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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Religion in ancient Egypt, famous gods and goddesses


Amun:  Amun is the local god of Thebes. He is the god of the wind and air as well as being the chief of all gods. His worship was the strongest among all deities especially in the New Kingdom.
               
Amun-Re:  A combination of god Amun and god Ra. The name became popular when the worship of Amun spread to all over the country.            

Anubis:  Anubis is the god of the dead. He was associated with embalming of a dead man, and he plays a big role in a man's travel to the underworld. Anubis is illustrated as a jackal or a jackal-headed man.
               
Apis:  Apis is god of Memphis illustrated as bull, crowned with the sun disc and a uraeus . The bull itself was honored in celebrations after being chosen after recognizing some signs that indicate its sacredness.
               
Aten:  The son god. He is pictured as a sun disc with rays extending from it ending in human hands. Aten was worshipped with other god until Akhenaten made him the sole god.
               
Bastet:  This is depicted as a cat-headed goddess holding a sistrum or as a cat. Her worship was centered in Bubastis in Delta. She was a deity of pleasure.
               
Geb:  He is the earth god. He is depicted as a man with a goose on his head. He is also husband-brother of Nut, the sky goddess. Geb and Nut are associated with cosmogonic tale.
               
Hapi:  This is the god of the Nile and river. Hapi is usually depicted as a man with developed female breasts as a symbol of abundance.
               
Haroeris:  Horus the elder, a variation of Horus.

Hathor:  Goddess of love, music and dancing . etc. Hathor is usually pictured as a cow or a woman with the sun disc between her horns. Sometimes she is considered an aspect of Isis.
               
Horus:  Horus is illustrated as a falcon or a falcon-headed man. He is the god protector and the deity of war. Horus is considered a manifestation of a living king.
               
Imhotep:  The vizier and architect who built Djoser's step pyramid and deified as a physician god later.
               
Isis:  Isis is goddess of fertility and motherhood. She is the mother of Horus and wife of Osiris. Isis is always depicted wearing horns that bear the sun-disc in between. Isis was very popular in Greek and Roman eras and her cult. The island of Philae at Aswan was a strong center of her cult that survived to be the most recent Ancient Egyptian-related worship.
               
Khnum:  Always depicted as a ram-headed man, Khnum is the god creator of mankind. The cult of Khnum was mainly worshipped in Elephantine.
               
Khonsu:  Khonsu is the son of god Amun and goddess Mut. He is sometimes depicted as a child with a plate in his head, or a falcon-headed man.
               
Maat:  Maat is depicted as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head, and sometimes with wings. Maat is associated with the judgement of the deceased; she weighs his heart.
               
Mandulis (Merul): Mandulis is a lion-headed god whose worship was limited to Nubia .               
Min:  The ithyphallic god of fertility, always depicted wearing plumed crown with a flail in his right hand and an erect penis. He is sometimes associated with God Amun.
               
Montu:  The warrior-god always illustrated with a falcon head wearing double plumes and a sun disc. Montu was manifested in a bull called Buchis.
               
Mut:  Goddess of sky usually depicted as a woman wearing a vulture headdress or the double crown of Egypt. Mut was also a wife to Amun and mother of Khonsu and Montu. Her theophany was the vulture.
               
Nut:  Nut is also a sky goddess, usually depicted as a woman whose body is stretched over the earth, personified in Geb, her husband, the earth. Her body is full of stars in a magnificent manifestation of the sky.
               
Osiris:  God of the dead and the judge of the netherworld and fertility in many occasions. Osiris is the husband of goddess Isis and father of god Horus. Horus is illustrated as a mummified man with plumed crown on his head.
               
Pakhet:  She is lion goddess of the desert. She was associated with the Greek with their goddess Artemis, the virgin huntress, which reflects Pakhet's own features.
               
Petesouchos:  One guise of God Sobek worshipped in locally in Fayoum, as his worship was centered there.
                 
Pnepheros:  Another guise of God Sobek worshipped in locally in Fayoum. -See Petesouchos and Soknopaios.
                 
Ptah:  God of Architects and builders. He always appears as a mummified man, with a scepter in his hands. Ptah is the creator of Memphis.
               
Ra:  Ra, also called Re, is a supreme god in ancient Egypt. He is a sun god and chief deity of Heliopolis, always appear with a falcon head crowned with a solar disc with a uraeus attached to it.
               
Re-Harakhty:  This is a combination between god Ra and Horus. Harakhty is one name of Horus, which means "Horus of the Horizon."
               
Reneutet (Termuthis):  The serpent goddess of harvest and happiness usually depicted as a serpent wearing horns containing the sun disc.
               
Satis:  Goddess of fertility and inundation of the Nile. She is usually depicted as a woman wearing a conical crown with elaborated horns.
               
Serapis:  Serapis is a combination of god Osiris and Apis, an invention created by Ptolemy I Soter I.
               
Seth:  Seth is the evil brother of Isis and Osiris. He killed the latter and scattered his disassembled body all over Egypt. He is the god of deserts and chief deity of the Hyksos .
               
Sobek:  Sobek is always represented as a crocodile or a crocodile-headed man. He is god of fertility and mightiness. Sobek is also the domestic god of Fayoum region. He was worshipped there in three guises as Petesouchos, Pnepheros and Soknopaios.
               
Soknopaios:  A variation of God Sobek, the third form that was worshipped domestically in Fayoum. -See Petesouchos, Pnepheros.
                 
Thoth:  Thoth is always depicted as an ibis-headed man. He is god of wisdom, healing and writing.

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