Divine powers and gods of Ancient Egypt (table)

The ancient Egyptian religion has come a long way in 3 thousand years and the ancient Egyptians worshiped a huge number of gods. The table also shows the most important and revered gods of Ancient Egypt.

Picture	Description
	Amon (ancient Egyptian “hidden”) – the ancient Egyptian god, worshiped in the city of Thebes. He was portrayed as a man wearing a high crown of two feathers, sometimes with the head of a ram; sacred animals – ram, goose, snake. Since the XVIII dynasty, the supreme god (in identification with Ra – Amon-Ra), the patron saint of royal power and wars of conquest. Together with Amon, the so-called Theban triad is formed by his wife, the goddess Mut (ancient Egyptian “mother”) and his son, the moon god Khonsu (ancient Egyptian “wandering”).
	Anubis – an ancient Egyptian god, in the III millennium BC, before the spread of the cult of Osiris, – the deity of the afterlife. Later – the deity of the circle of Osiris as the lord of the dead, the patron saint of the funeral ritual. The sacred animal is a black jackal, with the head of which he was depicted. The center of the cult is the city of Kinopol.
​	Apis – a sacred bull of black and white color revered in ancient Egypt, which was considered the earthly repository of the god of fertility Osiris-Hapi, was kept and buried after death in his temple in Memphis.
	Aton (ancient Egyptian “solar disk”) is an ancient Egyptian god who was worshiped in the form of the sun visible in the sky. Known from the Middle Kingdom; under Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) – the central figure of the religious reform carried out by him (the only god, the supreme ruler of the world, having the title of Pharaoh, and the father of Akhenaten).
	Atum (ancient Egyptian “complete, complete” or “nonexistent”) – the ancient Egyptian god-demiurge, worshiped in the city of Heliopolis. After identification at the beginning of the V dynasty with the god Ra, he acquired the aspect of a solar deity.
	Ba – in the ancient Egyptian concept of “power”, the physical life energy of a person. According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, the soul-Ba consisted of the totality of the feelings and emotions of a person. Variability was attributed to Ba; in addition, it was believed that it is closely related to other shells and directly depends on the state of the physical body. During the life of the body, the ba traveled through the world of dreams. He could move freely between the world of the dead and the living. Soul-Ba could also migrate to other bodies at the request of its owner. After the death of a person, she was next to the heart while weighing it, then, according to the Egyptians, she fell into a lethargic sleep.
	Bastet is the ancient Egyptian goddess of love and fun, worshiped in the city of Bubastis. A sacred animal is a cat, with the head of which she could be portrayed.
	Geb is the ancient Egyptian god of the earth, the son of Shu and Tefnut, brother and husband of Nut and the father of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Was the God of the Earth or the Earthly Hill. Cosmogonic myths portrayed him as being in eternal conjunction with the goddess of the sky Nut, until the god of air Shu separated them. In the texts of the pyramids, he is also credited with the protection of the dead. He was depicted as an old man with a beard and royal ornaments or stretched out in full length, with Nut leaning on him, supported by Shu.
	Isis – the ancient Egyptian goddess, originally associated with the royal power and personifying the throne; later included in the cult of Osiris as his faithful wife and selfless mother Horus. Thus, she personified the ideal of femininity and motherhood. She is also known as the protector of the dead and the patron goddess of children. In Hellenistic times, the cult of Isis from Egypt spread throughout the ancient world.
	Ka – in ancient Egyptian ideas, an objectively existing visible image of a person and, in principle, any creature and object that arises with him, accompanies him throughout his life and remains after his death (destruction) in the memory of people and images. “Preserving the ka” of the deceased by creating accurate images of him is one of the main methods of magically maintaining his posthumous existence. “Ka” was portrayed as a semblance of its bearer, but with arms raised up.
	Maat (ancient Egyptian “truth”) is a fundamental concept of the Egyptian worldview, which means a cosmological / social order maintained by the supreme god and pharaoh as opposed to the tendencies of chaos (“isfet”). She personified truth, justice, universal harmony, divine institution and ethical norm; Common Egyptian goddess (depicted with a feather on her head).
	Min – the ancient Egyptian god of fertility, which is associated with his ityphallic appearance (a god who gave birth to himself out of chaos); in addition, he was the patron saint of the routes (caravans) that connected Egypt with the coast of the Red Sea. Revered in the city of Koptos, located at the beginning of these paths. Also the patron saint of fertility and harvest, cattle breeding, reproduction and male sexual potency.
	Montu is the ancient Egyptian warrior god, patron of the pharaoh’s military successes. He was depicted with the head of a falcon and was revered in the city of Hermont and the city of Thebes, where he was later ousted from the leading place in the cult by Amon.
	Mut, the Egyptian goddess (actually “mother”) – the ancient Egyptian goddess, the queen of heaven, the second member of the Theban triad (Amon-Mut-Khonsu), the mother goddess and patroness of motherhood. Originally identified with Nuanet from the “Eight of the Gods”. Over time, Mut herself began to appear in the form of a creator goddess. At the time of the rise of the cult of the god Amun, she becomes the mother, wife and daughter of Amun. the rulers of Egypt worshiped Mut, which gave the rights to rule the country. She was depicted with a vulture on her head and two Egyptian crowns.
	Neith is an ancient Egyptian goddess who was revered as the creator of the world, the patroness of hunting and war in the city of Sans. The cult of Neith was also widespread among the Libyans.
	Nephthys – Her name in Egyptian is pronounced as Nebethet, was considered by some authors as the goddess of death, and by others as an aspect of Black Isis. Nephthys was also sometimes called the Lady of the Scrolls and was credited with the authorship of mournful chants and other hymns. Despite her connection with the Lower World, Nephthys bore the title of “Goddess of creation who lives in everything.” She was also considered the goddess of sexuality and the feminine counterpart of the ever-aroused god Ming. In Mendes, in the Nile Delta region, she was revered as the goddess of healing. She was portrayed as a woman with a hieroglyph of her name on her head (a house with a building basket above).
	Nehbet is the goddess of the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, the city of Nehen (Hierakonpolis), depicted in the guise of a kite. In addition, she was depicted as a woman with a kite on her head and a white crown of Upper Egypt. Since the I dynasty, together with the goddess Uajit, is considered the patroness of the king of a united Egypt; in the New Kingdom is honored as a deity helping with childbirth.
	Nut (Well, Nuit) is the ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky, daughter of Shu and Tefnut, sister and wife of Geb and mother of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. She was depicted in the form of a heavenly cow, as well as in the form of a woman stretching across the entire horizon and touching the ground with the tips of her fingers and toes, often with Geb lying below. The image of the beautiful Heavenly Cow does not refer to the “lower sky”, the airspace over which the clouds float (he was personified by Shu), but to the higher and more distant sphere of stars, which since antiquity has been called the cosmos. In this context, the name Milky Way makes sense for the stellar strip, in the form of which our Galaxy appears before the inhabitants of the Earth. The image of the Space Cow dates back to ancient times. In the Pyramid Texts there are phrases: “A star floats on the ocean under Nut’s body” (whatever the Nut’s body, but it is clearly identified with the Cosmos, and the ocean is possibly with air or even the sphere of stars).
	Ogdoada (Greek “eight [of the gods]”; Egyptian “hemenu”) is an ancient Egyptian cosmogonic system that developed in the 1st millennium BC. in the city of Hermopolis. It included four pairs of male and female deities, personifying the primary ocean (Nun and Nounet), space (Huh and Hauchet), darkness (Cook and Kauket), “invisible”, i.e. air (Amon and Amaunet). Male deities were depicted in the form of or with the heads of frogs, female deities – snakes. The emergence of these deities was identical to the emergence from chaos of the world divided into elements. The picture shows four gods out of eight.
	Osiris is an ancient Egyptian god, whose resurrection after death (murder by the evil brother Set) was associated with his aspect of the lord of the afterlife, manifested in his iconography as a mummy placed on the throne. Identification with Osiris and / or justification by him at the afterlife is a way for the deceased to achieve afterlife bliss. The center of the cult from the end of the 3rd millennium BC – Abydos.
	Ptah is the ancient Egyptian god who created all the other gods and the world with his magic word (naming the names of all things). Revered in Memphis in the form of a man whose entire body is hidden under special clothing.
	Ra (ancient Egyptian “Sun”) – the ancient Egyptian sun god; the supreme deity is the creator and supreme ruler of the world. From the IV-V dynasty – the state deity, the father of every newly born pharaoh. The center of the cult is the city of Heliopolis. He was identified with local deities who had risen to general Egyptian veneration (Ra-Atum, Amon-Ra, Sebek-Ra).
	Sarapis (Serapis) is a Hellenistic deity that appeared at the end of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. based on the synthesis of the cults of the Egyptian god Osiris-Hapi (see Apis) and the Greek Zeus, Dionysus and Pluto. With the participation of Manetho of Sevennite, she became the patron saint of the Ptolemaic dynasty; in addition – the deity of the sun, fertility and the afterlife.
	Sebek is an ancient Egyptian god in the guise of a crocodile, who was considered the lord of the waters, the source of fertility, the protector of the supreme deity. The center of his special reverence is the Fayum oasis; at the same time, his cult was spread throughout Egypt.
	Set is an ancient Egyptian god; originally – the warrior god who protected Ra, as well as the god of thunder, storm, desert. Since the Hyksos time – the god of non-Egyptian, primarily Asian, lands. Inclusion in the cult of Osiris as the evil brother who killed him led to the idea of Seth as the personification of evil.
	Sokhmet (ancient Egyptian “powerful”) – the ancient Egyptian goddess of war, plague, solar heat, depicted with the head of a lioness. Revered in Memphis as the wife of the main local god Ptah and mother of the god Nefertum.
	Taurt is an ancient Egyptian goddess – the patroness of childbirth, female fertility and family. Revered in the form of a standing female hippo or crocodile with lion legs in Thebes, without being associated with the circle of Amun. Taurt patronized the deceased in the Duat (afterlife), drove away evil spirits from their homes, so her images are often found on amulets and various household items.
	Tefnut, (Tefnet) – in the Egyptian goddess of moisture and heat. She was depicted in the form of a cat, or a woman with the head of a lioness. She was Shu’s wife and sister. The center of the Tefnut cult was the city of Heliopolis. They said about her: “The daughter of Ra on his forehead.” When Ra rises above the horizon in the morning, Tefnut shines with a fiery eye in his forehead and burns the enemies of the great god.
	Thoth (Greek; Egyptian Dzhehuti) – the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom and the moon; the vizier of the supreme god Ra; the creator of writing and calendar. He was portrayed as a man with the head of an ibis, often with papyrus and a writing set; sacred animals – ibis and baboon. The center of the cult is the city of Hermopolis. In the 1st millennium BC. identified with the Greek god Hermes.
	Wajit (ancient Egyptian “Green”) – the goddess of the ancient cult center of Lower Egypt, Pe-Dep (Greek Buto). Embodying the power of the pharaoh, she was revered in the form of a cobra-ureus, which adorned his crowns from the era of the Old Kingdom.
	Hapi is an ancient Egyptian god who personifies the flooding of the Nile. He was portrayed as an obese man holding vessels with water pouring from them. Due to his fertile nature, Hapi was sometimes considered the “Father of the Gods”, and he was also considered a caring father who kept the cosmos in balance. Starting from the 19th dynasty, he could be depicted as two gods, symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.
	Hathor (ancient Egyptian “container of Horus”, its Egyptian name is Heru) – the ancient Egyptian goddess of sensual love, music and dance, intoxication; at the same time a formidable goddess who exterminated people at the will of Ra (compare with a similar duality in the image of the Mesopotamian Ishtar); mother of Choir the Elder. She was depicted in the form of a cow, later – a woman with cow horns; the center of the cult is the city of Dendera.
	Khnum is the ancient Egyptian creator god who created humanity on a potter’s wheel and sculpted people at their birth. He was also the keeper of the Nile. The center of the cult is the island of Elephantine and the city of Esne in the south of Egypt. Depicted as a ram or a man with a ram’s head with twisted horns.
	Khonsu is an Egyptian god revered in Thebes as the son of Amun and Mut or Sebek and Hathor. Sometimes he was identified with Thoth, which is why he was called the “scribe of truth.” He was also considered a god-healer. He was worshiped by the Ramessids. He was depicted as a man with a lunar sickle and a disc on his head, as well as with the head of a fawn (falcon) and with the same lunar features.
	Hor (Horus) – the god of the sky, royalty and the sun; the living ancient Egyptian king was represented as the embodiment of the god Horus. His main opponent is Seth. It included two hypostases: the so-called Khor the Elder – the son and protector of Ra, revered in the form of a falcon or a winged solar disk (in the guise, revered in the city of Behdet; another center of the cult is the city of Edfu); the son of Isis, conceived by her from the dead Osiris, who took his power over the world and avenged Seth for the murder of his father.
	Shu is the Egyptian deity of the air, the son of Atum, brother and husband of Tefnut. After the identification of Atum with Ra, he was considered the son of Ra. During the universe, Shu raised the sky – Nut – from the earth – Hebe and then supported it with outstretched hands. Shu – the god of the air space, illuminated by the sun; he subsequently acquired the character of a deity of the scorching midday sun.
	Enneada (Greek “nine [of the gods]”) is an ancient Egyptian cosmogonic and theological system created at the center of the cult of the god Ra in the city of Heliopolis and including him and several generations of the gods descended from him. Within its framework, the god Ra “re-existed” from the initial chaos, impregnating himself and creating the god of air Shu and the goddess of moisture Tefnut; from them come the god of the Earth Geb and the goddess of the sky Nut; from them – the gods Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. The purpose of this system is to include the widespread at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. the cult of Osiris into the more ancient cult of the sun god Ra and explain the origin of not only the world, but also the Egyptian state (generations of gods successively replace each other on the Egyptian throne).
	Yah – the ancient Egyptian god of the moon (crescent), revered in the city of Hermopolis along with Thoth. The sacred animal is the baboon.

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