Amun was one of the most important gods of the Egyptian pantheon – “The Lord of Truth, Father of the Gods, Maker of Men, Creator of all Animals, Lord of Things that Are, Creator of the Staff of Life”. Isis - Perhaps the most famous Goddess in this Egyptian Goddess list. (Sakhmet, Sekhet ), Selkis - She is a protector of the hawk-headed canopic jar, and along with three other deities who guarded the royal coffins and canopic chests. Likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt.
Most events of mythology, set in a time before the gods' withdrawal from the human realm, take place in an earthly setting. [240] Meanwhile, the cults of several Egyptian deities—particularly Isis, Osiris, Anubis, the form of Horus named Harpocrates, and the fused Greco-Egyptian god Serapis—were adopted into Roman religion and spread across the Roman Empire.
[73], In the time after myth, most gods were said to be either in the sky or invisibly present within the world. People in this era put faith in specific gods who they hoped would help and protect them through their lives. Her attributes were seemingly contradictory, but in fact two complementary aspects – death and destruction, and protection and healing. You will also notice that a large number of the Goddesses are associated with death and rebirth. They give off a scent that the Egyptians likened to the incense used in rituals.
The most important temple image was the cult statue in the inner sanctuary. The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History, Crossing the Veil: The Pre-Christian Origins of Halloween and Samhain, A Pilgrimage of Thought: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The Templar Tunnel: Knight’s Strategic Passageway Was Lost for 700 Years. There are numerous examples they provide an important insight into the minds of ancient Egyptians. The same type of god who failed Oedipus leaving him at the mercy of Apollo and led to the suffering of "The Poor Sufferer" at the hands of Marduk. Surrounding them is the dark formlessness that existed before creation. "[3], Egyptian writings describe the gods' bodies in detail. She protected pregnant women and the infant during childbirth. Some non-royal humans were said to have the favor of the gods and were venerated accordingly.
[198], Egyptian gods were involved in human lives as well as in the overarching order of nature. Pinch, G. 2002. Wadjet - A snake Goddess who was the Patron of Lower Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian Religion – An Interpretation . [128] Horus had many forms tied to particular places, including Horus of Nekhen, Horus of Buhen, and Horus of Edfu. The Egyptians' visual representations of their gods are therefore not literal. Evidence of personal piety is scant before the New Kingdom. [88], Sex and gender were closely tied to creation and thus rebirth. The two traditions form a largely cohesive vision of the gods and their nature. [217] In Roman times, when local deities of all kinds were believed to have power over the Nile inundation, processions in many communities carried temple images to the riverbanks so the gods could invoke a large and fruitful flood.
[5] Scholars have tried to discern the original nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance, and the terms' origin remains obscure. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. [33], Most Egyptian deities represent natural or social phenomena. (Elias Rovielo / CC BY-SA 2.0 ). [103][104] Genealogical connections like these vary according to the circumstances. They gave offerings of figurines that represented the gods they were praying to, or that symbolized the result they desired; thus a relief image of Hathor and a statuette of a woman could both represent a prayer for fertility. (Sothis). In contrast, many of the practices involved in their worship, such as processions and oracles, were adapted to fit Christian ideology and persisted as part of the Coptic Church. Neper – A god of grain. [138][139] In any case, Atenism's aberrant theology did not take root among the Egyptian populace, and Akhenaten's successors returned to traditional beliefs. [51] Except for the few deities who disrupted the divine order,[40] the gods' actions maintained maat and created and sustained all living things.
A daughter of Ra, Bastet was the feline goddess , with her most popular depiction in the form of a domestic cat .
Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named. [83] The host of divine names and titles expresses the gods' multifarious nature. As a result, gods' roles are difficult to categorize or define. And moreover, they believed in an afterlife and rebirth, placing a lot of emphasis on fertility and protection at birth. He had many associations through history but was mostly the “Deity of Knowledge, the Scribe of the Gods, the Author of all Science and Philosophy, the God of Wisdom”. As Egyptian society became more complex more knowledge was written down.
[Note 2] The most prominent ennead was the Ennead of Heliopolis, an extended family of deities descended from Atum, which incorporates many important gods. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, that may be little more than metaphors. Examples are many, like Ảmi-kar the singing ape god, Ảri-em-ăua - god of the sixth hour of night, Maa-en-Rā - an ape doorkeeper god, Neb ảrit-tcheṭflu - goddess who created reptiles, Esna the divine perch, Shentayet the goddess of widows, etc. Some of these groups contain a specific, symbolically important number of deities. This fact means that we couldn’t possibly name them all, but we will try to get you closer to some of the most important deities that were present throughout the timeline of ancient Egypt. I have also included varies spellings of names in this Egyptian Goddess list, reflecting both the difficulties of hierogylphs not representing many vowel sounds and geographical variations. [58] Different versions of a myth could portray different deities playing the same archetypal role, as in the myths of the Eye of Ra, a feminine aspect of the sun god who was represented by many goddesses. Osiris – god of death and resurrection who rules the underworld and enlivens vegetation, the sun god, and deceased souls. [59] Deities' mythic behavior is inconsistent, and their thoughts and motivations are rarely stated. There is evidence suggesting that the general populace continued to worship other gods in private. [77], The Egyptians also devised false etymologies giving more meanings to divine names. [213], Official religion involved a variety of rituals, based in temples. She was also linked to the harvest. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life. These newcomers equated the Egyptian gods with their own, as part of the Greco-Roman tradition of interpretatio graeca. He was the “Lord of Eternity”, the “Master of Justice”, and the “One Who Listens to Prayers”. “Powerful is His Arm” as a popular epithet associated with Set.
2011.
The gods struggle against the forces of chaos and among each other before withdrawing from the human world and installing the historical kings of Egypt to rule in their place. Some texts nevertheless refer to homosexual behavior between male deities. [153] Because of the close connection between these goddesses, they could both wear the cow-horn headdress that was originally Hathor's alone. When the Nile flooded the previously barren land blossomed into life. For each Goddess I have included a brief description of her areas of influence. Neith - Goddess of the hunt and war. Anthropomorphic depiction of goddess Heqet in the temple relief of Ramesses II in Abydos. [107] Other pairs stand for opposite but interrelated concepts that are part of a greater unity. It too is inhabited by deities, some hostile and some beneficial to the other gods and their orderly world. These things were provided by the cults that the king oversaw, with their priests and laborers. Yet overall, the gods are more like archetypes than well drawn characters. The head of a given divine image is particularly significant. Ibises, baboons, crocodiles, scarabs, fish, shrews, and cats were all considered sacred, but sacrificed, nonetheless. [140], Scholars have long debated whether traditional Egyptian religion ever asserted that the multiple gods were, on a deeper level, unified. [168], In official writings, pharaohs are said to be divine, and they are constantly depicted in the company of the deities of the pantheon. Each gives a different perspective on the complex process by which the organized universe and its many deities emerged from undifferentiated chaos. Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events and the course of human lives. She may also have been the inspiration behind the Greek Goddess Hecate. [106] The term "ennead" was often extended to include all of Egypt's deities. This Egyptian Goddess list, covers many of the fascinating Goddesses that you will encounter Egyptian mythology.
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