Egyptian Deities

Deity
Noun: A god or goddess (in a polytheistic religion)

Egyptians, like most ancient civilizations, were polytheistic. The important thing to understand about polytheistic religions is that the gods and goddesses REPRESENT ASPECTS OF NATURE. Keep this in mind when you're trying to understand how these religions developed.

For example, the Egyptians and Greeks both have deities that represent water, storms, the sky, death, an afterlife, love, war, and other concepts from the natural world or from human behavior.

Osiris

Osiris

• God of the Underworld
• Husband of Isis
• Killed by his brother, Set
• Egypt’s first mummy
• Father of Horus
• Shown with green skin

Isis

Isis

• Queen of the gods
• Wife of Osiris
• Goddess of love and beauty
• Mother of Horus
• Brought her husband’s pieces to Anubis to be mummified

Anubis looking over a mummy

Anubis

• God of the dead
• Shown with the head of a jackal on a human body
• God of mummification
• Weighs the heart of the dead person to see if they deserve a good afterlife

Horus guiding a pharaoh

Horus

• Son of Isis and Osiris
• Sky god
• Shown with the head of a falcon
• Protector of all pharaohs
• His eye had healing power

Amun Re

Amun Re

• King of the gods
• God of the sun
• Sometimes depicted as a man with a sun-disk on his head
• Often shown as the sun itself

Thoth taking notes

Thoth

• Scribe of the gods
• Shown with the head of an ibis (a water bird similar to a flamingo)
• Records the deeds of gods and pharaohs

Set

Set

• Evil god
• God of destruction, storms, and darkness
• Murdered his brother, Osiris
• Pulled out the eye of Horus when they fought

Hathor in a clump of lotus plants

 Hathor

• Goddess of fertility (meaning surplus of crops, wealth, children)
• Shown as a cow, or as a woman, or as a combination of both
• Goddess of motherhood