
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Thoth The Great Measurer. Cult Center: Eshmunen or Hermopolis.
Attributes: Thoth was a moon god who played an important role in
the Osiris legend and the judgment of the dead in the Hall of Maat.
Thoth was said to be mighty in knowledge and divine speech. The
inventor of spoken and written language. As the lord of books he
was the scribe of the gods and patron of all scribes. He is
credited with inventing astronomy, geometry, and medicine. Thoth
was the measurer of the earth and the counter of the stars, the
keeper and recorder of all knowledge. It was Thoth who was believed
to have written important religious texts such as The Book of the
Dead. In this text, he appears in the Hall of Maat as a scribe
holding a writing reed and palette to record the results of the
weighing of the deceased's heart against the feather of Maat.
Slide 24
Thoth The Great Measurer. Representation: A man with the head
of an Ibis. An ibis or an ape. A dog faced ape. He is often seen
wearing a lunar disk and cresant on his head or the Atef crown.
Relations: Self conceived at the beginning of time. Husband of
Maat. Brother and some times husband of Seshat. Other Names:
Tehuti.
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Sobek He who causes to be fertile. Cult Center: Crocodilopolis
in the Faiyum, after the Twelfth Dynasty he was worshipped
everywhere with cult centers at Kom Ombo, Thebes and at Lake
Moeris. Attributes: Admired and feared for his ferocity. At the
command of Ra, He performed tasks such as catching with a net the
four sons of Horus as they emerged from the waters in a lotus
bloom. Sometimes identified with Seth when Seth took the form of a
crocodile. It is said that in the Osiris legends, Horus takes the
form of a crocodile in order to retrieve the parts of Osiris's body
that were cast into the Nile by Seth.
Slide 26
Sobek He who causes to be fertile. Representation: A crocodile,
a mummified crocodile or as a man with a crocodile-head. Sometimes
wearing horns like those of Amon-Ra, and the solar disk. Relations:
Son of Neith of Sais. Other Names: Sebek, Sebek-Ra, Sobk, Suchos,
Sobki or Soknopais.
Slide 27
Neith Great Goddess. Cult Center: Sais in the western Delta
Attributes: Neith was a goddess of the hunt. She may have also been
a war goddess. Her worship dates from pre dynastic history. In
early times she was called 'mother of the gods' and 'Great
Goddess'. She was considered the guardian of men and gods. Later,
Neith was seen as a protector of the dead, she is often seen
standing with Nephthys at the head of coffins. Or assisting Isis,
Nephthys, and Serqet to guard the Canopic jars. As 'Opener of the
Ways', she was a guide in the underworld, a female Anubis. In the
Eighteenth Dynasty she took on the attributes of Hathor, as a
protector of women. As a creative deity she was said to be the wife
of Khnum at Elephantine. She was appealed to for her wisdom as an
arbitrator during the great quarrel of Horus and Seth.
Slide 28
Neith Great Goddess. Neith assumed the role of state deity
during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, when the kings of Sais repelled
the invading Assyrians and reunited Egypt. This period lasted for
about a century and a half and the tendency in art and religion was
to try to regain the glories of the past. This was a suitable time
for the worship of an ancient goddess. Representation: Neith was
pictured as a woman wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, holding a
bow and crossed arrows. Her cult sign was a shield and crossed
arrows. Occasionally she was represented as the great cow, mother
of Ra. Relations: Varied with time period. Mother of Sobek, Isis,
Horus and Osiris. Or mother of Ra. The pharaoh Nectanebo II of the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty, claimed her as his Mother. Wife of
Khnum.