Amut

Amut was a creature that lived in the

underworld and ate the souls of the dead
who were found unworthy of moving on to
the afterlife. Amut is depicted with the
head of a crocodile, the forequarters of a
lion, and the hindquarters of a
hippopotamus.

Anubis
Anubis was the god of mummification.
However his jobs were not limited to just
mummification. He supervised the
embalming of bodies. He received the
mummy into the tomb and performed the
Opening of the Mouth ceremony and then
conducted the soul in the Field of
Celestial Offerings. Most importantly,
Anubis monitored the Scales of Truth to
protect the dead from deception and
eternal death. Anubis was the bastard son
of Nephthys and Osiris. (Osiris and Isis
were married)

Aten
Aten was a being who represented the
god or spirit of the sun, and the actual
solar disk. He was depicted as a disk with
rays reaching to the earth. Aten was
called the creator of man and the
nurturing spirit of the world. He was
prominent in the later periods of ancient
Egypt. Aten was symbolized by the sun
disk, heat and light of the sun.

Aker
Aker was an ancient earth-god in Egypt.
He was believed to guard the gates of
the dawn from which the sun rose each
morning. He was portrayed as a doubleheaded lion, or a two lions sitting backto-back. In between them is shown the
sun with the sky overhead. In this way
they form the akhet symbol, which was a
symbol of the horizon.

Apophis
Apophis, also known as Apep, was
depicted as a giant snake and was
the Lord of Chaos. He was the mortal
enemy of Ra, the god of the sun.
Each day he attempted to disrupt the
passage of the solar barge of Ra.
Apep was a genuine threat to Ra and
his daily travels. At times he was
successful and when this occurred
stormy weather would occur. When
Apep swallowed the barge, there was
a solar eclipse.

Bastet
Bastet was usually represented as a
woman with the head of a
domesticated cat. However, up until
1000 BC she was portrayed as a
lioness. Bastet fought Aposphis at
the behest of her father, Ra. She was
the goddess of fire, cats, the home
and pregnant women. Bastet
seemed to have two sides to her
personality, docile and aggressive.
Her docile side was displayed in her
duties as a protector of the home,
and pregnant women. Her
aggressive and vicious nature was
exposed in the accounts of battles
with Apophis and other enemies. Bastet was symbolized by cats,
lionesses, and sistrum.

Bes
Bes was the god of music and
dance, the god of war and slaughter,
and a destroying force of nature. He
was also a protector of children. He
was depicted as Bes was usually
portrayed as a dwarf with a large
head, a beard, a flat nose, bushy
eyebrows and hair, large projecting
ears. Around his body, he wears the
skin of an animal. He wears on his
head a tiara of feathers. He is
symbolized by lions, knives, bells,
and drums.

Buto
Buto, also known as Wadjet, was
depicted as a woman wearing the
Red Crown of Lower Egypt. She was
shown carrying a papyrus stem
around which was coiled a cobra.
Sometimes she was shown as just a
cobra coiled in a basket and wearing
the crown of Lower Egypt. She was a
prominent protector of all of Lower
Egypt. Buto was a personification of
the sun's burning heat and she was
called the "Lady of Heaven" and the
queen of all of the gods. Later in
Egyptian history, she was closely
associated with Horus the Elder, who
was the protector god of Lower
Egypt. Also she was associated with
Harpokrates (Horus the Younger);
she protected him from Seth in the
marshes of the Delta while Isis was searching for the body of
Osiris. She was married to Hapi

Duamutef
Duamutef was one of the four
children of Horus the Elder and Isis.
He and his brothers were born from
a lotus flower and were solar gods
associated with the creation. The
brothers were in charge of the
funerary duties of mummification
and each was a protectors of the
four cardinal points. In relation to the
duties of mummification, each son
protected an organ and was
protected by a goddess. Duamutef
protected the stomach and was the
guardian of the East. He was protected by the goddess Neith.

Geb
Geb was the god of earth and father
of Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.
His wife, Nut, was the goddess of
the sky. Geb was depicted either as
a green skinned man with leaves on
his skin or depicted as reclining on
one elbow with a knee and arm in
the air under Nut.

Hapi
Hapi is the god of the Nile.
Hapi
was portrayed as a man with
women's breasts and
protruding belly. The full
breasts
and stomach indicate fertility
and his
ability to nourish the land. As
a god
of the northern Nile he was
called
"Hap-Meht" and was depicted
wearing papyrus plants. His
wife in
this form was Nekebet. The
Nilegod of Upper Egypt was
"HapReset" and wore lotus plants.
His
wife was Buto when he was
in this
form. When an artist was
attempting to portray Hapi as
a god
of the entire Nile, he holds
both
lotus and papyrus plants in his hands and two vases. He was
considered the Creator of all things.

Hapy
Hapy was one of the four children of
Horus the Elder and Isis. He and his
brothers were born from a lotus
flower and were solar gods
associated with the creation. The
brothers were in charge of the
funerary duties of mummification
and each was a protectors of the
four cardinal points. In relation to the
duties of mummification, each son
protected an organ and was
protected by a goddess. Hapy
protected the lungs of the deceased

and was the guardian of the North. He was protected by the

goddess Nephthys.

Hathor
The horned cow-goddess was the goddess of love, happiness,
dance and music, and a protector of women. She is depicted as a
cow, as a woman with the head of a cow, or as a woman with who
wears the stylized cow-horns which hold a solar disk between
them. Early in Egyptian mythology she was known has Horus'
mother. Later she was reborn as Sekmet. (See Sekmet profile for
more info)

Heket
Heket was the goddess of childbirth
and wife of Khnum. She was
depicted as a frog or a woman with
the head of a frog. Pregnant
women often wore amulets and
scarabs featuring Heket to protect
them during childbirth.

Horus
Horus was known as the king of
the gods. Horus was among the
most important gods of Egypt,
particularly because the Pharaoh
was supposed to be his earthly
embodiment. Horus had many
forms over the course of Egyptian
history. As Horus the Younger he
was "Horus, the son of Isis". Horus
was conceived magically by Isis
following the murder of his father,
Osiris. Horus was raised by his
mother on the floating island of
Chemmis. He was in constant
danger from his evil uncle Seth
(who had killed his father Osiris)
but his mother protected him and
he survived and eventually
defeated Seth. Haroeris, aka
"Horus the Elder", was one of the
earliest forms of Horus and the
patron deity of Upper (southern)
Egypt. He was said to be the son,
or sometimes the husband of
Hathor. He was also the brother of
Osiris and Seth. He became the
conqueror of Seth and the patron
of Lower Egypt c. 3000 BCE when
Upper Egypt conquered Lower
Egypt and formed the united
kingdom of Egypt. He was
depicted as a falcon-headed man,
sometimes wearing the crowns of
Upper and Lower Egypt. Horus the
Elder had numerous wives and
children, and his 'four sons' were
grouped together and generally said to be born of Isis. His
symbols were hawks/falcons, bulls, the Double Crown, the Winged
Disk, the Udjat, and blacksmiths

Isis
Isis changed forms throughout
Egyptian history. Over the course of
Egyptian history she was Isis was
the sister of Nephthys, Seth, and
Osiris (who was also her husband
later in history), the daughter of Nut
and Geb and the mother of Horus
the Child. She was also wife to Horus
the Elder at one point and mothered
four children from him. In the Book
of the Dead, Isis is regarded as the
giver of life and food to the dead.
Another of her roles was to protect
Imsety, one of the four sons of Horus
and herself, as he guarded over the
liver of the deceased.Isis was a great
magician and is famous for the use
of her magical skills. For example,
she created the first cobra and used
it's venomous bite to coerce Re into
revealing his secret name. Isis is
depicted as a woman wearing a
vulture head-dress and the solar disk
between a pair of horns. Her symbols include a women with
winged arms, a throne, a kite, a scorpion, and a sistrum.

Imhotep
Imhotep is one of the few Egyptian
gods (other than the pharaohs) who
was actually a real person. In life he
was the vizier of Djoser, a pharaoh
of the third dynasty. Imhotep was
also a priest, writer, a doctor and a
founder of the Egyptian studies of
astronomy and architecture. During
the Late Dynastic Period when the
capital of Egypt was moved to Sais,
Imhotep was fully deified. He was
called the son of Ptah and his
mother was either Nut or Sekhmet.
He was also associated with Thoth
and became a patron of wisdom and

medicine. Imhotep was portrayed as a priest with a shaven head,

seated and holding a papyrus roll.

Imsety
Imsety was one of the four children of
Horus the Elder and Isis. He and his
brothers were born from a lotus flower
and were solar gods associated with the
creation. The brothers were in charge of
the funerary duties of mummification
and each was a protectors of the four
cardinal points. In relation to the duties
of mummification, each son protected
an organ and was protected by a
goddess. Imsety protected the liver of
the deceased and was the guardian of
the South. He was protected by the goddess Isis who was also his
mother.

Khonsu
Khonsu was a moon-god and the son of
Amon-Re and Mut. He was usually
portrayed as a man with the head of a
hawk and wearing the lunar disk. He
was also shown as a child with the side
lock of youth. Khonsu was a very old
god of primitive times. Khonsu was
associated with the moon and was
considered a form of Thoth by the
Thebens
It was said that when Khonsu caused
the crescent moon to shine, women to
conceive, cattle to became fertile, and all nostrils and every
throat to fill with fresh air.

Maat
Ma'at was the goddess of the physical
and moral law of Egypt, of order and
truth. She was the wife of Thoth and
had eight children with him. It was when
the world was created and chaos was eliminated that the
principles of Ma'at were set in place. The Egyptians believed that
if the pharaoh ever failed to live by and maintain Ma'at that chaos

would return to Egypt and the world and all would be destroyed.
Thus, the pharaohs of Egypt saw it as their cosmic role to uphold
the principles of Ma'at. Ma'at is depicted in the form of a woman
seated or standing. She holds the scepter
in one hand and the ankh in the other. A
symbol of Ma'at was the ostrich feather and
she is always shown wearing it in her hair.

Mut
Mut means "mother"
and in many ways she
was regarded by the
Egyptians as the great
"world mother," and
mother of the
pharaohs. Mut was
originally the female
counterpart of Nun.
However, in Thebes she
replaced Amaunet to
become the wife of the
great god Amon. Her
son was the local god
of the moon, Khonsu.
The goddess is usually
portrayed as a woman
wearing the united
crowns (or Double
Crown) of the North
and the South. In her
hands she holds the
papyrus sceptre and
the emblem of life,
ankh. Other images
show her as a woman
standing upright. Her arms are stretched out at 90 degree angles
to her body and have large wings attached to them. The feather
of Ma'at is at her feet. Some portraits depict Mut with the heads
of a man, a woman, a vulture and a lioness.

Neith
Neith is one of the oldest Egyptian
goddesses. She was sometimes depicted as
a woman wearing the crown of the north and
holding either a scepter or a bow and two
arrows. At other times she was shown as a
woman wearing a shuttle (a tool used in
weaving) on her head. It is believed that she
was originally a goddess of war (due to the
bow and arrows imagery) and may have
become later a goddess of weaving (when
wearing the shuttle). She was occasionally
shown suckling a crocodile who represented
her son, Sobek. She was self-produced and
the Egyptians believed she was of both a
masculine and feminine nature. It was said
that Neith gave birth to Re while she was still in the waters of
Nun. Neith was the protector of Duamutef.

Nekbet
Nekhebet was the vulture-goddess of Upper
Egypt. She was a protective deity of the south
along with Seth. When Seth became disgraced
as the murderer of Osiris, she became more
important and prominent. Nekhebet was often
shown with Buto, the cobra-goddess of the
North. As protective deities, they symbolized a
united Egypt and guarded the pharaoh.
Nekhebet was often shown with her wings
spread above the pharaoh in a protective and
almost motherly gesture of protection.
Nekhebet was called the right eye of Re and
was the wife of Hapi. Nekhebet was portrayed in
art as a vulture or as a woman wearing the White Crown of Upper
Egypt. In her hands she holds a lotus flower with a cobra wrapped
around it and an ankh.

Nephthys
She was the daughter of Geb and Nut and the
sister of Osiris, Isis and Seth. She was also the
wife of Seth. The name "Nebt-het" means the
"lady of the house." By "house" it is understood
to be the portion of the sky where Horus lived.
Nephthys was portrayed as a woman wearing
on her head the symbol of her name, or the
symbol on top of a pair of horns. Her son was
Anubis, whose father was Osiris. Some myths
say that Nephthys intoxicated Osiris and
seduced him, thus creating Anubis. Yet others
say that she disguised herself as her sister Isis,
Osiris' wife, and became pregnant by him. It
was Nephthys' affair with Osiris which enraged
Seth and was one of his motives for murdering
Osiris. Since the earliest of times, Nephthys was
considered to be Seth's counterpart and wife.
She was always associated with him. Even so,
she was depicted as the loyal friend and sister
to Isis. It was Nephthys who helped Isis search
for and rebuild Osiris' body. One of her roles was to protect Hapy,
one of the four sons of Horus, as he guarded over the lungs of the
deceased.

Nut
The goddess Nut was the daughter of
Shu and Tefnut and the wife of Geb, the
earth god. She was the goddess of the
sky and the place where clouds formed.
Many times she is shown as a woman
whose hands and feet touch the ground
so that her body forms a semi-circle. As
such she represents the heavens. Her
arms and legs represent the four pillars
on which the sky rests. She is held up
by her father Shu (the god of the air).
Her husband Geb lies on the ground
reclining on one elbow and his knees in
the air. In this position he depicts the
hills and valleys of the land. It was said
that when Shu raised Nut (the sky)
above Geb (the earth) he brought an end to chaos and if he ever
left this position, chaos would return.

Sekmet
Sekhmet was the lioness-headed goddess
of war and destruction. She was the sister
and wife of Ptah. She was created by the
fire of Re's eye. Re created her as a
weapon of vengence to destroy men for
their wicked ways and disobedience to
him. Having once unleashed her powers
for the destruction of mankind, the
Egyptians feared Sekhmet. The Egyptian
people developed an elaborate ritual in
hopes she could be appeased. This ritual
revolved around more than 700 statues of
the goddess. The ancient Egyptian priests
were required to perform a ritual before a
different one of these statues each
morning and each afternoon of every
single day of every single year. Only by the
strictest adherence to this never-ending
ritual could the ancient Egyptians be
assured of their ability to placate Sekhmet.
She is generally portrayed as a woman
with the head of a lioness surmounted by
the solar disk and the uraeus. The name
"Sekhmet" comes from the root sekhem
which means "to be strong, mighty,
violent". She was identified with the goddess Bastet, and they
were called the Goddesses of the West (Sekhmet) and the East
(Bastet).

Osiris
A god of the earth and vegetation,
Osiris symbolized in his death the yearly
drought and in his miraculous rebirth
the periodic flooding of the Nile and the
growth of grain. He was a god-king who
was believed to have given Egypt
civilization. Osiris was the first child of
Nut and Geb, and therefore the brother
of Seth, Nephthys, and Isis. He was
married to his sister, Isis. He was also
the father of Horus and Anubis. The
legends state that Nephthys, the
mother of Anubis, assumed the form of
Isis, seduced him and she became
pregnant with Anubis. The oldest
religious texts refer to Osiris as the
great god of the dead and that he once
possessed human form and lived on
earth. As the first son of Geb, the
original king of Egypt, Osiris inherited
the throne when Geb abdicated. At this time the Egyptians were
barbarous cannibals and uncivilized. Osiris saw this and was
greatly disturbed. Therefore, he went out among the people and
taught them what to eat, the art of agriculture, how to worship
the gods, and gave them laws. Thoth helped him in many ways by
inventing the arts and sciences and giving names to things. Osiris
was Egypt's greatest king who ruled through kindness and
persuasion. Having civilized Egypt, Osiris traveled to other lands,
leaving Isis as his regent, to teach other peoples what he taught
the Egyptians. During Osiris' absence, Isis was troubled with
Seth's plotting to acquire both her and the throne of Egypt.
Shortly after Osiris' return to Egypt, Seth and 72 conspirators
murdered him. They then threw the coffin in which he was
murdered into the Nile, with his divine body still inside. Isis, with
the help of her sister Nephthys, and Anubis and Thoth, magically
located Osiris' body. Upon learning that his brother's body was
found, Seth went to it and tore it into fourteen pieces and
scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis once again found every
part of his body, save his phallus (it had been eaten by the nowcursed Nile fish). She magically re-assembled Osiris and
resurrected him long enough to be impregnated by him so that
she could give birth to the new king Horus. Osiris meanwhile had

become the king of the Afterlife. He was believed to be willing to

admit all people to the Duat, the gentle, fertile land in which the
righteous dead lived, that had lived a good and correct life upon
earth, and had been buried with appropriate ceremonies under
the protection of certain amulets, and with the proper recital of
words of power.

Ra
Ra, also known as Re, was the
sun god. In some places he was
referred to as the creator of all
life. Re was the father of Shu and
Tefnut, grandfather of Nut and
Geb, great-grandfather of Osiris,
Seth, Isis, Nephthys and greatgreat-grandfather of Horus. One
of Ras most important duties
was to steer the sun barge,
sometimes alternatively seen as
a barge towing the sun, across
the world and the underworld.
The journey was often dangerous
as monsters often tried to attack
the sun barge and stop Ras
journey. The most dangerous of
these monsters was Apophis, the
Chaos Serpent, who was the greatest enemy of Ra.

Selket
Selket was the goddess of scorpions and
magic. She was depicted in the form of a
woman with a scorpion on her head or as a
women whos lower body was that of a
scorpion. Her roles in Egyptian mythology
were many, mostly as a beneficial
goddess. She watched over Qebehsenuef,
one of the four sons of Horus. In the
Afterlife she was said to watch over a
dangerous twist in a pathway. She was
also credited with guarding the snake,
Apophis following his imprisonment in the
Underworld. Selket was also associated
with childbirth and nursing. Contrary to
her typical beneficial characterization, she
was also related to the sun's scorching
heat. In the Book of the Dead, she is a
protector of the deceased. Magically,
Selket was a protector from venomous bites. She was the
patroness of magicians who dealt with poisonous bites.

Seth
Initialy Regarded as the Lord of Lower
(Northern) Egypt, Seth was represented by
an animal with red hair resembling a
donkey. He was associated with the desert
and storms. For many years, Seth was the
benefactor of Lower Egypt; just as Horus
protected Upper Egypt. When the Two
Lands became united, Seth and Horus were
often shown together crowning the new
pharaohs. However, as Upper Egypt had
conquered Lower Egypt, the pharaohs of
the south often portayed Seth as the evil
enemy of Horus 7(deity of Upper Egypt).
The earlier images of Seth crowning the
pharoah were usually modified to show
Thoth crowning the king instead. Seth was
the brother of Osiris, Isis as well as
Nephthys who was also his wife. Nephthys'
son, Anubis was born from her trist with
Osiris. Seth never had any children, as
emphasis of his association with the barren
desert and of his status as the antithesis of
the fertile Osiris. Seth was most famous for
the fratricide of his brother Osiris and the
attempted murder of his brother's son,
Horus. Horus survived though and avenged
his father's death by ruling all of Egypt and
exiling Seth to the desert for all time. The
dec)ision to banish Seth came from a
counsel of the gods, ruled by Re. While
most of the gods agreed with Horus and his
mother Isis that Osiris' son was the rightful heir to the throne of
Egypt, Re disagreed. He believed that Horus was too young to
hold such a powerful position. Thus, the trial was stalemated for
many years. Only the cunning of Isis could bring the case to an
end. Using her magic, Isis transformed herself into a beautiful
young woman. Seth saw her with tears streaming down her face
and asked what the matter was. Isis told a story not unlike the
situation of herself and Horus, where an evil man had killed her
husband and was trying to steal her family's flocks. Seth became
angry at her plight and insisted that the evil man be destroyed
and that the young woman's son should inherit the family's

estate. By his own words, Seth condemned himself, and lost the
throne of Egypt. Seth was never a completely evil figure though.
He protected the sun barge of Re, his benefactor during the
struggles with Horus, during its nightly journey through the
underworld and he fights the snake-like monster Apep.

Sobek
A crocodile-god, he was worshipped in
cities that depended on water, such as
the oasis city of Arsinoe (Crocodilopolis),
where the reptiles were kept in pools and
adorned with jewels. Hundreds of the
animals have been found mummified. He
was worshipped to placate his sacred
animals (the crocodiles). He was
portrayed as a man with the head of a
crocodile, or sometimes simply as one. In
the Book of the Dead, he assists in the
birth of Horus and helps to destroy Seth.
He also retrieved the Four Sons of Horus from the waters of Nun
was the request of Re.

Thoth
Thoth was god of wisdom and
learning. He was said to be selfcreated in the beginning along with his
wife, the goddess Ma'at (truth). The
two produced eight children, the most
important being Amon. Alternately
depicted as an ibis-headed human, an
ibis, or a baboon (or dog-headed ape),
perhaps because the grave facial
expressions of these creatures
suggested thoughtfulness. He carries
a pen and scrolls with which he
records all things. Thoth was believed
to have filled many roles in the world
of the gods. It was believed that he
invented writing and was the vizier
and official scribe of the afterworld.
The Book of the Dead was written by
him. He and Ma'at were believed to
stand on either side of Re in his boat as he (as the Sun) traveled
across the sky.