303egyptiangods

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117700 K UNIT 3

Egyptian Gods and GoddessesProf. Stephen Hagin K Symbolic Connections in WL K 12th edition K Kennesaw State University

Ammut (also Am-mit or Amemait) his name means Dead-Swallower or TheDevourer; he sits at the sides of the scales of judgment, Ammut devours the wickedsouls, causing them to cease to exist as punishment; depicted as a creature with acrocodile head, feline claws, and a hippopotamus body

Anat goddess of war, often depicted with a shield, lance, and axe; served as aprotectoress of the king in battle, and interchangeable withAstarte; calledmother of all the gods and mistress of the sky; introduced from Syria orPalestine; consort with the Syrian gods Reshef and Baal, who fathered a wildbull with her

Anubis (Anpu) canine god of the dead and the opener of roads for the deadsouls, associated with mummification and embalming; often assumes theform of a jackal, perhaps to ward off these animals from humans who haddied in the desert; also depicted as a black dog, symbolic of rotting corpses

and the fertile black soil of the Nile; he is the bastard son ofOsiris andNephthys, who abandoned her son, but was raised by Isis in her stead

Apophis (Apep) snake-god of the underworld,living in the cosmic waters of Nun,symbolizing the forces of chaos and evil; he

attacks Ras solar barque on its journey

through the dark hours of the day, butdefeated nightly by Set, who is positioned atthe bow of the boat; defeat of this serpentsignifies the final real challenge to thepharaohs soul on its journey to the Duat; onemyth recalls that Apophis was an earlier form ofRa that was discarded, accountingfor his power

Aso a beautiful sorceress and queen of Ethiopia, whose power was supposedly as strong as Isis. In theOsiris myth, Aso assists Set by entering the shadow of Isis andNephthys in order to discover the secret measurements ofOsiris

Astarte war goddess of Syrian origin; depicted as a naked woman onhorseback, crowned with a headdress of bull horns; she was adopted intothe Egyptian pantheon as the daughter of Ra or Ptah, and also as aconsort ofSet; she was the protector of the pharaohs chariot in battle


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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses K 117711Aten(Aton) deity represented as the great red orb (or disk) of the sun,

depicted with long rays resembling outstretched arms, completewith hands, toward the faithful; the cobra amulet, the uraeus, oftensurmounted the disk; he was lauded as the creator of man and thenurturing spirit of the world; originally a manifestation of the sun

god, Aten became the only true sun god worshipped during thereign of the pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1367-1359 BCE), who laterchanged his name to Akhenaten and established a modified form ofmonotheism around Aten

Atum creator god and solar deity; Atum came into being before theheavens and earth were separated, rising out ofNun, the watersof chaos, to form the primeval mound; his name means the all orcompleted one; Atum began creation by copulating with his hand(or spitting out) Shu and Tefnut, therefore earning Atum themoniker the Great He-She; a protector deity, associated closely

with the rituals of kingship (Atum lifts the souls of the deadpharaohs from the pyramid to the heavens); linked with various

animals, such as the lion, bull, lizard, serpent, and scarab beetle;associated withRa, often as a combined form Atum-Ra; receivedthe setting sun inthe boat of Ra as it descends on the horizon

Banebdjede (Banebdjedet) a primeaval ram-headed deity of Djedet(Mendes), whose name means the Spirit (or the Lord) of Djedet;he incorporated the essence of the world in four forms (ba spirits)that referred to the first four rulers of the earth (Ra, Shu, Geb,

and Osiris); consort of the fish goddess Hatmehyt and father ofHarpokrates; according to one tradition, he interceded in thecontest between Horus and Set for the Egyptian throne;Banebdejedet advised the gods to consult the goddess Neith, who

advised them to award the throne to Horus; in this account, hewas said to reside on the island of Seheil near the first cataract ofthe Nile at Aswan

Bast (Bastet) an ancient cat goddess who protected women during pregnancy;was a patroness of music, singing, and dancing, and she was the protectorof joy, love, and pleasure; often depicted with a cats head (or a lioness

head), or as a seated cat; affiliated with the rays of the sun, representinglight and warmth; some consider her to be the mother of the savage lion-god Mahes (Miysis in Greek), whose name means Lord of Slaughter

Bata (Bat) an ancient bull god (or cow goddess, depicted with two faces), representingfertility, ultimately assimilated with Hathor by the New Kingdom; also representedunity over Upper and Lower Egypt, depicted in one 12 th Dynasty tomb flanked byHorus and Set in poses of reconciliation; some scholars assert that Batas identity


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117722 K UNIT 3became incorporated into two other gods: Set and Baal, a Canaanite bull god identifiedwith Set; the Phoenecian and Hebrew "beth" ("house") may be transliteration ofBata, here used as a magical name of Set, and possibly created by a phonetic shiftfrom Seth to Beth

Befen one of seven scorpions sent byThoth and Serkhet to protect Isis and to help herescape Sets captivity

Ennead (Pesedjet) term (meaning nine) used to define the nine major gods of theEgyptian pantheon: Atum (the Bull of the Ennead), his children Shu andTefnut, hisgrandchildren Geb and Nut, and his four great grandchildren Osiris, Set, Isis, and

Nephthys; sometimesThoth, Horus, Ra, and Ptah are included as wellGeb (Seb) Father Earth; the goose (the form

the Creator took in The First Time;created by cackling his delight

turned into manifestation); his bonescreated mountains; he lies beneathNut(sky), usually depicted reclining on oneside with one arm bent, often depictedwith an erect phallus pointing skywardtoward his wife; he represents themountains and valleys of the earth;responsible for vegetation, and oftendepicted green or with green leaves protruding from him; symbolic of the capacity ofconsciousness to awaken itself from the dark substance of the soul

Hapi the god of inundation, and the fertility of the Nile River; symbol of life andfertility, depicted as a pot-bellied bearded man with pendulous breasts and

a headdress filled with aquatic plants, symbolizing the nurturing aspects ofthe river; his name means runner

Hathor bovine goddess with diverse qualities, often worshipped in three forms: as a cow,as a woman with the ears of a cow, and as a woman wearing a headdress consisting ofa wig, horns, and a sun disk; her name means House ofHorus, and her hieroglyphshows a falcon confined inside a rectangle; she was regarded as the divine mother of

all reigning pharaohs, associated with royal

pleasures, such as sex, love, joy, and music;sometimes depicted as a lion form of the goddessSekhmet, and in this guise she assumes the form ofone ofRas eyes smiting blasphemers; also known

as the lady of the west, where she was said toreceive the setting sun, which she protected untilmorning; also known as the lady of the sycamore,

and is associated with healing powers


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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses K 117733Heka magical speech; represented magic, supernatural powers, and miracles;

patron god of wizards and physicians; the concept that the spoken word hasthe power to create or destroy; to repeat a persons name was to render himimmortal; stands in Ras Boat of a Million Years, along with Hu(authoritative utterance or command) and Sia (perception)

Horus face (the face of heaven), high, above; root of the wordhero; he became the intermediary between the living and thedead, receiving human prayers for Osiris; known as the twice-born due to his human reincarnation ofHorus the Elder, hisoriginal spirit form; symbolized as a hawk; representsleadership, as well as the intelligence, alertness, and longevityof a just ruler; nothing escaped his watchful eye (his eyes werefirst depicted as the sun and the moon); became king of Upper

and Lower Egypt

Horus the Elder an original, abstract version of the hawk (divinityof the sky, specifically a placid blue sky); a celestial and solardivinity; symbolized kingship and was placed symbolically

above the kings hieroglyphic names; is reborn as the son ofIsis in human form

Isis the throne, the power to make kings, the seat andthrone of the soul; the binding force of the divine soul;depicted early as a mistress of magic, she learns Ras

true name, and hence the secrets of the universe; alsocalled Weret-Hekau (Great of Magic) and Mut-Netjer(Mother of the Gods); helped to civilize Egypt withher husband Osiris, teaching agriculture and medicine

and instituting marriage; she also attained Raspowers, which she dedicated to the service of mankind

Khepri a creator deity of resurrection depicted in the form of a scarabbeetle (dung beetle) who pushes the sun above the horizon and

across the sky; he is swallowed by his motherNut each evening, and is passed through her womb to be reborn each morning; hisname means he who is coming into being; because he was self-created, he is often identified withAtum; because he is associatedwith the sun, he is also identified with Ra; his name comes from

hprr, which means scarab or he who is coming into being; by the New Kingdom (1539-1070 BCE), he is portrayed as the symbol oflifes victory over death;


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117744 K UNIT 3Khnum (Khenmu) an ancient potter god of fertility who created

children and their ka souls at their conceptions from the clay ofthe earth using his potters wheel; his name means unite, join,or build; his island residence at Abu is thought to be the seat ofthe First Time; he was also a god of water representing the

inundation silt and creation; was believed to be the old guardian ofthe Niles source (pouring it from a clay jar), but later became ahelper to Hapi, assuring that the proper amount of silt wasdeposited during the floods; he was also considered to be the ba of Ra (this is anEgyptian pun, since ba also means ram); he assisted Ra in his travels in the SolarBarque, which Khnum had built

Khons(Khonsu) the moon god and the god of healing, typically represented as a baboon or a mummified hawk-headed human; his name meanswanderer or navigator, and he was associated with the nature ofdreams; he is often honored during childbirth, and was credited with the

ability to drive out evil spirits; linked withThoth, god of writing andwisdom, who is another lunar deity; depicted as a young man with ahawks head, mummy wrappings, and the scepter of the god Ptah

Maat Truth or Judge, goddess of justice, harmony, andequilibrium; depicted as a woman with wings or a womanwith a white ostrich feather tied to her head; this feather isweighed against the heart of the deceased pharaoh in theHall of Judgment; patroness of judges, magistrates, andcourt officials

Metwi (Ouroboros) The great serpent thatencircles the world, allowing the miracleof rejuvenation to take place; its namemeans double cord or lifespan, andtherefore Metwi represents time; theicon of the serpent ingesting its tail isuniversal in mythology, dating back to1600 BCE in Egypt

Min fertility god and symbol of male potency; depicted as a mummified

human figure holding an erect phallus in his left hand (his name meansthe firm one), and his right arm raised in a smiting gesture; associatedwith long lettuce (lactuca sativa), due to the perceived link between themilky sap of lettuce and human semen; also a god of desert travel and theguardian of fertility and harvests; protected the mining areas of theeastern deserts; parallel to the Greek god Pan


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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses K 117755 Nefertem (Un-Nefer) god of the primeval lotus blossom, represented by a

blue lotus; linked with Ra because the sun was said to have arisenfrom a lotus; associated withHathor due to his fertility powers; wasconsidered to be the son of Ptah and Sekhmet, and therefore wassometimes depicted with a lions head (known as the son of Bast, the

cat goddess); perfumes were sacred to this god, who is supposed tohave brought a fragrant flower to Ra to soothe him during a time ofsuffering; his name means Tem [Atum] is beautiful; patron of thehealing arts and beautification

Neith (Nit) creation goddess whose symbol was a shield with crossed arrows; representing Lower Egypt, she wore the red crown; mythicalinventor of weaving, she was linked with mummy bandages; said to be aconsort to Set and mother ofSobek; sometimes she was depicted as asexless being, associated with the lake ofNun, the primordial waters ofchaos before creation; her name means primeval waters, one who is,

or she who saw Atums birth; was the patroness of hunting, warfare,and the Libyans

Nekhbet a vulture goddess paired with Wadjet (cobra goddess of the north),representing dominion over Upper and Lower Egypt, respectively; she isdepicted as a vulture with outspread wings and talons holdingshen signs(symbols of eternity); she resided in the primeval waters of chaos beforecreation; was a patroness of childbirth and nature, often depicted wirh awater lily and a serpent entwined in its stems; her name means she of

Nekheb

Nemty a war god having the form of a falcon, identified with Horus; oftendepicted as a falcon-headed man in a boat; his name means he whotravels, and appears as a ferryman who sails the Ennead to the Islandin the Middle; had his toes cut off for disobeying orders from the Ennead

Nephthys(Nebt-hut) Mistress of the House; Friend of the Dead; the ladyof the house (represents Isis as a married woman); wife of Set, butmistress ofRa and Osiris; rides the night boat of the underworld, meetingthe deceased kings spirit and riding him to Lightland; she givesguidance to the deceased and comforts the living relatives; is the wife of

Set and the mother ofAnubis, the jackal-headed god fathered by Osiris

Nun (Nu) the Father of Fathers and the Mother of Mothers; thevoid; the waters of potentiality; the primeval waters, or astate of being before The First Time; she lies inert until Atumrises and throws off the waters to begin creation (which isongoing), creatingShu (air) andTefnut (moisture); all thingswill return toNun, a perpetual state of nonbeing


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117766 K UNIT 3Nut her name means the sky, especially the starry

sky of nighttime; the starry vault; sleep andcomfort of the night; depicted as a tall womanbending over Geb and supported by Shu; coloredblue and decorated with five-pointed golden stars;

the sun is born ofNuts womb each morning, andreturns to her body via her mouth in the evening;the mother of the gods; she is sometimesrepresented as a cow who eats the stars eachmorning and then gives birth to them at twilight

Ogdoad (Khmun) the name for the group of primeval creationdeities, four pairs of frog gods and snake goddesses,symbolizing the different aspects of chaos before the creation Nun and Nunet (the lack of solidity), Heh and Hehet(infinite; the lack of time), Kek and Keket (the lack of light),

and Tenem and Tenemet (lack of direction); they raised theprimeval mound upon which the egg of the sun god was placed;they were believed to have constituted the soul ofThoth

Onuris (Anhur, Inhert) the god associated with war and hunting, whosename means he who brings back the distant one or the bringer offear; he is portrayed as a bearded man holding a spear or a rope,symbolic of the battles between Horus and Set (Horus used theseweapons to defeat Set in his hippopotamus form); also known as an

avenger defending Egypt on behalf ofRa, assuming Ras warrior aspects, thus given the epithet son ofRa; he was worshipped inconjunction with the god Shu, another solar deity; associated withMars; also represented the creative power of humans

Orion (Sah) the Buried One; the personification of the southernconstellation that was later called Orion by the Greeks; also calledthe Fleet-Footed and Long Strider; this god was described as theglorious soul ofOsiris, and formed a triad withSopdet (Sirius, thedog star) and his son Soped, the god of the eastern border; thisconstellation is the location of the Egyptian Underworld, the Duat

Osiris (Asar, Wesir, Greek Orion) He sees the Throne; the seat andthrone of the eye; the heavenly source of the souls substance and theheavenly body to which all souls return; the judge of the dead andoverseer of the blessed spirits; embodies the Black Land of the TwoLands as the fertile soil from the Niles flood; he is annuallymurdered by the Red Land (Set), but is resurrected at the rising ofSopdet (the star Sirius) in late July; originally the lord of the earth,Osiris became the king of the gods and the Other World after his death


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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses K 117777by Set and his resurrection by Isis; usually represented in mummified form,symbolizing his authority over the dead; called Un-Nefer (Good Being) to indicatehis ability to judge the dead souls of the Underworld

Ptah a creator god, called Lord of Truth in historical records, often depicted

as a mummy with his hands protruding from the wrappings, holding a staffthat combines the djed pillar (stability), ankh sign (life), and the wasscepter (prosperity); the patron of craftsmen, he was thought to haveparalleled Atum, creating the world by thoughts emanating from his heart

and words emerging from his tongue; the source of ethical and moralorder; he devised the Opening of the Mouth ceremony that allowed thehuman soul to ascend to the heavens

Ra (Re) the sun (that is, the sun that is in your mind, as opposed tothe disk in the sky, Aten); Ra was the most popular solar deity,

and he lives inside the physical disk of the sun, which is also

called the Boat of a Million Years, riding on the belly ofNut(sky) and traveling in the darkness of the underworld half of thetime; symbol of light, life, and warmth; a creator and destroyer,Ra represented the sun at its height in the noonday sky (Khepriwas the sunrise and Atum the sunset); symbolized also as a heron(or a phoenix) who rises from the primordial waters (Nun) andsings the song of creation; was often combined with Horus toform Ra-Harakhti, a dweller in (and master of) the horizon; roseout of an egg created by Ptah (or out of a lotus flower); themonthly waxing and waning of the moon restored the eye of Ra;depicted with a solar disk and cobra atop his head

Renenutet (Renenet) a cobra goddess who protected the pharaoh andrepresented fertility and good fortune, often associated with Isis;her name means the nourishing snake, and she is often depicted as

a woman with a snakes head, holding a suckling baby; her namealso means nurse, and this term was used to identify the New Year(the beginning of the Niles inundation); she is also known as lady ofthe fields and lady of the granaries, and she was responsible forprotecting the harvest; she united withWadjet to form a fire-breathing cobra thatprotects the king through the underworld journey on the solar barque; she representsthe cyclical nature of time, that which is preordained (fate), and good fortune

Sekhmet a lioness goddess whose name means she who is powerful; shepersonified the aggressive aspects of female deities, often appearing withthe head of a lioness; she is linked withWadjet when she assumes the

aspects of the fire-breathing Eye ofRa, often called the Red Lady inthis form; as a healer, her powers of destruction would be turned againstplague and disease; was wife to Ptah; paired with Hathor to kill theblasphemers ofRa


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117788 K UNIT 3Serket (Serqet, Selket) a scorpion goddess depicted with a scorpion atop her

head, poised to strike; her name is an abbreviation of the phrase serkethetyt, meaning one who causes the throat to breathe or she whobreathes; one of her duties is to guard the royal coffin and canopic chestin the pharaohs pyramid, along withIsis,Nephthys, andNeith; her name

appears in many spells for curing venomous bites; is the protector of littlechildren, especially from scorpion bites; assisted women in childbirth bywarding off the demons; also known as the goddess of detoxification

Seshet (Seshat) the seven-horned; goddess of writing and measurement, therecorder of deeds and mistress of the books (census, accounting, andmeasurements); she is often depicted holding a palm rib (the hieroglyph formany years), representing the passing of time; similar to her counterpart

Thoth, she was sometimes shown writing the pharaohs names on theleaves of the persea tree; patroness of architecture

Set (Seth, Sutekh, Seti, Seba) the god of the storm, lightning, andthunder, he was a force of strength, violence, destruction, and chaos;his name means instigator of confusion, dazzle, stabilizing staff orpillar, or He before whom the sky shakes; the divine force ofhabits; the ability of the body to control the awareness of flesh; theguardian of the Boat of a Million Years; the shadow ofHorus (Horus

and Set combine to form a complete individual); later became known as the desert Red Land, a murderer, and even evil itself (HebrewSatan and the Greek Typhon); also known as a trickster god;symbolized as an ass, hippopotamus, pig, jackal, and hyena

Shu dry; void; represents the cool air and atmospherebetween the earth (Geb) and sky (Nut), which heseparated to allow creation to occur, according to Rascommand; Shu provides the good wind to the boats, and

assists the soul in its ascent to the afterlife (Lightland),climbing up the ladder held up by Horus and Set;symbolized as a man with a single ostrich feather (or as alion); is the twin toTefnut (warm, moist air)

Sobek (Sebek) watching over you; a crocodile god, often depicted as a

man with the head of a crocodile and a sun-disk headdress withfeathers; son ofNeith, he represented eternal time, emerging from thewatery chaos during the worlds creation; he was associated withRa

and later with the Greek sun god Helios; he was a god of protection andhealing, seeking vengeance against wrongdoers; known for his physicalstrength, he often protected his fellow gods; crocodiles were feared, asthey are the only large animals that attack humans


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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses K 117799Sokar (Seker) he who is upon his sand; adorned one; a fertility god and the

patron of craftsmen, and therefore linked withPtah; originally lord overdarkness and death, and later over judgment and burial; was a spiritguardian over the tombs; depicted as a mummified human figure with thehead of a hawk; also pictured as a low mound of earth surmounted by a

boat that contains the hawks head; consort ofSekhmet; was later fusedwithPtah and Osiris to form the combined deity Ptah-Seker-Asar

Sopdet (also Sothis or Sirius) the skilled female; thepersonification of Sirius, the Dog Star, and manifestation of thegoddess Isis; represented as a woman with a star above her head,but sometimes as a seated cow with a plant between her horns;the Egyptians correlated the rising of the Dog Star with thebeginning of the solar year; formed a triad with her husband Sah(Orion) and her son Soped, a parallel to the Osiris, Isis, Horustriad (the Pyramid Texts unite Sopdet withOsiris to give birth to

the morning star); was considered the true symbol of the cominginundation (akhet) of the Nile River in July or August, thebeginning of the new year in Egypt; the Pyramid Texts say thatthe Osiris (Orion) united with his sister Isis (Sopdet) who gavebirth to the morning star and guided him to the celestial Field ofRushes (the life beyond); she also was linked to the three stars inthe belt ofOrion

Tefen one of seven scorpions sent byThoth and Serkhet to protect Isis and to help herescape Sets captivity

Tefnut sky-spittle, rain; airborne moisture, clouds, dew, and rain; thewetness of life; the biological process; her sweet vaginal watersnourish the earth; depicted as a female sphinx (woman with a lionshead), surmounted by the sun and seated on the throne, trampling theenemies of the Two Lands; twin to Shu; with her twin sisterNut, theearth-god and twin Geb, and god of the air Shu, they made a quartetof air, sky, earth, and water; she was linked to the creative powers ofPtah, serving as a means of bringing life into existence

Thoth (Djehuty) leader; Lord of Time, writing, speaking, wit, inventions, and wisdom; is credited with inventing hieroglyphic script andnegotiating five extra days from the moon (Khons) to establish the 365-day calendar; he represented intellect, divine thought, and the power ofthe mind and soul; he was the patron of writers, teachers, and

accountants, or anyone associated with knowledge or calculation;depicted as an ibis or a baboon (these animals were often viewed singingto the morning sun, with hands raised); he stands at the side of the scales


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118800 K UNIT 3in the Hall of Two Truths to record the verdict of the deceased persons soul (that isread by Anubis); associated with the moon, he was called Lord of Heavens,Beautiful Night, and Silent Being; he was the protector of priest-physicians, andwas associated with the inundation of the Nile; skilled in magic incantations,especially of healing

Udjat the personification of the udjat, the Divine EyeofAtum, Ra, and Horus; Horus lost his left eye(representing the moon) due to his contendingswithSet, but Hathor was able to restore it; thus,the udjateye (the Eye ofHorus) came to signifythe healing process of making things whole; thesymbol also represented the waxing and waningof the moon, and served as a metaphor forprotection, strength, and perfection; her nameliterally means prosperous, whole, or sound

Wadjet a cobra goddess whose name means the green one orshe of the papyrus; because she was portrayed as a rearingcobra, she is associated with the uraeus, the archetypalserpent-image of kingship; every new pharaoh had to claim thethrone from her at his coronation; originally a serpent-motherwho protected lower Egypt; Wadjet was paired with thevulture goddess Nekhbet, the pair described as nebty (twoladies), symbolizing the dualities of the Egyptian world; themothers of cobras and vultures were considered to be thefiercest protectors of their young

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