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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Amen/Amoun/Amun/Amon/Ammon

"Hidden God"; "Great Father"; the great god of Thebes; similar to Zeus and Jupiter; a phallic deity. Sometimes pictured with the head of a ram; sometimes as a man with a crown with two tall straight plumes. Considered incarnate in the ruling pharaoh. Part of a trinity with Mut (pronounced Moot)and Khensu. One of the universe creators and generous to all his devotees. The Phoenicians stole two of the priestesses from Amen's temple in Thebes and sold one to Libya, one to Greece. These two oracles founded schools of divination at Siwa in Libya and several famous centers in Greece. About the XII Dynasty, Amen became more than a god of local importance. At that time the princes of Thebes conquered their rivals to the throne, made their city the new capital, and their god the main deity in Upper Egypt at Karnak. Under the XIX and XX Dynasties, the priests of Amen gained supremacy over all other priests and temples. But the people were not satisfied. So the priests of Amen added the name to the great god Ra to the name of Amen as a conciliatory gesture. Sacred animals were a ram with curled horns and a goose, both of which were kept at his temples at Karnak and Luxor. God of reproduction, fertility, generation, wind, air, prophecy, agriculture.

Anhur/Anher/anhert/Onouris

"Skybearer"; official god of the nome Abt and its capital; very early aspect of Osiris. God of war, Sun and the sky.

Anubis/Anpu/Sekhem em Pet

Messenger from the gods to humans. His cult was very ancient, probably older than that of Osiris. He was pictured with the head of a jackal or dog, or as a a dark-colored jackal. At the death of Osiris, Anubis invented embalming and funeral rites. To the Egyptians he was important as the god of embalming and tombs, protector of the dead, judge of the dead and god of the Underworld. He, with Maat, weighed human souls for truth. He was the guide to the soul-judges after death. His duties included making sure that the funerary offerings reached the deceased. God of wisdom, intelligence, death, embalming, endings, truth, justice, surgery, hospital stays, finding lost things, anesthetics, medicine, journeys, protection, boats, diplomacy, astral travel (voluntary or involuntary), cemeteries; guardian against lower astral entities.

Apep/Apophis

Demon enemy of the Sun; pictured as a huge snake, he was the eternal enemy of Ra and lived deep in the Nile. Called the great Serpent of Tuat (the Underworld); this realm of darkness with its chambers was actually the interior of Apep's body. The Egyptians said he was responsible for eclipses when he managed to swallow Ra's sacred Sun boat. Not the same deity as Set. Darkness, storm, night, the Underworld, death, eclipses.

Atem/Atum

See Temu.

Auf/Euf Ra

Aspect of the Sun god Ra. Pictured as a ram-headed man wearing the solar disk, he represented the Sun at night when the life-giving rays were concealed. The Egyptians believed that each night the Sun had to make its way through the caverns of the Underworld where he had to outwit Apep in order to ride again across the heavens. Peace, rest, sleep, courage.

B

Ba-neb-Tetet/Banebdedet/Banaded

A ram god; the Greeks knew him as Mendes . He was considered to be incarnate in the sacred ram kept in his temple. there was wide mourning when this ram died, and great festivals when the priests discovered a new one. God of discussion, arbitration, peace.

Bes

A guardian god; "Lord of the land of Punt." He was pictured as a leopard skin-clad dwarf with a huge head, prominent eyes and cheeks, a curly beard, and an open mouth with protruding tongue. Sometimes he was shown playing the harp or tambourine. Known as the protector of the dead; protected people from dangerous animals and night demons. His grotesque head was sculpted on pillars and over gateways as a guardian against all evils and dangers. God of luck, marriage, music, dance, childbirth, cosmetics, and female adornments.

C

D

Djehuti

See Thoth

E

Euf Ra

See Auf.

F

G

Geb

See Seb.

H

Hapi

Pictured as a very fat man with pendulous breasts, dressed like a boatman with a narrow belt around his great belly. Egyptians believed that Hapi lived near the First Cataract on the Isle of Bigeh in a cavern. In June they made offerings to him accompanied by poetic hymns. God of the Nile, crops, fertility, water, prosperity.

Heh/Neheb

A god shown as a man squatting on the ground and wearing on his head a reed, curved at the end. God of eternity, longevity, happiness.

Horus

Falcon-headed Sun and sky god; Divine Child or reborn Sun; identified with Apollo. He was pictured as very fair with blue eyes, and associated with cats. As the divine falcon, his two eyes were the Sun and Moon. From prehistoric times, the falcon was carried as a totem and considered an important powerful divine being. The hieroglyph for "god" was a falcon on its perch. Some twenty sanctuaries were dedicated to Horus in his different attributes. Some of the major aspects of Hours were Haroeris (Horus the Elder or Horus the Great), Sun and Moon god; Hor Behdetite, shown as a winged solar disk, a design placed over the porches of temples; Harakhty (Horus of the horizon), center of Sun worship; Heru-Em-Akhet (Horus who is on the horizon), symbol of resurrection; Hor-Sa-Iset (Horus, son of Isis), falcon worship, avenger; Heru-Pa-Khret (Horus the child); Har-End-Yotef (Horus father-protector), skillful warrior; Har-Pa-Neb-Taui (Horus of two lands) and Heru-Sam-Taui (Horus, uniter of the two lands), ruler of humankind and Heaven. Lord of prophecy; a god of war, revenge, justice, success, problem solving, the Sun music, the arts beautiful things, weapons, beauty, family, home.

I

Imhotep/I-Em-Htep

"He who comes in peace." He began as a deified human hero and later became a god. Another son of Ptah; similar to the Greek Aesculapius. Study and knowledge, learning, medicine, healing, embalming, physicians, sleep to heal suffering and pain, magick, compassion, drugs, herbs.

J

K

Keb

See Seb.

Khensu/Khons/Khonsu

"Traveller" "The Navigator" "He who crosses the sky in a boat" God of the New Moon; son of Amen-Ra and Mut. He wore a skullcap topped by a disk in a crescent Moon. His head was shaved except for a scalp-lock tress of a royal child. His human body was swathed tightly, and he held a crook and flail. It was not until the New Kingdom that Khensu gained popularity as an exorcist and healer. The possessed and sick from Egypt and beyond flocked to this temples in Thebes, Ombos, and Karnak.

Khepera/Khepra/Khepri

"He who becomes" god of transformations; the scarab beetle, symbol of creative energy and eternal life. A Creator God. The third form of the god Ra. God of the rising Sun, emerging from its own substance and causing its own rebirth. Resurrection of the body, reincarnation, rebirth . God of the Moon, exorcism, healing, new beginnings, gentleness, literary abilities, miracles, compassion.
Another aspect of Ra.

Khnemu/Khnum

"The Molder"; " the Divine Potter"; the Ram God. Pictured as a man with a ram's head and long wavy horns holding a scepter and ankh. A Creator God; as an original river god of the annual Nile floods, his main sanctuary was near the Nile Cataracts on the Isle of Elephantine. In his temple he was worshiped with his two wives, Sati and Anqet; he watched over the sources of the Nile. Inventor of the potter's wheel, Khnemu was considered a builder, architect, controller of water, maker of human bodies before birth. God of arts and crafts, fertility and creation, gentleness.

L

M

Menthi/Menthu-Ra/Mentu/Mont

Sun god, often with a bull head; wore a solar disk and two tall straight plumes on his head and carried a khepesh (a very curved scimitar). His wife was Rat-Taui. "Lord of Thebes." In his war aspect he personified the destroying heat of the Sun and carried a bow and arrows, club and knife. The sacred bull of the Mentu was considered the god reincarnated; it was kept at the temple at Hermonthis in Upper Egypt. Another place of the god's worship was at Medamud in the suburbs of Thebes. Protection, war, vengeance.

Min/Minu/Menu

"Lord of Foreign Lands"; god of the Eastern desert. A form of Amen, the Greeks identified him with Pan. His sacred animal was a white bull, his ancient symbol the thunderbolt. The chief center of his cult was Coptos, the town of caravans, a departure point for commercial ventures. He was also worshiped in Akhmin, formerly Chemmis, later known as Panopolis to the Greeks. Min wore a crown with two straight plumes and held a flail in his right hand behind his head. As a fertility god, he was always portrayed with an erect phallus. god of sex, fertility, crops, harvests, roads, journeys; patron of the desert and travelers.

N

Neheb

See Heh.

Nehebkau

A serpent god of the Underworld, dangerous to both the gods and humans. death, cursing, vengeance.

O

Onouris

See Anhur....

Ophis

See Wepwawet

Osiris

Lord of life after death; Sun god; Universal Lord; Nature god; Lord of Lords; King of Kings; God of Gods; good Shepherd, Eternity and Everlasting. The Book of the Dead lists over two hundred titles by which Osiris was known. Primarily identified with the Greek Dionysus and Hades. Pictured with a tanned complexion and fair hair. He was shown sometimes standing, sometimes seated on his throne, tightly wrapped in mummy cloth, his freed hands on his breast holding the crook and flail. Sometimes his face was green; on his head he wore a high white miter flanked my two ostrich feathers. His birth was said to hail the rising of the Nile flood. His flesh was symbolically eaten in the form of a communion cake of wheat in his temples. Numbers sacred to him were 7, 14, and 28. Patron of priests; god of fertility, harvests, commerce, success, initiation, death and reincarnation, water, judgment, justice, agriculture, crafts, corn and vegetation, grains, religion, architecture, weaving, ceremonial music, civilization, composing rituals, codes of law (especially social laws), religion, power, order, discipline, growth, stability.

P

Phra

See Ra.

Ptah/Ptah-Neb-Ankh

"The Opener"; "the Divine Artificer"; "the Father of beginnings"; Creator god. He was the symbol of the Four Great Primary Forces (the Elements). Was identified with the Greek Hephaestus. Ptah was usually portrayed with his skull wrapped in a headband and his body enclosed in mummy cloth. His hands were free and held a scepter, ankh and tet. From early times, his main temple was at Memphis, south of the White Wal of Menes. His wife Sekhmet and his son Nefertum were worshiped there with him. In later times Imhotep took the place of Nefertum. The Apis bull, the living incarnation of Ptah, as kept near the sanctuary. Ptah's high priest was called the "Master Builder." The god was also invoked under the names Ptah Tenen, Ptah Seker, and Ptah Seker Osiris. Protector of artisans and artists; god of life, regeneration, crafts, builders, designers, metal workers, stone workers, engraving, carving, sculpting, all hand crafts, architects, masons, gentleness, miracles, science, manual skills, the arts.

Q

R

Ra/Re/Phra

"The Creator"; "the Supreme Power"; "the only one"; Sun god; Creator God; Great Father; Father of the gods. Other aspects of Ra were: Khepera, the scarab, or Rising Sun; Ra-Heru-Khuti, the hawk, or New Sun; Ra-Temu, the Setting Sun. His main sanctuary was a Helipolis. There he was worshiped in the form of a giant obelisk--a petrified Sun ray. In his temple Heliopolis were kept two sacred boats in a wooden tabernacle. One boat contained a hawk-headed figure of Ra, the other a man headed figure of the god. He was also considered to take form in the bull Merwer and the bird Bennu. Often known as Amen-Ra or Ra-Attum, the god Ra was pictured in many forms: as a royal child sitting on a lotus; as a man, head topped with the solar disk surrounded by the sacred asp; as a man with a ram's head; as a man with a falcon's head. Source of all light and life; destroyer of darkness, night, wickedness, evil. Creator of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. Eternal god without end. God of agriculture, the Sun, magick, prosperity, spells, rituals, destiny, right, truth.

S

Seb/Geb/Keb

A fertility Earth god, similar to the Greek Cronus; son of Shu and Tefnut; brother and husband of Nut; father of Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys. "Father of the Gods"; always shown with erect phallus. Shown in paintings lying under his sister-spouse Nut (pronounced Noot), who arches her body up on toes and fingers to form the sky. Fertility, new beginnings, creation, crops.

Sebek/Sobk/Suchos

Lord of Death; "the hidden one"; "he who is shut in"; Creator god; crocodile god. He was said to live at the bottom of the Underworld in a secret pyramid filled with total blackness. His chief sanctuary was at Crocodilopolis, or Arsinoe. In a lake dug near the temple was kept an old, especially sacred, crocodile with gold rings in his ears and bracelets on his legs. God of death and the powers of darkness. Cursing, dark magick.

Seker/Sokar/Socharis

The guardian god of the door to the Underwold. His sanctuary was called ro Stau, "the doors of the corridors," a direct link to the underworld. He was pictured as a greenish hawk-headed mummy.

Sekhem em Pet

See Anubis....

Set/Seth/Seti/Sutekh/Suti

"He who is below"; God of the unclean, the terrible desert, the murderer and cruelty, evil, war, and the Underworld. Known to the Greeks as Typhon. God of the northern sky, darkness, cold, mist, rain. Set was both a good and bad god, turning from one mood to another with lightning and unpredictable speed. But among the Egyptians, Set was worshiped just like any other deity. He had reddish-white skin and bright red hair--something hated by the Egyptians. This may have been emphasized by the fact that the conquering Hyksos rulers identified Set with their Sutekh, built a magnificent temple to him in Avaris, and elevated his worship over all others. The animal associated with this god had long pointed ears and looked rather like a dog, but the exact animal is not known. Animals belonging to Set were: asses, antelopes, the hippopotamus, the boar, crocodile, scorpion, black pig and other desert animal. God of hunger and thirst on the desert, thunder, storm, suffering, revenge, cursing, death, dark magick, darkness, evil, destruction, chaos, foreigners.

Shai (male)/Shait (female)

Sometimes a goddess, sometimes a god. This deity had a role like a guardian angel, presiding over destiny and fate. One was born with each person and at death gave a true account of all sins and good works in the Hall of Judgment.

Shu

"Lord of the Sky"; god of Air, the North wind, and the atmosphere; similar to Atlas. Seen in human form with an ostrich feather on his head. Connected with the heat and dryness of sunlight.

T

Temu/Tem/Atem/Atum

Local god of Annu; the evening or night Sun (Dark Eye of Ra). Attributes of Ra; often combined as Ra-Temu. Personification of God in human form and of the setting Sun. Father of the human race, he helped the dead. In one of his forms he was worshipped as a huge serpent. Two goddesses mentioned with him were Iusaaset and Nebt-Hetep. Originally a local god of Heliopolis. Temu was considered complete within himself, was the sum of everything that existed. Always represented as a man wearing the Egyptian double crown. Peace, help, rest.

Thoth(pronounced Toe-th)/Tehuti/Thout/Djehuti/Zehuti

"Lord of Books and Learning"; Judge of the gods; director of the planets and seasons; Great God; scribe of the gods; identified with the Greek Hermes. Considered self-begotten and self-produced. Thoth was called "Lord of Holy Words" for inventing hieroglyphs and numbers; "The Elder" as the first and greatest of magicians. He had greater powers than Osiris or Ra. He was ibis-headed and the inventor of the Four Laws of Magick. He wore a lunar disk and crescent on his head and held the writing reed and palette of a scribe. At his center at Hermopolis Magna in Upper Egypt, his priests taught that Thoth created by the sound of his voice alone. In a crypt under his main temple were kept his books of magick which were open to disciples, and which the Greeks and later races translated into the works of Hermes Trismegistus and the Kybalion (not to be confused with the Jewish Quabala. In Lower Egypt his center was at Hermopolis Parva. He had tow wives, Seshat and Nehmauit. His chief festival was on the nineteenth day of the month at Thoth, a few days after the Full Moon at the beginning of the year. His disciples greeted each other at that time with "Sweet is the Truth" and made gifts of sweetmeats, honey, and figs. Patron of priests; Supreme Magus; god of all magick, writing, inventions, the arts, divination, commerce, healing, initiation, music, prophecy, tarot, success, wisdom, medicine, astronomy, geometry, surveying, drawing, sciences, measurement or time, all calculations and inventories, archives, judgment, oracles, predictions, rituals, the law, astrology, alphabet, mathematics, speech, grammar, arbitration, balance, mental powers, the Moon, botany, theology, hymns and prayers, reading, oratory, arbitration, peace, advice, learning, books, truth, Akashic records, the Moon, fate, arbitration, advice.

U

Upuaut

See Wepwawet.

V

W

Wepwawet/Upuaut/Ophis

"Opener of roads"; god of the Underworld. Pictured as wolf-headed; different from Anubis. At festivals of Osiris, his image on a shield led the way, representing his nocturnal guiding of the Sun's boat. His center was Siut, the Greek Lycopolis. He was often dressed as a soldier. War, protection, defense, marital arts, journeys.

X

Y

Z

Zehuti

See Thoth.

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