|
In Ancient Egypt individual kings worshipped their own gods, as did the workers,
priests, merchants and peasants. Pre-dynastic Egypt had formulated the ideas and beliefs
of a "greater being", which was expressed in pictures, but some scholars suggest
that "writing" was invented in order to communicate spiritual thoughts to the
masses. Now the pictures had ideas, and took on human traits. The gods lived, died,
hunted, went into battle, gave birth, ate, drank, and had human emotions. The gods reigns
overlapped, and, in some instances, merged. Their was no organized hierarchy structure of
their reign. The dominance of the gods depended on the beliefs of the reigning king. Names
in ancient Egypt were very mystic and powerful. It was thought that if you inscribed your
enemies' name on something, then broke it, that enemy would either be afflicted, or
possibly die. Most gods had more than one name, here are some of the famous ones:
|
| Ra, Amun, Ptah, Khnum or Aten: The
sun god in it's many forms, the creator of all things. |
 |
|
| Osiris: God of agriculture and
ruler of the dead. He was regarded as the dead king that watches over the nether world and
the symbol of eternal life. |
 |
|
| Isis: Wife of Osiris, mother of
Horus and Mistress of Magic |
 |
|
| Horus: Son of Osiris, a sky god
closely connected with the king. The earliest royal god was the shape of a falcon, with
the sun and moon as his eyes. The sky-god was the ruler of the day. |
 |
|
| Set: Enemy of Horus and Osiris,
god of storms and disorder |
 |
|
| Maat: Deity associated with
justice and truth |
 |
|
| Hathor: The goddess of love, dance
and alcohol was depicted as a cow. |
 |
|
| Anubis: God of mummification |
 |
|
| Sobek: The crocodile god,
worshipped at Faiyum |
 |
|
| Thoth: A moon deity and god of
writing, counting and wisdom |
 |
|
