Egypt had one of the largest and most complex pantheons of gods of any civilization in the ancient world. Over the course of Egyptian history, hundreds of gods and goddesses were worshipped - they were an integral part of people’s everyday lives. There were over 2,000 deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Some of these deities’ names are well known: Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor, Bastet, Thoth, Anubis, Ptah…
Here is a little video I found!
Now let’s talk more about some of the well known Egyptian Gods and Goddesses!
Isis
As the devoted wife who resurrected Osiris after his murder and raised their son, Horus, Isis embodied the traditional Egyptian virtues of a wife and mother. As the wife of the god of the underworld, Isis was also one of the main deities concerned with rites for the dead. Along with her sister Nephthys, Isis acted as a divine mourner, and her maternal care was often depicted as extending to the dead in the underworld.
Osiris
Osiris, one of Egypt’s most important deities, was the God of the underworld. He also symbolized death, resurrection, and the cycle of Nile floods that Egypt relied on for agricultural fertility.
Horus
Depicted as a falcon or as a man with a falcon’s head, Horus was a sky god associated with war and hunting. He was also the embodiment of the divine kingship, and in some eras, the reigning king was considered to be a manifestation of Horus.
Hathor
The goddess Hathor was usually depicted as a cow, as a woman with the head of a cow, or as a woman with cow’s ears. Hathor embodied motherhood and fertility, and it was believed that she protected women in childbirth. She also had an important funerary aspect, being known as “the lady of the west.”
Ra
One of several deities associated with the sun, the god Ra was usually represented with a human body and the head of a hawk. It was believed that he sailed across the sky in a boat each day and then made a passage through the underworld each night, during which he would have to defeat the snake god Apopis in order to rise again.
Over time, Re came to be syncretized with other sun deities, especially Amun.
Amun
Amun was the ancient Egyptian god of the sun and air, and the name probably means the “Hidden One.” He was usually represented as a man wearing a crown with two vertical plumes. His animal symbols were the ram and the goose.
In a form merged with the sun god Re, he became the most powerful deity in Egypt, a position he retained for most of the New Kingdom.
- Who is your favourite Egyptian God and Goddess?
- Why?