|
|
Main |
GVF Seth: The ancient Egyptian god of chaos, the embodiment of hostility and even of outright evil. He is also a god of war, deserts, storms, and foreign lands. As the god of deserts he protects the caravans which travel through the desert, but he also causes sandstorms which bring him into conflict with the fertility god Osiris. GVF Horus: The name "Horus" is a general catchall for multiple deities, the most famous of whom is Harseisis (Heru-sa-Aset) or Horus-son-of-Isis (sometimes called Horus the Younger) who was conceived after the death of his father, Osiris, and who later avenged him. In all the Horus deities the traits of kingship, sky and solar symbology, and victory reoccur. As the prototype of the earthly king, there were as many Horus gods as there were rulers of Egypt, if not more. GVF Serapis: The Ptolemaic form of Apis, an Egyptian deity who, when dead, was honored under the attributes of Osiris and thus became 'osirified Apis' or Sorapis. He was lord of the underworld. GVF Ptah: Ptah is the creator-god of Memphis, the city that served as the capital of the ancient Egypt for most of its history and which was known, during that history, as Het-ka-Ptah or "House of the Soul of Ptah". Ptah is one of several Egyptian deities attributed with a myth about fashioning creation. Ptah, as the god Ta-tenen (the primordial mound), creates in the so-called "Memphite Theology" the world, its inhabitants, and the kas (or spirits) of the other gods. GVF Tauret: Tauret was a predynastic hippopotamus-goddess of pregnant women and childbirth. She was also a mother-goddess who wore the solar disk and cow's horns to symbolize how she helped in the daily rebirth of the sun. She was even called the Eye of Re, his daughter, and the mother of Osiris and Isis. Tauret was portrayed as a pregnant female hippopotamus with large human breasts, the hind legs of a lion and the tail of a crocodile. She is shown standing on her hind legs and leaning on the symbol for "protection" and holding an ankh. Tauret was a domestic deity that was greatly revered. Her most common role was as a protectoress of pregnant women. She was often shown with Bes in the birth chamber and she was a prominent assistant at the birth of Hatshepsut. Tauret acquired an evil reputation because she was said to have been the concubine of Seth. When she sided with Horus in their dispute over who was the rightful claimant to the throne of Egypt following the death of Osiris she showed her kinder nature. Thanks to Warren for this one. GVB Sekhmet: in Egyptian religion, a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god Re. Sekhmet was associated both with disease and with healing and medicine. Like other fierce goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, she was called the "Eye of Re." She was the companion of the god Ptah (see photograph) and was worshiped principally at Memphis. © 1999-2000 Britannica.com Inc. GVB Osiris: Osiris was the Egyptian god of the underworld, although he was also worshipped as a fertility, resurrection, and vegetation god. He was married to Isis, a sky goddess. He was father to Horus, the god of sky, and protector of the dead. GVB Bakha: The sacred bull of Hermonthis in Egypt, and an incarnation of Menthu, a personification of the heat of the sun. He changed color every hour of the day. GVC Aten: The name of the visible solar disc in ancient Egypt. Originally a manifestation of the sun god, Aten (Aton) became the only true sun god during the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV (1367 - 1350 BC). The sun gods Re and Atum lost much of their importance during this period. GVC Mentu: An Egyptian god, patron of war and represented with the head of falcon. GVCv Sobek: An Egyptian god who brings fertility from the Nile waters. He symbolized the power of the pharaohs. He is regarded as a son of Neith. The cradle of his cult was el Faiyum, at the ancient border of Upper and Lower Egypt, although his cult was wide-spread. GVD Typhon: Typhon is the offspring of Gaia and Tartarus. His mate is Echidna and both were so fearful that when the gods saw them they changed into animals and fled in terror. Typhon's hundred, horrible heads touched the stars, venom dripped from his evil eyes, and lava and red-hot stones poured from his gaping mouths. Hissing like a hundred snakes and roaring like a hundred lions, he tore up whole mountains and threw them at the gods. GVD Hatshepsut: queen of Egypt (reigned in her own right c. 1472-58 BC) who attained unprecedented power for a queen, adopting the full titles and regalia of a pharaoh. © 1999-2000 Britannica.com Inc. GVS Nephtys: Woman carrying on the head the hiéroglyphes of its name. Member of Ennéade Héliopolitaine: sister of Isis and Osiris, marries of Seth, girl of Geb and Nout. Goddess guardian. She took part, with Isis with the gathering of the members of Osiris. Nephtys is the nurse of Horus. Vêtue of gold and feathers, it seems one of the direct ancestors of the Christian angels. Of the four muds canopes which contained the internal organs of late, that with head of baboon - Hapi - which was under its protection, contained the lungs. The son of Nephtys is the Anubis wolf. The legend acknowledges that Osiris éprit " by mégarde " of his/her sister and gave a son to the wife of Seth the sterile one. She would have had a girl with Hemen. One found a temple which is dedicated to him in the 19th nomist of High-Egypt. Thanks to Warren for this one. GVT Isis: One of the most popular goddesses in Egypt. Isis belongs to the Ennead of Heliopolis, and according to the Heliopolitan genealogy is a daughter of Seb and Nut, sister and wife of Osiris. Possibly she was originally the personification of the throne (her name is written with the hieroglyph for throne), and as such she was an important source of the pharaoh's power. GVT Ma'at: An Egyptian goddess who personified the concepts of truth, cosmic order and justice. This concept was fundamental to Egyptian life and the rule of the Pharaohs. The Kings portrayed themselves constantly as "Beloved of Ma'at" and upholders of the universal order. This role was established by their divine predecessor Horus, who defeated the forces of the chaotic god Seth. GVT Bes: The Egyptian dwarf god who, with his grotesque figure, guards against evil spirits, snakes, and misfortune. Originally he was the protective deity of the royal house of Egypt, but gradually became a popular household deity throughout Egypt, especially among the masses of the common people. He is a god of human pleasures and jollity, music and dance. GVT Satis: "Queen of Elephantine", who was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians on that island in the Nile. Her primary role was that of a guardian of Egypt's southern (Nubian) frontier, killing enemies of the pharaoh with her arrows. Satis was also associated with the annual inundation of the Nile. With the god Chnum and the goddess Anuket she forms, what is occasinally referred to as, the 'Elephantine triad'. On her head she wears the crown of Upper Egypt, flanked by the gazelle horns, and in her hands she holds a sceptre and the ankh. GVG Anuket: The Egyptian goddess of the Nile, and nourisher of the fields. She formed a triad with Chnum and Satis. Her principal sanctuary as at Elephantine, an island near Aswan. Anuket (Anqet) was portrayed with a crown made of reed and topped with ostrich feathers. The gazelle is her sacred animal. Later she became known as 'Ruler of Numibia'. GVSG Ankh: Found widely in Egyptian art, the ankh has come to symbolize life after death. Originally an Egyptian hieroglyphic representing the womb with its looped top, its meaning is related to matters concerning life and death, or rather, Eternal Life ("Nem Ankh"). In art, especially that depicting funeral ceremonies, their gods and goddesses are shown clutching the ankh by its loop as if it were a key. In this manner, it is believed that the ankh would open the gates of death on to immortality. GVSG Edjo: also called Uto, Edjo, Wadjet, Or Wadjit, cobra goddess of ancient Egypt. Depicted as a cobra twined around a papyrus stem, she was the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt. Buto and Nekhbet, the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt, were the protective goddesses of the king and were sometimes represented together on the king's diadem, symbolizing his reign over all of Egypt. The form of the rearing cobra of Buto on a crown is termed the uraeus. In mythology, Buto was nurse to the infant god Horus and helped Isis, his mother, protect him from his treacherous uncle, Seth, when she took refuge in the Delta swamps. © 1999-2000 Britannica.com Inc. GVEP Ra: Ra, also knows as re, was the most important of the Egyptian gods, the personification of the (midday) sun. According to the Heliopolitan cosmology he created himself from a mound that arose from the primeval waters of Nun or out of a primordial lotus flower. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn engendered the earth-god Geb and the sky-goddess Nut. GVA Setekh See Seth. |