1.
International Heliophysical Year
–
The IHY will focus on advancements in all aspects of the heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar medium. This effort culminates in the International Heliophysical Year in 2007-2008 and it is a broadening of the concept geophysical, extending the connections from the Earth to the Sun & interplanetary space. The IHY2007 has been planned to coincide with the anniversary of the International Geophysical Year in 1957-1958. The IHY has received support from the United Nations. Determine the response of terrestrial and planetary magnetospheres and atmospheres to external drivers
International Heliophysical Year
–
Contents
2.
Khnum
–
Khnum was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile River. He later was described as having moulded the other deities, and he had the titles Divine Potter, Khnum was the god of rebirth, creation and the evening sun, although this is usually the function of Atum. The worship of Khnum centered on two principal sites, Elephantine Island and Esna, which were regarded as sacred sites. At Elephantine, he was worshipped alongside Anuket and Satet as the guardian of the source of the Nile River. His significance led to early theophoric names of him, for children, such as Khnum-Khufwy – Khnum is my Protector, Khnum has also been related to the deity Min. The temple at Elephantine was dedicated to Khnum, his consort Satet, the temple dates back to at least the Middle Kingdom. By the 11th dynasty Khnum, Satet and Anuket are all attested at Elephantine, during the New Kingdom finds from the time of Ramesses II show Khnum was still worshipped there. Opposite Elephantine, on the east bank at Aswan, Khnum, in Esna, known as Iunyt or Ta-senet to the Ancient Egyptians, a temple was dedicated to Khnum, Neith and Heka, and other deities. The temple dates to the Ptolemaic period, Khnum is sometimes depicted as a crocodile-headed god. Nebt-uu and Menhit are Khnums principal consorts and Heka is his eldest son, both Khnum and Neith are referred to as creator deities in the texts at Esna. Khnum is sometimes referred to as the father of the fathers and they later become the parents of Re, who is also referred to as Khnum-Re. The Beit el-Wali temple of Ramesses II contained statues of Khnum, Satis and Anukis, along with statues of Isis and Horus
Khnum
–
Cnouphis-Nilus (Jupiter-Nilus, Dieu Nil), N372.2,
Brooklyn Museum
Khnum
–
Khnum, accompanied by the goddess
Heket, moulds
Ihy in a relief from the
mammisi (birth temple) at
Dendera Temple complex,
Dendara,
Egypt
3.
Heqet
–
Heqet is an Egyptian goddess of fertility, identified with Hathor, represented in the form of a frog. To the Egyptians, the frog was an ancient symbol of fertility, Heqet was originally the female counterpart of Khnemu, or the wife of Khnemu by whom she became the mother of Heru-ur. The name is written as ḥqt with the frog, or alternatively as ḥqtyt with the egg determinative. Its Middle Egyptian proununciation may have close to /ħaˈqaːtat/, whence possibly the name of Greek Hecate. The beginning of her dates to the early dynastic period at least. Her name was part of the names of some high-born Second Dynasty individuals buried at Helwan and was mentioned on a stela of Wepemnofret, early frog statuettes are often thought to be depictions of her. Later, as a fertility goddess, associated explicitly with the last stages of the flooding of the Nile and this association, which appears to have arisen during the Middle Kingdom, gained her the title She who hastens the birth. Some say that—even though no ancient Egyptian term for midwife is known for certain—midwives often called themselves the Servants of Heqet, women often wore amulets of her during childbirth, which depicted Heqet as a frog, sitting in a lotus. Heqet was considered the wife of Khnum, who formed the bodies of new children on his potters wheel, in the Osiris myth, it was Heqet who breathed life into the new body of Horus at birth, as she was a goddess of the last moments of birth. As the birth of Horus became more associated with the resurrection of Osiris. Eventually, this led to her amulets gaining the phrase I am the resurrection in the Christian era along with cross. A temple dedicated to Horus and Heqet dating to the Ptolemaic Period was found at Qus, media related to Heqet at Wikimedia Commons
Heqet
–
The god
Khnum, accompanied by Heqet, moulds
Ihy in a relief from the
mammisi (birth temple) at
Dendera Temple complex,
Dendara,
Egypt
4.
Dendera Temple complex
–
Dendera Temple complex, is located about 2.5 kilometres south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the temple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, the whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall. Dendera was a site for chapels or shrines from the beginning of history of ancient Egypt and it seems that pharaoh Pepi I built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the eighteenth dynasty. But the earliest extant building in the compound today is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs, the all overshadowing building in the Complex is the main temple, namely Hathor temple. The temple has been modified on the site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom. The existing structure was no later than the late Ptolemaic period. The temple, dedicated to Hathor, is one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt, subsequent additions were added in Roman times. On the rear of the exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar. The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus, a sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. In 1820 it was removed from the ceiling and is now in the Louvre. Champollions guess that it was Ptolemaic proved correct and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC, the Dendera necropolis is a series of mastaba tombs. The necropolis dates from the Early Dynastic Period of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt, the necropolis runs the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain. The subterranean Hathor temple tombs total 12 chambers, some reliefs are dated to as late as Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos reign. The crypts reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography, an opening in the Flame Room floor leads to a narrow chamber with representations on the walls of the objects which were kept in them. In the second chamber, a relief depicts Pepi I and he offers a statuette of the god Ihy to four images of Hathor. In the crypt, reached from the Throne room, Ptolemy XII has jewelry, Hathor Temple has a relief sometimes known as the Dendera light because of a controversial fringe thesis about its nature. The Dendera light images comprise five stone reliefs in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex located in Egypt
Dendera Temple complex
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General view of Dendera Temple complex
Dendera Temple complex
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The massive mudbrick compound walls seen from the temple roof.
Dendera Temple complex
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Entrance to the Dendera Temple Complex
Dendera Temple complex
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Reliefs of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion at the Dendera Temple
5.
Dendera
–
Dendera is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 kilometres south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see, the modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert, which means She of the Divine Pillar. In the Greek era, the town was known as Tentyra and it was once the -modest- capital of the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, and was also called Nikentori or Nitentori, which means willow wood or willow earth. Some scholars believe the name derives from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with the Greek Aphrodite, the official deity of the city was a crocodile. Crocodiles were also venerated as deities in other Egyptian cities, which rise to many quarrels. After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda and its bishopric was a suffragan of Ptolemais Hermiou, the capital and metropolitan see of the province. Pachomius, whose diocese boasted the celebrated convent of Tabennisi, the town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena district. M. I. André van den Bronk, Society of African Missions Teodoro Bensch Jean-Rosière-Eugène Arnau], the Dendera Temple complex, which contains the Temple of Hathor, is one of the best-preserved temples, if not the best-preserved one, in all of Upper Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick wall and it was once home to the celebrated Dendera zodiac, which is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonic Mammisi, ruins of a Coptic church, the area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria. This area has an amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dendera has a hot desert climate, Dendera light Dendera Herbermann, Charles, ed. Tentyris. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops Media related to Dendera at Wikimedia Commons
Dendera
–
General view of the temple compound.
Dendera
–
Entrance to the temple.
Dendera
–
Egypt - Denderah., n.d., This slide colored by Joseph Hawkes. Brooklyn Museum Archives
Dendera
6.
Egypt
–
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
Egypt
–
The
Giza Necropolis is the oldest of the
ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.
Egypt
–
Flag
Egypt
–
The Greek Ptolemaic queen
Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar,
Caesarion at the
Temple of Dendera.
Egypt
–
The 1803
Cedid Atlas, showing
Ottoman Egypt.
7.
Ancient Egyptian mythology
–
Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion, Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decoration. These sources rarely contain an account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments. Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw time in the present as a series of recurring patterns, Myths are set in these earliest times, and myth sets the pattern for the cycles of the present. Present events repeat the events of myth, and in doing so renew maat, events from the present that might be regarded as myths include Ras daily journey through the world and its otherworldly counterpart, the Duat. The details of these sacred events differ greatly from one text to another, Egyptian myths are primarily metaphorical, translating the essence and behavior of deities into terms that humans can understand. Each variant of a myth represents a different symbolic perspective, enriching the Egyptians understanding of the gods and it inspired or influenced many religious rituals and provided the ideological basis for kingship. Scenes and symbols from myth appeared in art in tombs, temples, in literature, myths or elements of them were used in stories that range from humor to allegory, demonstrating that the Egyptians adapted mythology to serve a wide variety of purposes. The development of Egyptian myth is difficult to trace, Egyptologists must make educated guesses about its earliest phases, based on written sources that appeared much later. One obvious influence on myth is the Egyptians natural surroundings, thus the Egyptians saw water and the sun as symbols of life and thought of time as a series of natural cycles. This orderly pattern was at constant risk of disruption, unusually low floods resulted in famine, the hospitable Nile valley was surrounded by harsh desert, populated by peoples the Egyptians regarded as uncivilized enemies of order. For these reasons, the Egyptians saw their land as an place of stability, or maat. These themes—order, chaos, and renewal—appear repeatedly in Egyptian religious thought, another possible source for mythology is ritual. Many rituals make reference to myths and are based directly on them. But it is difficult to determine whether a cultures myths developed before rituals or vice versa, questions about this relationship between myth and ritual have spawned much discussion among Egyptologists and scholars of comparative religion in general. In ancient Egypt, the earliest evidence of religious practices predates written myths, rituals early in Egyptian history included only a few motifs from myth. For these reasons, some scholars have argued that, in Egypt, but because the early evidence is so sparse, the question may never be resolved for certain. In private rituals, which are often called magical, the myth, many of the myth-like stories that appear in the rituals texts are not found in other sources
Ancient Egyptian mythology
–
Nun, the embodiment of the primordial waters, lifts the
barque of the sun god
Ra into the sky at the moment of creation.
Ancient Egyptian mythology
–
The sky depicted as a cow goddess supported by other deities. This image combines several coexisting visions of the sky: as a roof, as the surface of a sea, as a cow, and as a goddess in human form.
Ancient Egyptian mythology
–
Temple decoration at
Dendera, depicting the goddesses Isis and
Nephthys watching over the corpse of their brother
Osiris
Ancient Egyptian mythology
–
The air god Shu, assisted by other gods, holds up Nut, the sky, as Geb, the earth, lies beneath.
8.
Sistrum
–
A sistrum is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Iraq and Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze, when shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can be from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient Egyptian language was sekhem and sesheshet, sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum, while sesheshet is the naos-shaped one. The sistrum was an instrument in ancient Egypt. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile, isis in her role as mother and creator was depicted holding a pail symbolizing the flooding of the Nile, in one hand and a sistrum in the other. The goddess Bast too is often depicted holding a sistrum, symbolizing her role as a goddess of dance, joy, Sistra are still used in the Alexandrian Rite and Ethiopic Rite. Besides the depiction in Egyptian art with dancing and expressions of joy, the hieroglyph for the sistrum is shown. The ancient Minoans also used the sistrum, and a number of made of local clay have been found on the island of Crete. Five of these are displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos, a sistrum is also depicted on the Harvester Vase, an artifact found at the site of Agia Triada. The sistrum has remained a liturgical instrument in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church throughout the centuries and is played during the dance performed by the debtera on important church festivals and it is also occasionally found in NeoPagan worship & ritual. The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century Western orchestral music, nowadays, however, it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine. The effect produced by the sistrum in music - when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses - is to arouse movement, the barcoo dog, a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band music, is a type of sistrum. Sistrum Media related to Sistra at Wikimedia Commons Sistrum
Sistrum
–
A sekhem style sistrum.
Sistrum
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Nefertari, wife of
Ramesses II, holding a sistrum
Sistrum
–
Broken Egyptian Sistrum
Sistrum
–
Collection of sistrums at the
Louvre
9.
Hathor
–
Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood. She was one of the most important and popular throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. Hathor was worshipped by royalty and common people alike, in tomb paintings, she is often depicted as Mistress of the West, welcoming the dead into the next life. In other roles, she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and she was believed to assist women in childbirth. She was also believed to be the goddess of miners. Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with Uraeus, twin feathers are also sometimes shown in later periods as well as a menat necklace. The Ancient Egyptians viewed reality as multi-layered in which deities who merge for various reasons, while retaining divergent attributes and myths, were not seen as contradictory but complementary. In a complicated relationship Hathor is at times the mother, daughter and wife of Ra and, like Isis, is at times described as the mother of Horus, the cult of Osiris promised eternal life to those deemed morally worthy. Originally the justified dead, male or female, became an Osiris but by early Roman times females became identified with Hathor, the Ancient Greeks sometimes identified Hathor with the goddess Aphrodite. Hathor is ambiguously depicted until the fourth dynasty, in the historical era Hathor is shown using the imagery of a cow deity. At times they are regarded as one and the goddess, though likely having separate origins. The evidence pointing to the deity being Hathor in particular is based on a passage from the Pyramid texts which states that the Kings apron comes from Hathor, from the Old Kingdom she was also called Lady of the Sycamore in her capacity as a tree deity. Hathor had a relationship with Ra. At times she is the eye of Ra and considered his daughter and she absorbed this role from another cow goddess Mehet-Weret who was the mother of Ra in a creation myth and carried him between her horns. As a mother she gave birth to Ra each morning on the eastern horizon, the Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun deity and the moon, leading the ancient Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky. Hathor also was favoured as a protector in desert regions, as Serabit el-Khadim was where turquoise was mined, Hathors titles included Lady of Turquoise, Mistress of Turquoise, and Lady of Turquoise Country. Hathors identity as a cow, perhaps depicted as such on the Narmer Palette, meant that she identified with another ancient cow-goddess of fertility. The assimilation of Bat, who was associated with the sistrum, in this later form, Hathors cult became centred in Dendera in Upper Egypt and it was led by priestesses and priests who also were dancers, singers and other entertainers
Hathor
–
Cow deities appear on the Kings belt and the top of the
Narmer Palette
Hathor
–
Hathor as a cow, wearing her necklace and showing her sacred eye –
Papyrus of Ani.
Hathor
–
The Milky Way seen as it may have appeared to Ancient Egyptians
Hathor
–
Sculpture of Hathor as a cow, with all of her symbols, the sun disk, the cobra, as well as her necklace and crown.
10.
Isis
–
Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship. Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt. In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling. Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear. The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis
Isis
–
Isis depicted with outstretched wings (wall painting, c. 1360 BCE)
Isis
–
Isis nursing Horus (
Louvre)
Isis
–
Temple of Isis at Philae. The Court. 1893. Wilbour Library of Egyptology,
Brooklyn Museum
Isis
–
Philae, Egypt. Temple of Isis., n.d.
Brooklyn Museum Archives
11.
Sekhmet
–
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (/ˈsɛkˌmɛt/ or Sachmis is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians and it was said that her breath formed the desert. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare. Her cult was so dominant in the culture that when the first pharaoh of the dynasty, Amenemhat I, moved the capital of Egypt to Itjtawy. Religion, the lineage, and the authority to govern were intrinsically interwoven in ancient Egypt during its approximately three millennia of existence. Sekhmet also is a Solar deity, sometimes called the daughter of the sun god Ra and often associated with the goddesses Hathor and she bears the Solar disk and the uraeus which associates her with Wadjet and royalty. With these associations she can be construed as being an arbiter of the goddess Maat in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, associating her with the Wadjet. Sekhmets name comes from the Ancient Egyptian word sekhem which means power or might, Sekhmets name suits her function and means the powerful. She also was given such as the Before Whom Evil Trembles, Mistress of Dread, Lady of Slaughter. In order to placate Sekhmets wrath, her priestesses performed a ritual before a different statue of the goddess on each day of the year and this practice resulted in many images of the goddess being preserved. It is estimated more than seven hundred statues of Sekhmet once stood in one funerary temple alone. She was envisioned as a lioness, and in art, was depicted as such, or as a woman with the head of a lioness, who was dressed in red. Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a pattern over each breast, an ancient leonine motif. Occasionally, Sekhmet was also portrayed in her statuettes and engravings with minimal clothing or naked, tame lions were kept in temples dedicated to Sekhmet at Leontopolis. To pacify Sekhmet, festivals were celebrated at the end of battle, participation in the festival was great, including the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist and these findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed some characteristics of Sekhmet. These temple excavations at Luxor discovered a porch of drunkenness built onto the temple by the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, in a myth about the end of Ras rule on the earth, Ra sends Hathor or Sekhmet to destroy mortals who conspired against him. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter, Sekhmet later was considered to be the mother of Maahes, a deity who appeared during the New Kingdom period
Sekhmet
–
This golden cultic object is called an
aegis. It is devoted to Sekhmet, highlighting her solar attributes.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Sekhmet
–
Sekhmet from the
temple of Mut at Luxor, granite, 1403–1365 B.C., in the National Museum,
Copenhagen
Sekhmet
–
Bust of the Goddess Sakhmet, ca. 1390-1352 B.C.E. Granodiorite,
Brooklyn Museum
Sekhmet
–
The warrior goddess Sekhmet, shown with her sun disk and cobra crown from a relief at the
Temple of Kom Ombo.
12.
Neith
–
Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the deity of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian name of city was Zau. Neith was a goddess of war and of hunting and had as her symbol, however, she is a far more complex goddess than is generally known, and of whom ancient texts only hint of her true nature. In her usual representations, she is portrayed as a fierce deity and her symbol also identified the city of Sais. This symbol was displayed on top of her head in Egyptian art, in her form as a goddess of war, she was said to make the weapons of warriors and to guard their bodies when they died. As a deity, Neith is normally shown carrying the was scepter and she is also called such cosmic epithets as the Cow of Heaven, a sky-goddess similar to Nut, and as the Great Flood, Mehet-Weret, as a cow who gives birth to the sun daily. In these forms, she is associated with creation of both the time and daily re-creation. She is identified as a mother goddess in this role as a creator. As a female deity and personification of the waters, Neith encompasses masculine elements. She is a version of Ptah-Nun, with her feminine nature complemented with masculine attributes symbolized with her association with the bow and arrow. In the same manner, her personification as the waters is Mehetweret. Neith is one of the most ancient deities associated with ancient Egyptian culture and her first anthropomorphic representations occur in the early dynastic period, on a diorite vase of King Ny-Netjer of the Second Dynasty, found in the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. That her worship predominated the early dynastic periods is shown by a preponderance of theophoric names within which Neith appears as an element. It has been suggested the hunt/war features of Neith’s imagery may indicate her origin from Libya, located west and southwest of Egypt, while Neith is generally regarded as a deity of Lower Egypt, her worship was not consistently located in that region. Her cult reached its height in Saïs and apparently in Memphis in the Old Kingdom, however, the cult regained political and religious prominence during the 26th Dynasties when worship at Saïs flourished again, as well as at Esna in Upper Egypt. Neiths symbol and part of her hieroglyph also bore a resemblance to a loom, at this time her role as a creator conflated with that of Athena, as a deity who wove all of the world and existence into being on her loom. As mother of Ra, in her Mehet-Weret form, she was described as the Great Cow who gave birth to Ra
Neith
–
Aegis of Neith,
Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.
Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
Neith
–
Egyptian war goddess Neith wearing the
Deshret crown of northern (lower) Egypt, which bears the
cobra of
Wadjet
Neith
–
Louvre Statuette of Neith
13.
Horus
–
Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom, different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a falcon or peregrine falcon. In another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife, Horus served many functions, most notably being a god of the sky, war and hunting. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr. w Falcon, additional meanings are thought to have been the distant one or one who is above, over. As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic dialects variously as hoːɾ or ħoːɾ and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hōros and it also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric names such as Har-si-ese Horus, Son of Isis. Nekheny may have been another falcon god worshipped at Nekhen, city of the falcon, Horus may be shown as a falcon on the Narmer Palette, dating from about the 31st century BC. In early Egypt, Horus was the brother of Isis, Osiris, Set, as different cults formed, he became the son of Isis and Osiris. Isis remained the sister of Osiris, Set and Nephthys, the Pyramid Texts describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. The lineage of Horus, the product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life, the notion of Horus as the pharaoh seems to have been superseded by the concept of the pharaoh as the son of Ra during the Fifth Dynasty. Once Isis knew she was pregnant with Horus, she fled to the Nile Delta marshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris, there Isis bore a divine son, Horus. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to contain the sun. It became said that the sun was his eye and the moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he. Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the The Contendings of Horus and Seth. As Horus was the victor he became known as ḥr. w wr Horus the Great. In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, explaining why the desert, Horus left eye had also been gouged out, then a new eye was created by part of Khonsu, the moon god, and was replaced
Horus
–
Horus,
(Louvre Museum),
Shen rings in his grasp
Horus
Horus
–
Figure of a Horus Falcon, between circa 300 and circa 250 BC (Greco-Roman). The Walters Art Museum.
Horus
–
Horus, patron deity of Hierakonpolis (near
Edfu), the predynastic capital of Upper Egypt. Its head was executed by means of beating the gold then connecting it with the copper body. A uraeus is fixed to the diadem which supports two tall openwork feathers. The eyes are inlaid with obsidian. (6th dynasty).
14.
Ancient Egyptian religion
–
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians interaction with many deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, rituals such as prayers and offerings were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt and he acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe. The state dedicated enormous resources to Egyptian rituals and to the construction of the temples, individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for their help through prayer or compelling them to act through magic. These practices were distinct from, but closely linked with, the formal rituals, the popular religious tradition grew more prominent in the course of Egyptian history as the status of the Pharaoh declined. Another important aspect was the belief in the afterlife and funerary practices, the Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their souls after death, providing tombs, grave goods, and offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the deceased. The religion had its roots in Egypts prehistory and lasted for more than 3,000 years, the details of religious belief changed over time as the importance of particular gods rose and declined, and their intricate relationships shifted. At various times, certain gods became preeminent over the others, including the sun god Ra, the creator god Amun, for a brief period, in the theology promulgated by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a single god, the Aten, replaced the traditional pantheon. Ancient Egyptian religion and mythology left behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient, the beliefs and rituals now referred to as ancient Egyptian religion were integral within every aspect of Egyptian culture. Their language possessed no single term corresponding to the modern European concept of religion, the characteristics of the gods who populated the divine realm were inextricably linked to the Egyptians understanding of the properties of the world in which they lived. The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and these deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and their religious practices were efforts to sustain and placate these phenomena and turn them to human advantage. This polytheistic system was complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations. Conversely, many forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles in the universe to minor deities or demons with very limited or localized functions. It could include gods adopted from foreign cultures, and sometimes humans, deceased Pharaohs were believed to be divine, and occasionally, distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified. The depictions of the gods in art were not meant as representations of how the gods might appear if they were visible. Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each gods role in nature
Ancient Egyptian religion
–
The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus, in order from left to right
Ancient Egyptian religion
–
Amun-Ra kamutef, wearing the plumed headdress of Amun and the sun disk representing Ra
Ancient Egyptian religion
–
The air god Shu, assisted by other gods, holds up Nut, the sky, as Geb, the earth, lies beneath.
Ancient Egyptian religion
–
Colossal statue of the Pharaoh
Ramesses II
15.
Egyptian mythology
–
Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion, Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decoration. These sources rarely contain an account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments. Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw time in the present as a series of recurring patterns, Myths are set in these earliest times, and myth sets the pattern for the cycles of the present. Present events repeat the events of myth, and in doing so renew maat, events from the present that might be regarded as myths include Ras daily journey through the world and its otherworldly counterpart, the Duat. The details of these sacred events differ greatly from one text to another, Egyptian myths are primarily metaphorical, translating the essence and behavior of deities into terms that humans can understand. Each variant of a myth represents a different symbolic perspective, enriching the Egyptians understanding of the gods and it inspired or influenced many religious rituals and provided the ideological basis for kingship. Scenes and symbols from myth appeared in art in tombs, temples, in literature, myths or elements of them were used in stories that range from humor to allegory, demonstrating that the Egyptians adapted mythology to serve a wide variety of purposes. The development of Egyptian myth is difficult to trace, Egyptologists must make educated guesses about its earliest phases, based on written sources that appeared much later. One obvious influence on myth is the Egyptians natural surroundings, thus the Egyptians saw water and the sun as symbols of life and thought of time as a series of natural cycles. This orderly pattern was at constant risk of disruption, unusually low floods resulted in famine, the hospitable Nile valley was surrounded by harsh desert, populated by peoples the Egyptians regarded as uncivilized enemies of order. For these reasons, the Egyptians saw their land as an place of stability, or maat. These themes—order, chaos, and renewal—appear repeatedly in Egyptian religious thought, another possible source for mythology is ritual. Many rituals make reference to myths and are based directly on them. But it is difficult to determine whether a cultures myths developed before rituals or vice versa, questions about this relationship between myth and ritual have spawned much discussion among Egyptologists and scholars of comparative religion in general. In ancient Egypt, the earliest evidence of religious practices predates written myths, rituals early in Egyptian history included only a few motifs from myth. For these reasons, some scholars have argued that, in Egypt, but because the early evidence is so sparse, the question may never be resolved for certain. In private rituals, which are often called magical, the myth, many of the myth-like stories that appear in the rituals texts are not found in other sources
Egyptian mythology
–
Nun, the embodiment of the primordial waters, lifts the
barque of the sun god
Ra into the sky at the moment of creation.
Egyptian mythology
–
The sky depicted as a cow goddess supported by other deities. This image combines several coexisting visions of the sky: as a roof, as the surface of a sea, as a cow, and as a goddess in human form.
Egyptian mythology
–
Temple decoration at
Dendera, depicting the goddesses Isis and
Nephthys watching over the corpse of their brother
Osiris
Egyptian mythology
–
The air god Shu, assisted by other gods, holds up Nut, the sky, as Geb, the earth, lies beneath.
16.
Paganism
–
Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same polytheistic group, Paganism has broadly connoted religion of the peasantry, and for much of its history a derogatory term. Alternate terms in Christian texts for the group was hellene. In and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, there has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism, especially since no one before the 20th century self-identified as a pagan. In the 19th century, paganism was re-adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, while most pagan religions express a worldview that is pantheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans. It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised, the notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition, as such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance and it is related to pangere and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag-. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church, elsewhere, Hellene or gentile remained the word for pagan, and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. However, this idea has multiple problems, first, the words usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centered on cities, the concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet acquired the meanings used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon, Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos, in it, he contrasted the fallen city of Man to the city of God of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the invaders were not of the city or rural
Paganism
–
The
Venus of Arles, depicting the goddess
Venus holding the apple of
Hesperides.
Paganism
–
Reconstruction of the
Parthenon, on the
Acropolis of Athens,
Greece.
Paganism
–
Some
megaliths are believed to have religious significance.
Paganism
–
Children standing with The Lady of Cornwall in a neopagan ceremony in England.
17.
Pantheism
–
Pantheism is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god. The term pantheism was not coined until after Spinozas death, and his work, Ethics, was the major source from which Western pantheism spread. Pantheistic concepts may date back thousands of years, and some religions in the East continue to contain pantheistic elements, Pantheism derives from the Greek πᾶν pan and θεός theos. There are a variety of definitions of pantheism, some consider it a theological and philosophical position concerning God. As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism, from this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God. All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, pantheistic tendencies existed in a number of early Gnostic groups, with pantheistic thought appearing throughout the Middle Ages. These included a section of Johannes Scotus Eriugenas 9th-century work De divisione naturae, the Roman Catholic Church has long regarded pantheistic ideas as heresy. Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk who evangelized about an immanent and he has since become known as a celebrated pantheist and martyr of science. Bruno influenced many later thinkers including Baruch Spinoza, in the West, pantheism was formalized as a separate theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin, whose book Ethics was an answer to Descartes famous dualist theory that the body, Spinoza held the monist view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a God-intoxicated man, and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance, although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate. His work, Ethics, was the source from which Western pantheism spread. The breadth and importance of Spinozas work was not fully realized until years after his death. Spinozas magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophys most important thinkers, Hegel said, You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him the prince of philosophers, Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish religious authorities issued a cherem against him, effectively excluding him from Jewish society at age 23
Pantheism
–
The philosophy of
Baruch Spinoza is often regarded as pantheism, although he did not use that term.
Pantheism
–
Albert Einstein is considered to be a pantheist by some commentators.
Pantheism
–
Levi Ponce 's "Luminaries of Pantheism" in Venice, California for The Paradise Project, "dedicated to celebrating and spreading awareness about pantheism."
18.
Polytheism
–
Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism, within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, other polytheists can be kathenotheists, worshiping different deities at different times. Polytheism was the form of religion during the Bronze Age and Iron Age up to the Axial Age and the development of Abrahamic religions. Important polytheistic religions practiced today include Chinese traditional religion, Hinduism, Japanese Shinto, the term comes from the Greek πολύ poly and θεός theos and was first invented by the Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria to argue with the Greeks. When Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, non-Christians were just called Gentiles or pagans or by the pejorative term idolaters. The modern usage of the term is first revived in French through Jean Bodin in 1580, a central, main division in polytheism is between soft polytheism and hard polytheism. Hard polytheism is the belief that gods are distinct, separate, real divine beings, hard polytheists reject the idea that all gods are one god. Hard polytheists do not necessarily consider the gods of all cultures as being equally real, Polytheism cannot be cleanly separated from the animist beliefs prevalent in most folk religions. The gods of polytheism are in cases the highest order of a continuum of supernatural beings or spirits. In some cases these spirits are divided into celestial or chthonic classes, since divinity is intellectual, and all intellect returns into itself, this myth expresses in allegory the essence of divinity. Myths may be regarded physically when they express the activities of gods in the world, the psychological way is to regard the activities of the soul itself and or the souls acts of thought. The material is to regard material objects to actually be gods, for example, to call the earth Gaia, ocean Okeanos, Some well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the Sumerian gods and the Egyptian gods, and the classical-attested pantheon which includes the ancient Greek religion and Roman religion. Post-classical polytheistic religions include Norse Æsir and Vanir, the Yoruba Orisha, the Aztec gods, an example of a religious notion from this shared past is the concept of *dyēus, which is attested in several distinct religious systems. In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time, deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of the elder cultures pantheon to a one, as in the Greek Titanomachia. Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives, epicurus believed that these gods were material, human-like, and that they inhabited the empty spaces between worlds. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when Dionysus was invited to Mount Olympus, robert Graves The Greek Myths cites two sources that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did
Polytheism
–
Egyptian gods in the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
19.
Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
–
The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts, the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body, the other souls were aakhu, khaibut, and khat. An important part of the Egyptian soul was thought to be the jb, the heart was believed to be formed from one drop of blood from the childs mothers heart, taken at conception. To ancient Egyptians, the heart was the seat of emotion, thought, will and this is evidenced by the many expressions in the Egyptian language which incorporate the word jb. This word was transcribed by E. A. Wallis Budge as Ab, in Egyptian religion, the heart was the key to the afterlife. It was conceived as surviving death in the world, where it gave evidence for, or against. It was thought that the heart was examined by Anubis and the deities during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, if the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was immediately consumed by the monster Ammit. A persons shadow or silhouette, Sheut, is always present, because of this, Egyptians surmised that a shadow contains something of the person it represents. Through this association, statues of people and deities were sometimes referred to as shadows, the shadow was also representative to Egyptians of a figure of death, or servant of Anubis, and was depicted graphically as a small human figure painted completely black. Sometimes people had a box in which part of their Sheut was stored. For example, part of the Book of Breathings, a derivative of the Book of the Dead, was a means to ensure the survival of the name, a cartouche often was used to surround the name and protect it. Conversely, the names of deceased enemies of the state, such as Akhenaten, were hacked out of monuments in a form of damnatio memoriae. Sometimes, however, they were removed in order to make room for the insertion of the name of a successor. The greater the number of places a name was used, the greater the possibility it would survive to be read, the Bâ was everything that makes an individual unique, similar to the notion of personality. In the Coffin Texts one form of the Bâ that comes into existence after death is corporeal, louis Žabkar argued that the Bâ is not part of the person but is the person himself, unlike the soul in Greek, or late Judaic, Christian or Muslim thought. The word bau, plural of the ba, meant something similar to impressiveness, power. When a deity intervened in human affairs, it was said that the Bau of the deity were at work. The Ka was the Egyptian concept of essence, which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person, with death occurring when the ka left the body
Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
–
This golden Ba amulet from the
Ptolemaic period would have been worn as an
apotropaic device.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul
–
Ba takes the form of a bird with a human head.
20.
Aaru
–
For the natural habitat, see Reed bed. For the use of reeds to filter wastewater, see Constructed wetland, for the Tamil film, see Aaru. It has been described as the ka of the Nile Delta and those souls which balance the scales are allowed to start a long and perilous journey to Aaru, where they will exist in pleasure for all eternity. Hearts heavy with evil tip and fall into the jaws of the demon Ammit. After this second death, the soul is doomed to restlessness in Duat, the souls who qualify undergo a long journey and face many perils before reaching Aaru. Once they arrive, they enter through a series of gates, the exact number of gates varies according to sources, some say 15, some 21. They are uniformly described as guarded by evil demons armed with knives, Aaru is also known as the home of Osiris. Aaru usually was placed in the east, where the Sun rises and this ideal hunting and farming ground allowed the souls here to live for eternity. More precisely, Aaru was envisaged as a series of islands, covered in fields of rushes, the part where Osiris later dwelt is sometimes known as the field of offerings, Sekhet Hetepet in Egyptian. Heaven Elysium The Summerland Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, london, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd. p.37. Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Stymbols, Part 1, Egyptian Field of Reeds and Christian Heaven
Aaru
–
v
21.
Duat
–
Duat was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It was the realm of the deity Osiris and the residence of other gods, the Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It was also the place where peoples souls went after death for judgement, burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat, and spirits could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat. What is known of the Duat derives principally from funerary texts such as the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, the Coffin Texts, the Amduat, and the Book of the Dead. Each of these fulfilled a different purpose and gave a different perspective on the Duat. Surviving texts differ in age and origin, and there likely was never a single interpretation of the Duat. The geography of Duat is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew, there are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, along with fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron and trees of turquoise. In the Book of Two Ways, one of the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts were intended to guide people who had recently died through the Duats dangerous landscape and to a life as an akh or blessed spirit amongst the gods. The dead person must pass a series of gates guarded by dangerous spirits, depicted as human bodies with heads of animals, insects. These beings have equally grotesque names, for instance Blood-drinker who comes from the Slaughterhouse or One who eats the excrement of his hindquarters, other features emphasised in these texts are mounds and caverns, inhabited by gods or supernatural animals, which threatened the spirits of the dead. The purpose of the books is not to lay out a geography, if the deceased successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the Weighing of the Heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Maat, any hearts heavier than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that were lighter than a feather passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru, in spite of the unpleasant inhabitants of the Duat, this was no Hell to which souls were condemned, the nature of Duat is more complex than that. The grotesque spirits of the underworld were not evil, but under the control of the Gods. The Duat was also a residence of gods themselves, as well as Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor and Maat all appear as a dead soul makes its way toward judgement. It was also in the underworld that the sun, Ra, travelled under the Earth upon his Atet barge from west to east and was transformed from its aged Atum form into Khepri, the new dawning Sun. Just as a person faced many challenges in the Duat. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Book of Going Forth by Day, chronicle Books,2000 Pinch, G. Magic in Ancient Egypt
Duat
–
A section of the Egyptian
Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the Weighing of the Heart in Duat where
Anubis can be seen on the far right, the scales are shown with the feather balance, and
Ammit awaits hearts that she must devour – the presence of Osiris at the gateway to the paradise of Aaru dates the papyrus to a late tradition of the myth.
Duat
–
Mictlan
Duat
22.
Ancient Egyptian deities
–
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, the gods complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities, family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities diverse appearances in art—as animals, humans, objects, and combinations of different forms—also alluded, through symbolism, to their essential features. In different eras, various gods were said to hold the highest position in society, including the solar deity Ra, the mysterious god Amun. The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world, some scholars have argued, based in part on Egyptian writings, that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities. Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events, people interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines, for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites. Egyptians prayed for help, used rituals to compel deities to act. Humans relations with their gods were a part of Egyptian society. The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count, 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. The Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, the Egyptian languages terms for these beings were nṯr, god, and its feminine form nṯrt, goddess. Scholars have tried to discern the nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance. The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity, the most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole. Similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples, representing the presence of a deity, other such hieroglyphs include a falcon, reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons, and a seated male or female deity. The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative, connecting goddesses with creation and birth, or with a cobra, the Egyptians distinguished nṯrw, gods, from rmṯ, people, but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life, Egyptian religious art also depicts places, objects, and concepts in human form. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings, scholars have proposed various definitions of a deity. One widely accepted definition, suggested by Jan Assmann, says that a deity has a cult, is involved in some aspect of the universe, according to a different definition, by Dimitri Meeks, nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual. From this perspective, gods included the king, who was called a god after his coronation rites, and deceased souls, likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt
Ancient Egyptian deities
–
The gods
Osiris,
Anubis, and
Horus
Ancient Egyptian deities
–
Isis, a
mother goddess and a patroness of kingship, holds Pharaoh
Seti I in her lap.
Ancient Egyptian deities
–
The sky goddess Nut swallows the sun, which travels through her body at night to be reborn at dawn.
Ancient Egyptian deities
–
Deities personifying
provinces of Egypt
23.
Aker (deity)
–
Aker was an Ancient Egyptian earth and death deity. Aker was first depicted as the torso of a recumbent lion with a widely opened mouth, later, he was depicted as two recumbent lion torsos merged with each other and still looking away from each other. From Middle Kingdom onwards Aker appears as a pair of lions, one named Duaj. Aker was thus often titled He whos looking forward and behind, when depicted as a lion pair, a hieroglyphic sign for horizon and a sun disc was put between the lions, the lions were sitting back-on-back. In later times, Aker can also appear as two merged torsos of recumbent sphinxes with human heads, Aker appears first time during the 1st dynasty under the kings Hor Aha and Djer. An unfinished decorative palette from the tomb of Djer at Abydos shows Aker devouring three hearts, the location of Akers main cult center is unknown, though. His mythological role is first time described in the famous Pyramid Texts of king Teti. Aker was first described as one of the earth gods guarding the gate to the yonder site and he protected the deceased king against the three demonic snakes Hemtet, Iqeru and Jagw. By encircling the deceased king, Aker sealed the deceased away from the breath of the snake demons. Another earth deity, who joined and promoted Akers work, was Geb, thus, Aker was connected with Geb. In other spells and prayers, Aker is connected with Seth and this is interesting, because Seth is described as a wind deity, not as an earth deity. In the famous Coffin Texts of Middle Kingdom period, Aker replaces the god Kherty, Aker protects the sun god during his nocturnal travelling through the underworld caverns. In other underworld scenes, Aker carries the nocturnal bark of Ra, during his journey, in which Aker is asked to hide the body of the dead Osiris beneath his womb, Aker is protected by the god Geb
Aker (deity)
–
Aker
24.
Ammit
–
Ammit was a female demon in ancient Egyptian religion with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile—the three largest man-eating animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included Devourer of the Dead, Eater of Hearts, Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against the feather of Maat, the goddess of truth, which was depicted as an ostrich feather. If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, once Ammit swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever, this was called to die a second time. Ammit was also said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the concept of destruction. Ammit was not worshipped, instead she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, Ammit has been linked with the goddess Tawaret, who has a similar physical appearance and, as a companion of Bes, also protected others from evil. Other authors have noted that Ammits lion characteristics, and the lake of fire, the relation to afterlife punishment and lake of fire location are also shared with the baboon deity Babi. Ammit was made male as a character in the Palladium RPG, a monster of the same name is also a card in Yu-Gi-Oh. In addition, Ammit also intermittenly appears in The Kane Chronicles, in the book series, Ammit follows suit as the original myths, being the servant and companion of Anubis. Ammit is also featured in the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris video game, Ammit Cryearth is a Grimoire in form of a hand mirror that reflects the true form of the holder, it appears in BlazBlue, Remix Heart manga. Book of the Dead Media related to Ammit at Wikimedia Commons
Ammit
Ammit
25.
Amun
–
Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom. Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece, Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother and the Moon god Khonsu formed a family or Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate
Amun
–
Amon-Ra (l'esprit des quatre elements, lame du monde matérial),N372.2.,
Brooklyn Museum
Amun
–
Bas-relief depicting Amun as
pharaoh
Amun
–
Amun-Min as Amun-Ra ka-Mut-ef from the temple at Deir el Medina.
Amun
–
The
sarcophagus of a priestess of Amon-Ra, c. 1000 BC –
Smithsonian 's
National Museum of Natural History
26.
Amunet
–
Amunet was a primordial goddess in Ancient Egyptian religion. She is a member of the Ogdoad and the consort of Amun and her name, meaning the female hidden one, was simply the feminine form of Amuns own name. It is possible that she was never an independent deity, as the first mention of either of them is in a pair, at Karnak, Amuns cult center, priests were dedicated to Amunets service. The goddess also played a part in ceremonies such as the Sed festival. Amunet was depicted as a woman wearing the Red Crown and carrying a staff of papyrus, in late texts from Karnak she was syncretized with Neith, although she remained a distinct deity as late as the Ptolemaic period. In the TV series Penny Dreadful, the character of Vanessa Ives is implied to be an incarnation of Amunet, in the TV series Stargate SG-1, Amaunet is a recurring Goauld character and consort of Apophis. Amunet will appear portrayed by Sofia Boutella in a fictionalized characterization, the film will serve as the first official installment in the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe
Amunet
–
Bas relief of Amunet in Luxor.
27.
Andjety
–
Andjety is an Ancient Egyptian deity whose name is associated with the city of Andjet, which in the Greek language was called Busiris. This deity is known by the alternative names Anezti or Anedjti. Andjety is considered one of the earliest Egyptian gods, possibly with roots in Predynastic Egypt, Andjety is thought to have been a precursor of Osiris. Like Osiris he is depicted holding the crook and flail and has a similar to Osiriss Atef crown. King Sneferu of the 4th dynasty, builder of the first true pyramid, is wearing the crown of Andjety. In the Pyramid texts the power is associated with Andjety. In the temple of Seti I the king is offering incense to Osiris-Andjety who is accompanied by Isis. I immerse the waterways as Osiris, Lord of corruption, as Adjety, horus has revived you in this your name of Andjety
Andjety
–
v
28.
Anhur
–
In early Egyptian mythology, Anhur was originally a god of war who was worshipped in the Egyptian area of Abydos, and particularly in Thinis. Myths told that he had brought his wife, Mehit, who was his counterpart, from Nubia. One of his titles was Slayer of Enemies, Anhur was depicted as a bearded man wearing a robe and a headdress with four feathers, holding a spear or lance, or occasionally as a lion-headed god. In some depictions, the robe was more similar to a kilt, due to his position as a war god, he was patron of the ancient Egyptian army, and the personification of royal warriors. Indeed, at festivals honoring him, mock battles were staged, during the Roman era the Emperor Tiberius was depicted on the walls of Egyptian temples wearing the distinctive four-plumed crown of Anhur. The Greeks equated Anhur to their god of war, Ares, in the legend of Olympian gods fleeing from Typhon and taking animal form in Egypt, Ares was said to have taken the form of a fish as Lepidotus or Onuris. Anhurs name also could mean Sky Bearer and, due to the headdress, Anhur was later identified with Shu. He is the son of Ra and brother of Bastet if identified as Shu, amenhotep, from the time of Thutmose IV. Amenhoteps wife Henut was a songstress of Anhur and their sons Hat and Kenna were Chariot Warriors of His Majesty. Known from a now in the British Museum. Nebwenenef High Priest of Anhur during the reign of Sety I, was appointed High Priest of Amun in the beginning of the reign of Ramesses II. Hori Minmose, son of the High Priest of Anhur Hori, from the reign of Ramesses II. Anhurmose, from the time of Merenptah, sishepset, from the time of Ramesses III Harsiese, mentioned on an ostracon in Abydos Anhur is a playable character in the multiplayer online battle arena, SMITE. Anhur is a hunter and bears title the Slayer of Enemies and is shown in his lion form maintaining his beard, robe, Anhur is also a chaotic god in the computer game NetHack/SlashEM. Onuris has a role in the 2012 fantasy novel The Serpents Shadow as a presumed dead god who is revived in order to destroy the Lord of Chaos
Anhur
–
Amulet of Anhur
Anhur
–
Anhur was depicted wearing a headdress of two or four tall feathers.
29.
Anput
–
Anput is a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name is also rendered Input, Inpewt and Yineput and her name is written in hieroglyphs as inpwt. Her name is the version of the name of her husband. She was the goddess of funerals and mummification, the mother of Kebechet and she was depicted as a woman wearing a standard topped by a jackal, or as a large black dog or jackal. Probably the most notable example is that of the triad of Menkaure, Hathor and she was occasionally depicted as a woman with the head of a jackal, but this is very rare. Anput is a counterpart of the god Anubis. She is also a goddess of the nome of Upper Egypt
Anput
–
Hathor, Pharaoh
Menkaura, and Anput
30.
Anubis
–
Anubis or Anpu is the Greek name of a god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts, depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty, Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld, one of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the Weighing of the Heart, despite being one of the most ancient and one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis played almost no role in Egyptian myths. Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized both rebirth and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming, Anubis is associated with Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dogs head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined and his daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet. Anubis is a Greek rendering of this gods Egyptian name, in Egypts Early Dynastic period, Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a jackal head and body. A jackal god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor-Aha, Djer, the oldest known textual mention of Anubis is in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, where he is associated with the burial of the pharaoh. In the Old Kingdom, Anubis was the most important god of the dead and he was replaced in that role by Osiris during the Middle Kingdom. In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to them to Osiris. The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources, in early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra. In the Coffin Texts, which were written in the First Intermediate Period, another tradition depicted him as the son of his father Ra and mother Nephthys. George Hart sees this story as an attempt to incorporate the independent deity Anubis into the Osirian pantheon, an Egyptian papyrus from the Roman period simply called Anubis the son of Isis. In the Ptolemaic period, when Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom ruled by Greek pharaohs, Anubis was merged with the Greek god Hermes, the two gods were considered similar because they both guided souls to the afterlife. The center of this cult was in uten-ha/Sa-ka/ Cynopolis, a place whose Greek name means city of dogs, in Book XI of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, there is evidence that the worship of this god was continued in Rome through at least the 2nd century. Indeed, Hermanubis also appears in the alchemical and hermetical literature of the Middle Ages, in contrast to real wolves, Anubis was a protector of graves and cemeteries. Several epithets attached to his name in Egyptian texts and inscriptions referred to that role, the Jumilhac papyrus recounts another tale where Anubis protected the body of Osiris from Set. Set attempted to attack the body of Osiris by transforming himself into a leopard, Anubis stopped and subdued Set, however, and he branded Sets skin with a hot iron rod
Anubis
–
Anubis attending the
mummy of the deceased.
Anubis
–
Statue of
Hermanubis, a hybrid of Anubis and the Greek god
Hermes (
Vatican Museums)
Anubis
–
The "weighing of the heart," from the book of the dead of
Hunefer. Anubis is portrayed as both guiding the deceased forward and manipulating the scales, under the scrutiny of the ibis-headed
Thoth.
Anubis
–
A crouching or "recumbent"
statue of Anubis as a black-coated wolf (from the
Tomb of Tutankhamun)
31.
Anuket
–
Anuket was the personification and goddess of the Nile river in the Egyptian mythology in Elephantine, at the start of the Niles journey through Egypt, and in nearby regions of Nubia. In Ancient Egyptian, she was known as Anuket, Anaka and her name meant the Clasper or Embracer. In Greek, this became Anoukis, sometimes also spelled Anukis, in the interpretatio graeca, she was considered equivalent to Hestia or Vesta. Anuket was usually depicted as a woman with a headdress of either reed or ostrich feathers and she was usually depicted as holding a Sceptre topped with an ankh, and her sacred animal was the gazelle. She was also shown suckling the Pharaoh through the New Kingdom, in later periods, she was assoiciated with the Cowry, especially the shell, which resembled the vagina. She was originally the daughter of Ra, but was related to Satet in some way. For example, both goddesses were called the Eye of Ra, along with Bastet, Hathor, and Sekhmet, also, they were both related in some way to the Uraeus. Anuket was part of a triad with the god Khnum, and she may have been the sister of the goddess Satis or she may have been a junior consort to Khnum instead. A temple dedicated to Anuket was erected on the Island of Seheil, inscriptions show that a shrine or altar was dedicated to her at this site by the 13th dynasty Pharaoh Sobekhotep III. Much later, during the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep II dedicated a chapel to the goddess, during the New Kingdom, Anuket’s cult at Elephantine included a river procession of the goddess during the first month of Shemu. Inscriptions mention the processional festival of Khnum and Anuket during this time period, ceremonially, when the Nile started its annual flood, the Festival of Anuket began. People threw coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the river, in thanks for the life-giving water, Anoukis, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed. Vol. II, New York, Charles Scribners Sons,1878, p.90
Anuket
–
Reliefs of
Senusret III and
Neferhotep I making offerings to Anuket on Seheil.
Anuket
–
Anouké ou Anouki (Anucè, Anucis, Istia, Estia, Vesta), N372.2,
Brooklyn Museum
Anuket
–
v
32.
Apedemak
–
Apedemak, alt Apademak, was a lion-headed warrior god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Nubia. A number of Meroitic temples dedicated to this deity are known from the Butana region, Naqa, Meroe, and Musawwarat es-Sufra, which seems to be his chief cult place. In the temple of Naqa built by the rulers of Meroe Apedemak was depicted as a three-headed leonine god with four arms, however, he is usually depicted as a man with a lion head. Apedemak was a deity in the ancient Egyptian religion, being instead a product of the Meroitic culture. Žabkar, Louis V. Apedemak, Lion-God of Meroe, A Study in Egyptian-Meroitic Syncretism
Apedemak
–
References [edit]
33.
Apep
–
Apep or Apophis was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos and was thus the opponent of light and Maat. He appears in art as a giant serpent and his name is reconstructed by Egyptologists as *ʻAʼpāpī, as it was written ꜥꜣpp and survived in later Coptic as Ⲁⲫⲱⲫ Aphōph. Apep was first mentioned in the Eighth Dynasty, and he was honored in the names of the Fourteenth Dynasty king Apepi, Ra was the solar deity, bringer of light, and thus the upholder of Maat. Apep was viewed as the greatest enemy of Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra, as the personification of all that was evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and Evil Lizard. Some elaborations said that he stretched 16 yards in length and had a made of flint. Also, comparable hostile snakes as enemies of the sun god existed under other names already before the name Apep occurred, the etymology of his name is perhaps to be sought in some west-semitic language where a word root ꜣpp meaning to slither existed. A verb root ꜥꜣpp does at any rate not exist elsewhere in Ancient Egyptian, Apeps name much later came to be falsely connected etymologically in Egyptian with a different root meaning spat out, the Romans referred to Apep by this translation of his name. Apophis was a golden snake known to be miles long. He was so large that he attempted to swallow the sun every day, tales of Apeps battles against Ra were elaborated during the New Kingdom. Storytellers said that every day Apep must lie just below the horizon and this appropriately made him a part of the underworld. In some stories Apep waited for Ra in a mountain called Bakhu, where the sun set. The wide range of Apeps possible location gained him the title World Encircler and it was thought that his terrifying roar would cause the underworld to rumble. Myths sometimes say that Apep was trapped there, because he had been the chief god overthrown by Ra. The Coffin Texts imply that Apep used a magical gaze to overwhelm Ra, Ra was assisted by a number of defenders who travelled with him, including Set and possibly the Eye of Ra. Apeps movements were thought to cause earthquakes, and his battles with Set may have meant to explain the origin of thunderstorms. In some accounts, Ra himself defeats Apep in the form of a cat, Ra was worshipped, and Apep worshipped against. Ras victory each night was thought to be ensured by the prayers of the Egyptian priests, the Egyptians practiced a number of rituals and superstitions that were thought to ward off Apep, and aid Ra to continue his journey across the sky. The Egyptian priests had a guide to fighting Apep, referred to as The Books of Overthrowing Apep
Apep
–
Atum and snake Apep
Apep
–
Set speared Apep
34.
Apis (deity)
–
In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis is a sacred bull worshipped in the Memphis region. Identified as the son of Hathor, a deity in the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Initially, he was assigned a significant role in her worship, being sacrificed, later, Apis also served as an intermediary between humans and other powerful deities. Apis was very important among all of the animals in Egypt, and, as with the others. Auguste Mariettes excavation of the Serapeum of Saqqara revealed the tombs of more than sixty animals, at first, each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. The current available historical documentary and archaeological evidence suggests the Apis was the first god of Egypt, worship of an Apis bull began during the First Dynasty, which is after the year 2686 BCE. The Apis as a bull experienced by ancient Egyptians as holy, was worshipped at Memphis, worship of the Apis as a god seems to belong to ancient culture of Egypt during the Second Dynasty. According to Manetho, worship of the Apis was instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty, Apis is named on very early monuments, but little is known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. This Osorapis was identified with Serapis of the late Hellenistic period, creating parallels to their own religious beliefs, ancient Greek writers identified Apis as an incarnation of Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah. During the start of the Hellenistic period, Ptolemy Soter, who ruled for the period 323-283 BCE, Apis was the most popular of three great bull cults of ancient Egypt, the others being the cults of Mnevis and Buchis. All are related to the worship of Hathor or Bat, similar primary goddesses separated by region until unification that eventually merged as Hathor, the worship of Apis was continued by the Greeks and after them by the Romans, and lasted until almost 400 CE. This animal was chosen because it symbolized the heart, great strength. Apis came to being considered a manifestation of the king, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, strong bull of his mother Hathor was a common title for Egyptian gods and male kings, being unused for women serving as king, such as Hatshepsut. As early as the time of the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted with a tail on one side. Occasionally, Apis was pictured with the symbol of his mother, Hathor. When the disk was depicted on his head with his horns below and the marking on his forehead. That symbol always was associated with Hathor. Early on, Apis was the herald of Ptah, the deity in the area around Memphis
Apis (deity)
–
Statue of Apis, Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt (Louvre)
Apis (deity)
–
Api or Hapi (Apis, Taureau Consacré a la Lune), N372.2,
Brooklyn Museum
Apis (deity)
–
Stele dedicated to an Apis, dating to Year 21 of
Psamtik I (c.644 BCE)
Apis (deity)
–
Bust of the Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis, Roman copy of an original by
Bryaxis which stood at the Serapeion of
Alexandria,
Vatican Museums.
35.
Apt (Egyptian)
–
Apt, in Egyptian, may refer to, Aput, Åp-t, or Åpu-t, the Messenger god in Egyptian mythology. Åpit, Apt, Apet, Aptu, Epet, Opet, or Åpåpit, as a pregnant water-cow or hippopotamus, Apt, Egypt, an ancient city referred to by Gerald Massey as identified with Thebes. Hathor, the aspect of Apt Taweret, or Ta-urt, Hippopotamus goddess of vengeance from the Underworld Compare with Apu. An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, With an Index of English Words, King List and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets, coulter & Turner, C. R. Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World, A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books, see also, Liber 777, revised 2003, p.7
Apt (Egyptian)
–
Mythology
36.
Arensnuphis
–
Arensnuphis is a deity from the Kingdom of Kush in ancient Nubia, first attested at Musawwarat el-Sufra in the 3rd century BC. His worship spread to the Egyptian-controlled portion of Nubia in the Ptolemaic Period and his mythological role is unknown, he was depicted as a lion and as a human with a crown of feathers and sometimes a spear. Arensnuphis was worshipped at Philae, where he was called the companion of the Egyptian goddess Isis, in the ancient Egyptian religion, the Egyptians syncretized him with their gods Anhur and Shu
Arensnuphis
–
v
37.
Ash (deity)
–
Ash was the ancient Egyptian god of oases, as well as the vineyards of the western Nile Delta and thus was viewed as a benign deity. Flinders Petrie in his 1923 expedition to the Saqqara found several references to Ash in Old Kingdom wine jar seals, in particular, he was identified by the Ancient Egyptians as the god of the Libu and Tinhu tribes, known as the people of the oasis. Consequently Ash was known as the lord of Libya, the border areas occupied by the Libu and Tinhu tribes. It is also possible that he was worshiped in Ombos, as their chief deity. In Egyptian mythology, as god of the oases, Ash was associated with Set, who was god of the desert. Ashs importance was such that he was mentioned even until the 26th Dynasty, Ash was usually depicted as a human, whose head was one of the desert creatures, variously being shown as a lion, vulture, hawk, snake, or the unidentified Set-animal. Indeed, depictions of Ash are the earliest known depictions, in ancient Egyptian art, some depictions of Ash show him as having multiple heads, unlike other Egyptian deities, although some compound depictions were occasionally shown connecting gods to Min. The idea of Ash as a god is contested, as he was the god of Ombos long before Sets introduction sometime in the 2nd Dynasty. One of his titles is Nebuty or He of Nebut indicating this position, Ash is sometimes seen as another name for Set—similarly as one might give the name Ta-Bitjet for Serket, Dunanwy for Anti, or Sefkhet-Abwy for Sheshat
Ash (deity)
–
Ash as depicted in seals of
Peribsen
38.
Aten
–
Aten is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of the god Ra. The deified Aten is the focus of the religion of Atenism established by Amenhotep IV, in his poem Great Hymn to the Aten, Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a Creation Myth or family, but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the worship of Aten was eradicated by Horemheb. By analogy, the term silver aten was sometimes used to refer to the moon, the solar Aten was extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III, when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much like Ra. The full title of Akhenatens god was Ra-Horakhty who rejoices in the horizon, the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god, in particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic form, but as rays of light extending from the suns disk. Furthermore, the name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a Pharaoh. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty, is a synthesis of two gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually, the real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu, others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods, he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic, principles of Atens religion were recorded on the rock tomb walls of Akhetaten. In the religion of Aten, night is a time to fear, work is done best when the sun, Aten, is present. Aten cares for every creature, and created a Nile river in the sky for the Syrians, Aten created all countries and people. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the family, everyone else receives life from Akhenaten. When a good person dies, he/she continues to live in the City of Light for the dead in Akhetaten, the conditions are the same after death. Akhenaten judged whether someone should be granted an afterlife, and operated the scale of justice, the explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that the god has gone beyond creation. The cult centre of Aten was at the new city Akhetaten, some other cities include Thebes
Aten
–
Pharaoh
Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten, second from the left is
Meritaten who was the daughter of Akhenaten.
Aten
–
Small Temple of the Aten at Akhetaten
Aten
–
Pharaohs
39.
Atum
–
Atum, sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Atums name is thought to be derived from the word tem which means to complete or finish, thus he has been interpreted as being the complete one and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the substance of the world. In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound, early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. To explain how Atum did this, the uses the metaphor of masturbation. Other interpretations state that he has made union with his shadow, in the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead kings soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens. He was also a deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the sun, while Ra or the closely linked god Khepri were connected with the sun at morning. Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence, in the binary solar cycle, the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr to come into existence. Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the solar cycle. Atum was a deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children—the first deities and he produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters. Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger, the tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, atums cult centered on the city of Heliopolis. The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of Al-Matariyyah and it was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position. The 68 ft high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons, band I, Die heiligen Tiere des Atum
Atum
–
The Al-Masalla
obelisk, the largest surviving monument from Heliopolis
40.
Banebdjedet
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Banebdjedet was an Ancient Egyptian ram god with a cult centre at Mendes. Khnum was the equivalent god in Upper Egypt and his wife was the goddess Hatmehit who was perhaps the original deity of Mendes. Their offspring was Horus the Child and they formed the so-called Mendesian Triad, the words for ram and soul sounded the same in Egyptian so ram deities were at times regarded as appearances of other gods. Typically Banebdjedet was depicted with four rams heads to represent the four Bas of the sun god and he may also be linked to the first four gods to rule over Egypt, with large granite shrines to each in the Mendes sanctuary. The Book of the Heavenly Cow describes the Ram of Mendes as being the Ba of Osiris but this was not an exclusive association. A story dated to the New Kingdom describes him as being consulted by the Divine Tribunal to judge between Horus and Seth but he proposes that Neith do it instead as an act of diplomacy. As the dispute continues it is Banebdjedet who suggests that Seth be given the throne as he is the elder brother. In a chapel in the Ramesseum, a stela records how the god Ptah took the form of Banebdjedet, in view of his virility, in order to have union with the woman who would conceive Rameses II
Banebdjedet
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Banebdjedet
41.
Bastet
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Bastet was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion, worshiped as early as the 2nd Dynasty. As Bast, she was the goddess of warfare in Lower Egypt and her name is also translated as Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In Greek mythology, she is known as Ailuros. The uniting Egyptian cultures had deities that shared similar roles and usually the same imagery, in Upper Egypt, Sekhmet was the parallel warrior lioness deity. Often similar deities merged into one with the unification, but that did not occur with these deities having such strong roots in their cultures, instead, these goddesses began to diverge. During the 22nd Dynasty, Bast had transformed from a lioness deity into a major protector deity represented as a cat. Bastet, the associated with this later identity, is the name commonly used by scholars today to refer to this deity. Bastet, the form of the name which is most commonly adopted by Egyptologists today because of its use in later dynasties, is a modern convention offering one possible reconstruction, in early Egyptian, her name appears to have been bꜣstt. In Egyptian writing, the second t marks a feminine ending, but was not usually pronounced, by the first millennium, then, bꜣstt would have been something like *Ubaste in Egyptian speech, later becoming Coptic Oubaste. During later dynasties, the deity remained, but was assigned a role in the pantheon by bearing the name Bastet. This happened after Thebes became the capital of Ancient Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, diminishing her status, they began referring to the deity with the added suffix, as Bastet, and their use of the new name was well-documented, becoming very familiar to researchers. By the 22nd Dynasty the transition had occurred in all regions, what the name of the goddess means remains uncertain. One recent suggestion by Stephen Quirke explains it as meaning She of the ointment jar and this ties in with the observation that her name was written with the hieroglyph for ointment jar and that she was associated with protective ointments, among other things. The name of the known as alabaster might, through Greek. Bastet was originally a warrior goddess of the sun throughout most of ancient Egyptian history. Greeks occupying ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization changed her into a goddess of the moon, as protector of Lower Egypt, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra. Along with the lioness goddesses, she would occasionally be depicted as the embodiment of the Eye of Ra. She has been depicted as fighting the evil snake named Apep, images of Bastet were often created from alabaster
Bastet
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Photograph of an alabaster cosmetic jar topped with a lioness, representing Bast, an 18th dynasty burial artifact from the tomb of
Tutankhamun circa 1323 BC - Cairo Museum
Bastet
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Wadjet-Bast, with a lioness head of Bast, the solar disk, and the cobra that represents Wadjet
Bastet
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Ancient Egyptian statue of Bastet after becoming represented as a domestic cat
Bastet
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The
Gayer-Anderson cat, believed to be a representation of Bastet
42.
Bat (goddess)
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Bat was a cow goddess in Egyptian mythology depicted as a human face with cow ears and horns. By the time of the Middle Kingdom, her identity and attributes were subsumed within the goddess Hathor, the worship of Bat dates to earliest times and may have its origins in Late Paleolithic cattle herding. Bat was the goddess of Seshesh, otherwise known as Hu or Diospolis Parva. The epithet Bat may be linked to the word ba with the suffix t. A persons ba roughly equates to his or her personality or emanation and is translated as soul. Although it was rare for Bat to be depicted in painting or sculpture. In other instances she was pictured as a bovine creature surrounded by stars or as a human woman. More commonly, Bat was depicted on amulets, with a face, but with bovine features, such as the ears of a cow. Bat became strongly associated with the sistrum, and the center of her cult was known as the Mansion of the Sistrum, the sistrum is a musical instrument, shaped like an ankh, that was one of the most frequently used sacred instruments in ancient Egyptian temples. Some instruments would include depictions of Bat, with her head and neck as the handle and base, the imagery is repeated on each side, having two faces, as mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. I am Praise, I am Majesty, I am Bat with Her Two Faces, I am the One Who Is Saved, the imagery of Bat as a divine cow was remarkably similar to that of Hathor, a parallel goddess from Lower Egypt. In two dimensional images, both goddesses often are depicted straight on, facing the onlooker and not in profile in accordance with the usual Egyptian convention, the significant difference in their depictions is that Bats horns curve inward and Hathors curve outward slightly. It is possible that this could be based in the different breeds of cattle herded at different times. Hathors cult center was in the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, adjacent to the 7th where Bat was the cow goddess, by the Middle Kingdom, the cult of Hathor had again absorbed that of Bat in a manner similar to other mergers in the Egyptian pantheon. The goddess Bat - discussion on Philae The goddess Bat - discussion on Egyptian Myths
Bat (goddess)
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The
Narmer Palette,
Bat flanks the top of both sides.
Bat (goddess)
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Both
Hathor (left) and Bat flank
Menkaure in this Fourth Dynasty triad statue. The goddesses provide the authority for him to be king and are identified by their crowns. The emblem on Bat's crown represents the
sistrum, though the crown also includes her
zoomorphic face and the feather of
Ma'at. -
Cairo Museum
43.
Ba-Pef
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Ba-Pef was a minor underworld god in Egyptian mythology. The name literally means that Ba, meaning that soul, ba-Pef is commonly portrayed as an obscure malevolent deity known from the Old Kingdom. During the Old and Middle Kingdom the priesthood of Bapef was held by queens, according to references among the Pyramid Texts he had a cult following and was associated in some way with pain or spiritual anguish affecting the pharaoh. Michael Jordan, Encyclopedia of Gods, Kyle Cathie Limited,2002
Ba-Pef
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v
44.
Bes
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Bes and its feminine counterpart Beset are an Ancient Egyptian deity worshipped as a protector of households, and in particular, of mothers and children and childbirth. Bes later came to be regarded as the defender of everything good, while past studies identified Bes as a Middle Kingdom import from Nubia, more recent research indicates that he was present in Egypt since the start of Old Kingdom. Mentions of Bes can be traced to pre-dynastic Nile Valley cultures, modern scholars such as James Romano claim that in its earliest inception Bes was a representation of a lion rearing up on its hind legs. After the Third Intermediate Period, Bes is often seen as just the head or the face, images of the deity were kept in homes and he was depicted quite differently from the other gods. Normally Egyptian gods were shown in profile, but instead Bes appeared in portrait, ithyphallic and he scared away demons from houses, so his statue was put up as a protector. Since he drove off evil, Bes also came to symbolize the good things in life - music, dance, many instances of Bes masks and costumes from the New Kingdom and later have been uncovered. These show considerable wear, thought to be too great for occasional use at festivals, in the New Kingdom, tattoos of Bes could be found on the thighs of dancers, musicians and servant girls. In the late 500s BC, images of Bes began to spread across the Persian Empire, images of Bes have been found at the Persian capital of Susa, and as far away as central Asia. Over time, the image of Bes became more Persian in style, as he was depicted wearing Persian clothes, the Balearic island of Ibiza derives its actual name from this god, brought along with the first Phoenician settlers 654 BC. These settlers, amazed at the lack of any sort of creatures on the island thought it to be the island of Bes. Bes is an important character in the books of the saga The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan, Bes appears, as part of the delegation of Egyptian gods, in The Sandman, Season of Mists, by Neil Gaiman. Bes is a friend and helper to the heroes in Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint and Dave Freer Statue of official Bes The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, ISBN 0-500-05120-8 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ian Shaw. Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece
Bes
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Bes statue from Amanthus (Cyprus) in the
Istanbul Archaeological Museums
Bes
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Bes relief at the
Dendera Temple, Egypt
Bes
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Bes statue from Egypt in the
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Bes
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Mask depicting Bes, early 4th-1st century BC.
The Walters Art Museum.
45.
Buchis
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In Egyptian mythology, Buchis was the manifestation of the deification of Ka of the war god Montu, worshipped in the region of Hermonthis. A wild bull was chosen and said to be the Buchis incarnation of Montu, over time, the criteria for choosing the bull became more rigid, fixing themselves on what had been simply the general appearance of bulls in the region, being a white body and black face. When these bulls, or their mothers, died, they were mummified, the mothers of these bulls were considered aspects of Hathor, the mother of these deities. Eventually, the Bakha was identified as a form of the Apis, the last burial of a Buchis bull in the Bucheum at Hermonthis occurred in 340 A. D. The worship of the bull in this form lasted until about 362 AD, mnevis Apis Bull Hermonthis The last funerary stela of a Buchis bull British Museum page about Buchis
Buchis
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A stele commemorating the burial of a Bakha bearing the iconography of Hathor
Media related to Ihy at Wikimedia Commons
