Ancient Egyptian religion was polytheistic and often zoomorphic. The Egyptian term for goddess was neṯeret (nṯrt; netjeret, nečeret) and the term for god was neṯer (nṯr; also transliterated netjer, nečer). Earliest hieroglyphs for goddesses were just a flag or a flag with an Egyptian cobra arising from the base of the pole. The later hieroglyphs for these terms (R8) are depicted as flags followed by an appropriate gender symbol.
Being a culture dating from 10,000 B.C. or before, there is an extensive pantheon for Ancient Egypt. The earliest deities are presumed to be goddess figures such as Bat, Mut, or Ma'at. Symbols for Neith also appear among the earliest of images. Many fertility figurines have been discovered. Vestiges of the early white vulture (Nekhbet) and cobra (Wadjet) goddesses are born on the crowns of the separate Egyptian cultural centers as well as the crown of the united Upper and Lower Egypt of the predynastic and protodynastic periods and all periods thereafter until the Roman period began in 30 B.C. Once the country was united and the dynasties emerged, these two deities, known as the Two Ladies always remained as the protecting deities of the country and the pharaoh in particular.
Cattle were domesticated in Egypt by 8,000 B.C. and by 5,500 B.C. stone-roofed subterranean chambers and other subterranean complexes in Nabta Playa are seen to contain the tombs of ceremoniously-sacrificed cattle, indicating the worship of the goddess Hathor. The fierce lionesses who hunted in groups, were represented by Sekhmet as the warrior goddess in the south. She later was merged with an aspect of Hathor.
Predynastic artifacts: clockwise from top left: a Bat figurine, a Naqada jar, an ivory figurine, a porphyry jar, a flint knife, and a cosmetic palette
Predynastic Egypt included a culture identified as, Naqada, which arose in the western desert. By 4,000 B.C. Gerzean tomb-building was seen to include underground rooms and burial of furniture and amulets, a prelude to the worship of Osiris also. Many local variants of these and other deities existed, becoming polytheistic. After this period historical records began to appear and some were retained in tombs and temples that can be deciphered from the two writing systems that emerged.
Eventually most deities began to be seen as existing in equal pairs, most of the ancient goddesses accompanied by a male counterpart having a similar role, with significant exceptions. Aspects of some deities diversified and merged at different times and in different regions.
The pharaoh was deified after death, and bore the title of nṯr nfr "the good god," if male. The title, "servant of god" was used for the religious leaders in the temples of gods, ḥmt-nṯr was applied to priestesses and ḥm-nṯr was applied to priests, with parallel constructions for goddesses, the religious leaders of their temples, and for dead pharaohs who were women.
Over the great period of time included in ancient Egyptian culture, some deities arose, gained greater prominence over others or receded into less significance. At times abstract concepts emerged and regressed, as well as did a short-lived episode when one deity eclipsed most others, sometimes referred to as a monotheistic religion, in the 1,300s B.C., toward the end of the eighteenth dynasty that is dated 1,550-1,292 B.C. The worship of some early deities never ceased, however, and with the death of the pharaoh who advanced this cult based upon his favorite regional deity—a quick reversal occurred. Even members of his own family reverted to the worship of the deities as proscribed by the previously dominant cult, which would be eclipsed again and fade into obscurity when the cult of Osiris and Isis reached its highest development.
Hathor-Menkaure-Battriad of the fourth dynasty - the deities flank the pharaoh and provide the authority to rule - Cairo Museum
First mentions of Isis date back to the fifth dynasty which is when the first literary inscriptions are found, but her cult became prominent late in Egyptian history, when it began to absorb the cults of many other goddesses. It eventually spread outside Egypt. She absorbs many aspects of earlier goddesses, becoming identified as the mother of Horus, who represented and protected the pharaohs.
After Horus, Amun was a regional solar deity whose importance increased greatly when the pharaohs of Thebes regained control of the country from invaders and began the eighteenth dynasty. Ra became the next son of the solar deity and his cult rose to later dominance, eclipsing the earlier deities.
The term, hemt-nṯr-nt imen "servant of the god, wife of Amun" was a title held by priestesses in the tenth (2,160 BCE) and twelfth (1991-1802 BCE) dynasties (Shafer, p 14), which was adopted by the female members of the royal family in the New Kingdom (the hereditary, royal lineage of Egypt was a matrilineality, carried by its women). The New Kingdom is dated from 1,570-1,070 BCE and includes the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties. The term "god father" jt-nṯr was an epithet of Thoth when he became identified as a counterpart to the goddess, Ma'at.
Ancient Egyptian culture persisted, albeit quite altered, through the Ptolemaic dynasty. That dynasty was ruled by a Hellenistic royal family for nearly 300 years, from 305 BCE. to 30 BCE, when the Romans conquered Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh. Roman rule lasted until the final invasion by Muslim Arabs in 646 CE that ended 975 years of Græco-Roman rule over Egypt. During that time religious concepts had blended few aspects from the invading cultures with the native, but retained most of the Egyptian cults and deities for continuity with the long history of a culture that served as the authority for the government, maintained the royal lineage, and interwove their deities with those of their rulers—along with the developing Christian beliefs among some of the Romans. Cults of Isis persisted in Egypt and spread with the Greek and Roman cultures—as far as Britian.
In the Old Kingdom, the third through sixth dynasties dated between 2,686 to 2,134 BCE, the pantheons of individual Egyptian cities varied by region. Beliefs can be split into five distinct localized groups during that time and which arose later:
the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, a changing myth which began with eight deities who were worshipped in four female-male pairs; the females were associated with snakes and the males with frogs: Naunet and Nu, Amaunet and Amun, Kauket and Kuk, Hauhet and Huh; first being a cult having Hathor and her son, Ra (and later, Horus as the son of Isis, who was an aspect of Hathor); later changing to a cult where Hathor and Thoth were the main deities over a much larger number of deities; and even later, Ra was assimilated into Atum-Ra through a merger with Atum of the Ennead cosmogeny; in the final version of the creation myth a lotus, a symbol held by Hathor, was said to have arisen from the waters after an explosive interaction, the lotus was said to have opened and revealed Ra, who later became identified as Horus also
the Khnum-Satis-Anukettriad of Elephantine, which was the dwelling place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who guarded the origin of the waters of the Nile which was thought to issue from caves beneath the island; in Elephantine he was worshipped along with his counterpart, Satis, a more ancient gazelle-headed war, protector, and fertility deity who personified the flooding of the Nile, and Anuket, the fertility goddess who was the deification of the Nile, daughter to Satis, and became identified as their daughter in the triad. Other versions of myths identify Khnum with the creation of bodies in association with Heket, the goddess who breathed life into the bodies. In another variant Khnum is identified as the counterpart of Menhit and the father of Heka, a personification of law
the Ptah-Sekhmet-Nefertemtriad of Memphis, which is unusual because these deities were not associated with each other before this triad was formalized, when beliefs about the Ennead and Ogdoad were merged after Memphis rose to prominence
Apep (also spelled Apophis) - evil serpent of the Underworld, enemy of Ra and formed from a length of Neith's spit during her creation of the world
Apis - the Apis bull probably was at first a fertility figure concerned with the propagation of grain and herds; but he became associated with Ptah, the paramount deity of the Memphis area and also, with Osiris (as User-Hapi) and Sokaris, later gods of the dead and the underworld. As Apis-Atum he was associated with the solar cult and was often represented with the sun-disk of the cow deity between his horns, being her offspring. The Apis bull often represented a king who became a deity after death, suggesting an earlier ritual in which the king was sacrificed
The Aten - the sun disk or globe worshipped primarily during the Amarna Period in the eighteenth dynasty when representing a monotheistic deity advanced by Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten
Bast - goddess, protector of the pharaoh and a solar deity where the sun could be seen shining in her eyes at night, a lioness, house cat, cat-bodied or cat-headed woman, also known as Bastet when superseded by Sekhmet
Bat - represented the cosmos and the essence of the soul (Ba), cow goddess who gave authority to the king, cult originated in Hu and persisted widely until absorbed as an aspect of Hathor after the eleventh dynasty; associated with the sistrum and the ankh
Bes - dwarfed demigod - associated with protection of the household, particularly childbirth, and entertainment
The four sons of Horus- personifications of the containers for the organs of the deceased pharaohs - Imsety in human form, contained the liver and was protected by Isis; Hapi in baboon form, contained the lungs and was protected by Nephthys; Duamutef in jackal form, contained the stomach and was protected by Neith; Qebehsenuef in hawk form, contained the large intestines and was protected by Serket
Hapy (also spelled Hapi) - god embodied by the Nile, and who represents life and fertility
Hathor (also spelled Hethert) - among the oldest of Egyptian deities - often depicted as the cow, a solar deity who was the mother to the pharaoh and earlier to the universe, the golden calf of the bible, and later goddess of love and music
Heget (also spelled Heqet) - goddess of childbirth and fertility, who breathed life into humans at birth, represented as a frog or a frog-headed woman
Horus (also spelled Heru) - the falcon-headed god. Includes multiple forms or potentially different gods, including Heru the son of Isis, god of pharaohs and Upper Egypt, and Heru the elder
Isis (also spelled Aset) - goddess of magical power and healing, "She of the Throne" who was represented as the throne, also later as the wife of Osiris and as the protector of the dead
Iusaaset - the great one who comes forth, the goddess who was called the mother and grandmother of all of the deities and later, the "shadow" of Atum or Atum-Ra
Khepry (also spelled Khepra) - the scarab beetle, the embodiment of the dawn
Khonsu - the son of Amun and Mut, whose name means "wanderer", which probably refers to the passage of the moon across the sky, as he was a lunar deity. In the late period, he was also considered an important god of healing
Kuk - the personification of darkness that often took the form of a frog-headed god, whose consort was the snake-headed Kauket
Maahes - he who is true beside her, a lion prince, son of Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and sharing their natures, his father varied—being the current chief male deity of the time and region, a god of war, weather, and protector of matrilineality, his cult arrived during the New Kingdom era perhaps from Nubia and was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast, associated with the high priests of Amon, the knife, lotuses, and devouring captives
Ma'at - a goddess who personified concept of truth, balance, justice, and order - represented as a woman, sitting or standing, holding a sceptre in one hand and an ankh in the other - thought to have created order out of the primal chaos and was responsible for maintaining the order of the universe and all of its inhabitants, to prevent a return to chaos
Mafdet - she who runs swiftly, early deification of legal justice (execution) as a cheetah, ruling at judgment hall in Duat where enemies of the pharaoh were decapitated with Mafdet's claw; alternately, a cat, a mongoose, or a leopard protecting against vermin, snakes, and scorpions; the bed upon which royal mummies were placed in murals
Menhit - goddess of war - depicted as a lioness-goddess and therefore becoming associated with Sekhmet
Meskhenet - goddess of childbirth, and the creator of each person's Ka, a part of their soul, thereby associated with fate
Menthu (also spelled Montu) - an ancient god of war - nomad - represented strength, virility, and victory
Min - represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail; by the New Kingdom he was fused with Amen in the deity Min-Amen-kamutef, Min-Amen-bull of his mother (Hathor), and his shrine was crowned with a pair of cow horns
Mnevis - was the sacred bull of Heliopolis, later associated with Ra as the offspring of the solar cow deity, and possibly also with Min; when Akhenaten abandoned Amun (Amen) in favour of the Aten he claimed that he would maintain the Mnevis cult, which may have been because of its solar associations
Mut (also spelled Mout) - mother, was originally a title of the primordial waters of the cosmos, the mother from which the cosmos emerged, as was Naunet in the Ogdoad cosmogony, however, the distinction between motherhood and cosmic water lead to the separation of these identities and Mut gained aspects of a creator goddess
Naunet - a goddess, the primal waters from which all arose, similar to Mut and later closely related to Nu
Neith - goddess of war, then great mother goddess - a name of the primal waters, the goddess of creation and weaving, said to weave all of the world on her loom
Nekhbet - goddess depicted as an Egyptian vulture - protector of Egypt, royalty, and the pharaoh with her extended wings - referred to as Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning, and Creatrix of the World (related to Wadjet); always seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown with Wadjet
Nephthys (also spelled Nebthet) - goddess of death, holder of the rattle, the Sistrum - sister to Isis and the nursing mother of Horus and the pharaohs represented as the mistress of the temple, a woman with falcon wings, usually outstretched as a symbol of protection
Nut - goddess of heaven and the sky - mother of many deities as well as the sun, the moon, and the stars
Osiris (also spelled Wesir) - god of the underworld after Hathor and Anubis, fertility, and agriculture - the oldest son of the sky goddess, Nut, and the Earth god, Geb, and being brother and later, the husband of Isis - and early deity of Upper Egypt whose cult persisted into the sixth century BC
Satis - the goddess who represented the flooding of the Nile River, ancient war, hunting, and fertility goddess, mother of the Nile, Anuket, associated with water, depicted with a bow and arrows, and a gazelle or antelope horned, and sometimes, feathered crown
Sekhmet - goddess of destruction and war, the lioness - also personified as an aspect of Ra, fierce protector of the pharaoh, a solar deity, and later as an aspect of Hathor
Swenet - goddess of the ancient city on the border of southern Egypt at the Nile River, trade in hieroglyphs
Taweret (also spelled Tawret) - goddess of pregnant women and protector at childbirth
Tefnut - goddess, embodiment of rain, dew, clouds, and wet weather, depicted as a cat and sometimes as a lioness
Thoth (also spelled Djehuty) - god of the moon, drawing, writing, geometry, wisdom, medicine, music, astronomy, magic; usually depicted as ibis-headed, or as a goose; cult centered in Khemennu
Wadjet - the goddess, snake goddess of lower Egypt, depicted as a cobra, patron and protector of Egypt and the pharaoh, always shown on crown of the pharaohs; later joined by the image of Nekhbet after north and south united; other symbols: eye, snake on staff
Wadj-wer - fertility god and personification of the Mediterranean sea or lakes of the Nile delta
El panteón egipcio es uno de los más imponentes del Mundo. En el Antiguo Egipto hubo multitud de dioses; algunas divinidades fueron creadas fusionando las características de varios dioses. Para los antiguos egipcios, el ka de los dioses residía en la Tierra, en las imágenes de sus templos, y había que venerarlas. Para eso, rogaban, bailaban, cantaban y les llevaban ofrendas de objetos valiosos y alimentos.
Durante más de tres mil años de la Historia del Antiguo Egipto, la religión apenas evolucionó. Sin embargo, en algunos períodos, ciertos dioses se volvieron predominantes mientras que otros pasaban a un segundo plano pues, cada culto, era originario de una región diferente, y la importancia de cada dios también variaba según la influencia de dicha región en el resto de Egipto. Akenatón, conocido modernamente como el faraón herético, impuso, durante su corto reinado, un culto monoteísta (o henoteista) centrado en la veneración del disco solar: Atón.
Los dioses eran seres invisibles, generalmente, como Horus, aunque podían encarnarse en seres tangibles, como el faraón, o ser el ka de ciertos animales, como el toro Apis.
Archaeologist Howard Carter discovers Tutankhamen's tomb in the 20th century, revealing incredible treasure and more knowledge of Ancient Egypt. The mystery of why his tomb remained hidden is revealed, suggesting Tut was murdered and secretly buried.
The gods Mesopotamia believed in tended to be absolute rulers to whom the people owed total devotion. In both civilizations religious leaders were given very high status and held in high regard. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are two religions that believed in monotheism. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were polytheistic, that is, they believed their worlds were ruled by more than one god.
