Ancient Egyptian deities were an integral part of ancient Egyptian religion and were worshipped for millennia. Many of them
ruled overnatural and
social phenomena, as well as
abstract concepts.[1] These gods and goddesses appear in virtually every aspect of
ancient Egyptian civilization, and more than 1,500 of them are known by name. Many Egyptian texts mention deities' names without indicating their character or role, while other texts refer to specific deities without even stating their name, so a complete list of them is difficult to assemble.[2]
Horus – A major god, usually shown as a falcon or as a human child, linked with the sky, the sun, kingship, protection, and healing. Often said to be the son of Osiris and Isis.[13]
Khepri – A solar creator god, often treated as the morning form of Ra and represented by a
scarab beetle[14]
Khnum (Khnemu) – A ram god, the patron deity of
Elephantine, who was said to control the Nile flood and give life to gods and humans[15][16]
Osiris – god of death and resurrection who rules the underworld and enlivens vegetation, the sun god, and deceased souls[25]
Ptah – A creator deity and god of craftsmen, the patron god of Memphis[26]
Set – An ambivalent god, characterized by violence, chaos, and strength, connected with the desert. Mythological murderer of Osiris and enemy of Horus, but also a supporter of the king.[27]
Shu – Embodiment of wind or air, a member of the Ennead[28]
Sopdu – A god of the sky and of Egypt's eastern border regions[30]
Thoth – A moon god, and a god of writing and scribes, and patron deity of
Hermopolis[31]
Wadj-wer – Personification of the Mediterranean sea or lakes of the Nile Delta[32]
Female
Amunet – Female counterpart of Amun and a member of the Ogdoad[3]
Anuket – A feathered headdress wearing goddess of Egypt's southern frontier regions, particularly the lower
cataracts of the Nile[33][7]
Bastet – Goddess represented as a cat or lioness, patroness of the city of
Bubastis, linked with protection from evil[34]
Bat – Cow goddess from early in Egyptian history, eventually absorbed by Hathor[35]
Hathor (Egyptian: Het-Hert) – One of the most important goddesses, linked with the sky, the sun, sexuality and motherhood, music and dance, foreign lands and goods, and the afterlife. One of many forms of the
Eye of Ra.[36]
Imentet (Amentet) – An afterlife goddess closely linked with Isis and Hathor[40][19]
Isis – Wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, linked with funerary rites, motherhood, protection, and magic. She became a major deity in
Greek and
Roman religion.[41]
Maat – Goddess who personified truth, justice, and order[42]
Satet – A goddess of Egypt's southern frontier regions[52][6]
Sekhmet – A lioness goddess, both destructive and violent and capable of warding off disease, protector of the pharaohs who led them in war, the consort of Ptah and one of many forms of the
Eye of Ra.[53]
Tefnut – Lioness goddess of moisture and a member of the Ennead[54]
Wadjet (Uatchit) – A cobra goddess, the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt[55]
Wosret (Egyptian: Usret) – A goddess of Thebes[56]
Both male and female forms
Anubis/
Anput – The god/goddess of funerals, embalming and protector of the dead[57]
Heh – Personification of infinity and a member of the Ogdoad[58]
Kek – The god of Chaos and Darkness, as well as being the concept of primordial darkness. Kek's female form is known as Kauket.
Nu (Nun) – Personification of the formless, watery disorder from which the world emerged at creation and a member of the
Ogdoad[59]
Ra (Re) – The foremost Egyptian
sun god, involved in creation and the afterlife. Mythological ruler of the gods, father of every Egyptian king, and the patron god of
Heliopolis.[60]
Serapis – A Greco-Egyptian god from the
Ptolemaic Period who fused traits of Osiris and Apis with those of several Greek gods. Husband of Isis who, like her, was adopted into Greek and Roman religion outside Egypt.[101]
Seta-Ta – A mummified god in the fourth division of
Tuat[39]
Amn – A goddess who welcomed souls of the dead in the Underworld[19]
Anat (Anta) – A war and fertility goddess, originally from
Syria, who entered Egyptian religion in the
Middle Kingdom. A daughter of Re, thus, in Egypt, a sister of Astarte.[110][7][111]
Anhefta – A protective spirit who guards one end of the ninth division of
Tuat[39]
Neb au-t-ȧb – A god or goddess in the Ṭuat[170] (needs additional citation for verification)
Netrit fent – An axe god or goddess[168] (needs additional citation for verification)
Groups of deities
The Aai – 3 guardian deities in the ninth division of
Tuat; they are Ab-ta, Anhefta, and Ermen-ta[39]
The
Cavern deities – Many underworld deities charged with punishing the damned souls by beheading and devouring them.[180]
The Ennead – An extended family of nine deities produced by Atum during the creation of the world. The Ennead usually consisted of Atum, his children Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut, and their children Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.[181]
The Theban Triad consisted of Amun, his consort Mut and their son Khonsu.
The
Gate deities – Many dangerous guardian deities at the gates of the underworld (flanked by divine Doorkeepers and Heralds), to be ingratiated by spells and knowing their names.[183]
The Hemsut (or Hemuset) – Protective goddesses of Fate, destiny, and of the creation sprung from the primordial abyss; daughters of
Ptah, linked to the
concept of ka[184][185]
The Her-Hequi – 4 deities in the fifth division of
Tuat[39]
The Hours of the day deities – 12 divine embodiments of each hour of the day: partly major deities (1st:
Maat and Nenit, 2nd:
Hu and Ra em-nu, 3rd: unknown, 4th: Ashespi-kha, 5th: Nesbit and Agrit, 6th: Ahait, 7th:
Horus and Nekait or Nekai-t, 8th:
Khensu and Kheprit, 9th: Neten-her-netch-her and Ast em nebt ankh, 10th: Urit-hekau or Hekau-ur, 11th: Amanh, and partly lesser-known ones (12th: "The One Who Gives Protection In The Twilight").[186]
The Hours of the night deities – 12 goddesses of each hour of the night, wearing a five-pointed star on their heads. Neb-t tehen and Neb-t heru, god and goddess of the 1st hour of night,
Apis or Hep (in reference) and Sarit-neb-s, god and goddess of the 2nd hour of night, M'k-neb-set, goddess of the 3rd hour of night, Aa-t-shefit or Urit-shefit, goddess of the 4th hour of the night, Heru-heri-uatch-f and Neb[t] ankh, god and goddess of the 5th hour of the night, Ari-em-aua (god) or Uba-em-tu-f and Mesperit, neb-t shekta or Neb-t tcheser, god and goddess of the 6th hour of the night, Heru-em-sau-ab and Herit-t-chatcha-ah, god and goddess of the 7th hour of the night, Ba-pefi and Ankh-em-neser-t or Merit-neser-t, god and goddess of the 8th hour of night, An-mut-f and Neb-t sent-t, god and goddess of the 9th hour of the night,
Amset or Neb neteru and M'k-neb-set, god and goddess of the 10th hour of night, Uba-em-tu-f and Khesef-khemit or M'kheskhemuit, god and goddess of the 11th hour,
Khepera and Maa-neferut-Ra, god and goddess of the 12th hour of the night.[186]
The 42
judges of Maat – 42 deities including Osiris who judged the souls of the dead in the afterlife
The Khnemiu – 4 deities wearing red crowns in the eleventh division of
Tuat[39]
^
abShorter, Alan W.; with a new bibliography by Petry, Bonnie L. (1994). The Egyptian gods: a handbook (Rev. ed.). San Bernardino (Calif.): the Borgo press. p. 125.
ISBN0-89370-535-7.
^
abLorton, Claude Traunecker. transl. from the French by David (2001).
The gods of Egypt (1st English-language, enhanced and expanded ed.). Ithaca, N.Y [u.a.]: Cornell University Press. p.
59.
ISBN0-8014-3834-9.
^
abcdetranslations, translated by Raymond O. Faulkner; with additional; Wasserman, a commentary by Ogden Goelet JR.; with color illustrations from the facsimile volume produced in 1890 under the supervision of E. A. Wallis Budge; introduced by Carol A.R. Andrews; edited by Eva Von Dassow; in an edition conceived by James (1994). The Egyptian Book of the dead : the Book of going forth by day : being the Papyrus of Ani (royal scribe of the divine offerings), written and illustrated circa 1250 B.C.E., by scribes and artists unknown, including the balance of chapters of the books of the dead known as the theban recension, compiled from ancient texts, dating back to the roots of egyptian civilization (1st ed.). San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 175.
ISBN0-8118-0767-3. {{
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help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
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^Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence (1979). Communion With The Goddess: Idols, Images, and Symbols of the Goddesses; Egypt Part III. Cesara Publications. p. 1.
^
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abcBudge, Sir Ernest A. Wallis (2010). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary (in two volumes, with an index of English words, king list and geographical list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, Coptic and Semitic alphabets. New York: Cosimo Classics. p. 24.
ISBN978-1-61640-460-4.
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^Budge (2010). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary. p. 59.
Allen, James P. (2000). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN0-521-77483-7.
Hart, George (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Second Edition. Routledge.
ISBN0-203-02362-5.
Porter, Bertha;
Moss, Rosalind (1991). Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum Oxford.
ISBN978-0-900416-82-8.
Lorton, Claude Traunecker. Transl. from the French by David (2001). The gods of Egypt (1st English-language edn, enhanced and expanded). Ithaca, N.Y [u.a.]: Cornell University Press.
ISBN0-8014-3834-9.
Budge, Sir Ernest A. Wallis (2010). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary (in two volumes, with an index of English words, king list and geographical list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, Coptic and Semitic alphabets). New York: Cosimo Classics.
ISBN978-1-61640-460-4.
Petry, Alan W. Shorter; with a new bibliography by Bonnie L. (1994). The Egyptian gods : a handbook (rev. edn). San Bernardino (Calif.): The Borgo Press.
ISBN0-89370-535-7.
Nelson, Thomas (2017). The Woman's Study Bible: Receiving God's Truth for Balance, Hope, and Transformation. Biblica, Inc.
"GVC09-24: Mystical creatures and gods -Egyptian". [1]
Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence (1979). Communion With The Goddess: Idols, Images, and Symbols of the Goddesses; Egypt Part III. Cesara Publications.
translations, translated by Raymond O. Faulkner; with additional; Wasserman, a commentary by Ogden Goelet JR.; with color illustrations from the facsimile volume produced in 1890 under the supervision of E.A. Wallis Budge; introduced by Carol A. R. Andrews; edited by Eva Von Dassow; in an edition conceived by James (1994). The Egyptian Book of the dead : the Book of going forth by day : being the Papyrus of Ani (royal scribe of the divine offerings), written and illustrated circa 1250 B.C.E., by scribes and artists unknown, including the balance of chapters of the books of the dead known as the theban recension, compiled from ancient texts, dating back to the roots of Egyptian civilization (1st edn). San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
ISBN0-8118-0767-3.