Apis Sacred bull worshipped at Memphis.
Atum God of preexistence floating in the Nun (the primeval ocean). Atum is a manifestation of the sun-creator-god, and was originally a deity at Heliopolis.
Bastet Oldest and best-known of the feline deities, identified in Memphis with the lion goddess Sekhmet.
Bes A dwarflike tutelary deity of the bed chamber and domestic life, first attested in the Twenty-first Dynasty. His protective power was enhanced by the musical instruments and weapons he was frequently portrayed as brandishing.
Ennead Group of nine deities, the most significant of which was the Heliopol-itan Ennead: Re-Atum, Shu, Teftiut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Seth.
Geb God of the earth, product of the divine alliance of Shu, the air god, and Tefnut, goddess of fire. Father of Osiris and Seth.
Hemen The town god of Mo’alla.
Hemuset Protective female deities personifying the primal hills created by the goddess Neith and symbolizing the fertility of the soil.
Horakhty A surname appended to the name of the god Re and meaning “Horus of the Horizon.”
Isdes An originally independent deity later largely equated with Thoth or portrayed as his messenger. Frequently depicted with a jackal’s head.
Isfet The “opposite” of ma‘at, hence chaos, disorder.
Khnum Ram god of Elephantine.
Khonsu Lunar deity, son of Amun and Mut, forming with them the divine triad worshipped in Thebes.
Min (Menu) God of fertility, symbolizing male sexual potency. Also god of the deserts.
Ma‘at Goddess personifying justice, order and truth, or maat, a concept essential to the ancient Egyptian vision of a balanced, “functioning” universe. One of the central tasks of the king as an agent of the gods was to ensure the maintenance of ma'at on earth.
Meskhenet Goddess with the sign of a cow’s uterus on her head, the personification of birthplace. Part of the tribunal at the Judgment of the Dead.
Nefertem God equated or associated with the lotus plant and closely connected with the sun god.
Neith Goddess of Sais. Originally perhaps a war deity; later, the patron goddess of the art of weaving and of mummification wrappings; also a goddess of the primeval waters and mother of the sun.
Nephthys Sister of Isis and Osiris; in Plutarch, wife of death; closely associated with funerary ritual.
Nepre (Neper) God personifying the annual growth of grain.
Ogdoad Group of eight deities, the most significant of which was the Hermo-politan Ogdoad: four pairs of male frogs and female snakes symbolizing the primordial forces of chaos preceding creation.
Ptah Chief god of Memphis, patron deity of artisans, later also referred to as a creator god and figuring as one of the three state gods alongside Amun of Thebes and Re of Heliopolis.
Re The sun god. As creator of the world. Re was the most important deity in the ancient Egyptian pantheon.
Sekhat-Hor Goddess in the shape of a cow, associated with the provision of milk and hence of nourishment in general.
Sekhmet Lion goddess, wife of Ptah, responsible for epidemics, plagues, diseases. Physicians were priests of Sekhmet. Related to Bastet, the cat goddess of Bubastis, who was believed to be her mild and gracious counterpart.
Serapeum Underground galleries at Saqqara, where the sacred Apis bulls were buried. Properly speaking, the Serapeum was the name of the Greco-Roman temple dedicated to the syncretic deity Serapis in the Ptolemaic period.
Sia Personification of knowledge in the theology of creation by the word. The seat of Sia is in the heart of the creator god.
Sothis Corresponds to Sirius, the Dog Star. Its heliacal rising was associated by the Egyptians with the inundation of the Nile.
Sutekh Another name for Seth.
Tayt (Tail) Patron deity of clothmaking and weaving.
Thoth God of the moon and hence of the calendar, time computation, mathematics, writing, science, and even the afterlife, since he established the result of the Judgment of the Dead. Thoth was the overseer and protector of the scribes. His two major iconographic forms were the dog-headed baboon and (later) the ibis-headed human.
World History
