Ancient Egyptian Gods - 1

Many Gods and wife of Osiris as well as the mother of Horus. Gods were very important to the ancient She was one of the longest-lived deities of Egypt, Egyptians, who were “polytheistic,” which means surviving into Roman times. She was perhaps the they worshipped more than one god. In fact, they most traveled as well, for she became a popular god- worshipped hundreds of gods. Some, such as Ra dess in Italy, worshipped by the Romans, who often (Amon-Ra) were honored by everyone throughout adopted and brought home gods and goddesses of the land. Each of the 42 nomes relied on a different other cultures. She was shown as a woman with a god or family of gods to look after its affairs. At home throne headdress. A protector of the living and the people turned to lesser gods for help with everyday dead, she was especially revered for her magical problems. At the time of Thutmose III there were powers. over 740 named gods, most of which were local gods or goddesses. Horus The sky god, whose eyes were the sun and moon. Representations of Gods Known as the falcon god, sky deity and the living Many Gods were depicted as animals or as hu- ruler, he was eventually incorporated into the Isis- man figures with the heads of animals. Once a god Osiris myths to connect the ruler of Egypt with the was associated with an animal, that animal had to idea of rebirth. Worshipped originally in Upper and be treated with respect. Lower Egypt, he became the first state god of Egypt, whose spirit entered the king. This strengthened the Ra power of the royal families. The sun god Ra was worshipped in many forms, including an old king, a falcon, a scarab beetle and Thoth a ram. He was believed to have come into being as The God of scribes and knowledge, and keeper a child at the beginning of creation, rising out of a of all sacred and magic knowledge, Thoth was lotus (waterlily). Ra was considered to be the father usually depicted in one of three forms: as an ibis, of the kings of Egypt. He was involved in mortu- a man with the head of an ibis, or as a baboon. He ary rituals and in the daily crossing of the sun in assisted the Pharaoh in deciding where his pyramid the heaven. would be built.

Maat Ptah The goddess of law, order, and truth. She made The creator god who invented the arts, and the sure the sun rose each day at the appointed place local god of Memphis, Ptah was depicted as a man in and at the appointed time with absolute reliability. the form of a mummy, holding the djed. Over time he Her symbol is a feather. was merged with Sokar and Osiris to become Ptah- Sokar-Osiris, connected with the bull of Apis. Osiris Osiris began as a fertility god but in later eras Hathor became the judge of the dead. He judged and Known as a patroness of pleasure and music, sentenced souls in his realm in the West. He was Hathor was represented as a woman wearing the sun the lord of Duat, the Underworld, and personified disk and cow horns, or as a cow holding the sistrum. dead kings and other deceased. He was normally Called the “Golden One,” it was she who raised the depicted as a man in mummy wrappings, wearing sun up to heaven on her horns. A favorite in Egypt a plumed crown. for centuries, she was goddess of love, beauty, and children, goddess of the sacred sycamore, and an Isis important sky goddess honored at Dendera, Thebes, Memphis, Abu Simbel and other important sites. Isis, a perfect wife and mother, was the sister

22 Egypt—Tab 3: Fifth Cataract Master Page Ancient Egyptian Gods - 2

Anubis Mut God of cemeteries and embalming, and guardian Given as a wife of Amon at Thebes, she was of the land of the dead, he was usually represented depicted as a woman with a vulture head-dress or in one of two forms: as a crouching black jackal or as crowns, or as a lion-headed woman. She was a war a priest wearing a mask of a jackal. The early Egyp- goddess whose great temple at Thebes demonstrated tians who buried their dead in shallow graves had her position of honor in Egypt. probably seen desert jackals feed on the bodies. In order to protect the corpses, they adopted the jackal Khons as god and protector. A moon god usually depicted as a mummified youth with a lock of hair on his head and sometimes Hapi with the crescent of the moon, Khons could be de- The personification of the Nile, honoring the picted with a falcon’s head as well. He was associated river’s inundations and fertile deposits on the fields with both Amon and Mut at Thebes. of Egypt, Hapi was normally depicted as a fat man holding the symbols of abundance. In some reliefs Bes he was depicted as two men, in a mirror image. Always shown as a hideous dwarf or pygmy, Bes had a wide, snub-nosed face with a shaggy Sobek beard and huge eyes under shaggy eyebrows. His Particularly worshipped at the Faiyum, where protruding tongue and ears that stuck out from his crocodiles abounded, he was normally represented head provoked laughter and were meant to frighten by the crocodile or as a man wearing a crocodile’s off evil spirits. He was one of the most popular gods, head. Sobek was associated in legends with Egypt’s for he was the bearer of happiness to homes, a bearer first king, Aha. of peace to the dead, and protector of the family, of women in childbirth, and their newborn babies. He Wadjet was married to Taurt. Shown as a woman with a cobra head or as a cobra about to strike at the nation’s enemies, Wadjet Taurt was always viewed as a protectress of Egypt. She was Depicted as a female Hippopotamus, with the patroness of Lower Egypt, involved in the coronation paws of a lion and the tail of a crocodile, she was rituals, and part of the Osirian myths. the protector of women in childbirth.

Bastet A goddess with an ancient cult center at Bubastis in the Delta, she was depicted as a cat-headed woman or as a lioness. She was the goddess of life and fertility, love and joy. She was at times a war goddess and at other times the protector of pregnant women. Assignment: Nekhbet 1. The noble should lead the nome in filling Depicted as a vulture or as a woman wearing out the EGYPTIAN GOD CHART. the white crown of Upper Egypt, she was the pa- 2. When this chart is finished, the noble should troness of Upper Egypt. She was involved in the go over each item on the chart orally with coronation rituals. the other members who take brief notes on what distinguishes one god from another. (This knowledge will be necessary to do well in the quiz game coming up.) 3. At the end of the period, the charts should be turned in to the Pharaoh for scoring.

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