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major gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, the significant deities in ancient Egyptian religion. During its more than 3,000 years of development, Egyptian religion underwent significant changes of emphasis and practice. Its pantheon of gods and goddesses was large—with some 1,500 named deities—and was not fixed. New gods appeared, and some ceased to be worshipped. Moreover, the characters of the gods were not neatly defined. Most had a principal association, such as that of Re with the sun or that of the goddess Hathor with women, but there was much overlap, especially among the leading deities.
The study of ancient Egyptian religion is incomplete. A single sacred book like the Qurʾān or the Bible does not exist, and scholars’ understanding of the ancient Egyptian pantheon has been pieced together through surviving art and texts. Consequently, the list of figures below is primarily an introduction to a selection of the most important deities in ancient Egyptian religion.
Name | Description | Also called | |
---|---|---|---|
Amon | one of the chief deities; united with the sun god under the form of Amon-Re; often depicted as a ram or as a human with the head of a ram | Amen, Ammon, Aman, Amun | |
Anubis | guide of souls to the underworld; son of Osiris; often depicted as a jackal or as a man with the head of ajackal | Anpu | |
Apis | sacred bull, an embodiment of Ptah; identified with Osiris as Osiris-Apis or Serapis | Hap, Hep, Hapi, Hapy | |
Bastet | goddess of music; the daughter of Re; often depicted in the form of a lioness and later acat | Bast, Pasht, Ubastet | |
Geb | earth god; father of Osiris; brother of Nut; sometimes represented as a man with a goose sitting on his head | Keb, Seb | |
Hathor | goddess of the sky, of women, of fertility, of mirth, and of love; in animal form, principally represented as a cow | Athor | |
Horus | god of day; son of Osiris and Isis; often appeared as a hawk or as a man with the head of a hawk | Hor,Har,Her, Heru | |
Isis | goddess of motherhood and fertility; sister and wife of Osiris;most often represented as a woman wearing a sheath dress and either the hieroglyphic sign of the throne or a solar disk and cow’s horns on her head | Aset,Eset | |
Khepera | god of the morning sun; often represented as a man with the head of a scarab beetle | Khepra, Khepri, Khopri, Kheprer | |
Khnum | god who shaped humans on his potter’s wheel; often represented as a man with the head of a ram | Khneumu Chnuphis, Chnemu, Chnum, Khnoumis | |
Khonsu | moon god of fertility and childbirth; son of Amon and Mut; often depicted as a young man with a side lock of hair, wearing on his head a uraeus (rearing cobra) and a lunar disk | Khensu, Khuns, Khons, Chons, Chunsu | |
Maat | goddess of law, justice, and truth; daughter of Re; often represented as a woman with a feather on her head | Ma’at, Mayet, Maa, Maet, Maht, Maut | |
Montu | solar deity, sometimes considered a god of war; oftenrepresented as a man with a falcon’s head, wearing a crown of two plumes with a double uraeus (rearing cobra) on his forehead | Ment, Menthu, Mentu, Mont, Monthu, Munt | |
Min | god of fertility; often represented with his phallus erect, a flail in his raised right hand | Amsu | |
Mut | sky goddess and great divine mother goddess; wife of Amon; often depicted as an older woman wearing the double crown ofUpperandLower Egypt or as a woman with the head of a lioness | Maut | |
Nekhbet | goddess of Upper Egypt and patroness of childbirth; often depicted as a vulture spreading her wings over the pharaoh while grasping in her claw the cartouche symbol—an oval frame enclosing Egyptianhieroglyphs—as a woman with a vulture’s head and wearing a white crown, or as a woman suckling the pharaoh | Nekhebet, Nechbet | |
Nephthys | goddess of the dead; sister and wife of Seth | Nebthet | |
Nun | chaos from which the world was created; the oldest of the gods; father of Re | Nu | |
Nut | goddess of the sky, the vault of the heavens; consort of Geb; often depicted as a woman arched over Geb | N/A | |
Osiris | god of the underworld and judge of the dead; son of Geb and Nut; representations of him are rare before the New Kingdom (1539–1075bce), when he was shown as a mummy with arms crossed on his breast, one hand holding a crook, the other a flail, and on his head the atef crown, composed of the white crown ofUpper Egyptand two ostrich feathers | Usir | |
Ptah | chief deity of the city of Memphis; god of arts and crafts; oftenrepresented as a man inmummyform, wearing a skullcap and a short, straight false beard | Phtha, Phthah | |
Re | god of the sun, the supreme god; pharaohs claimed descent from him; often represented as a hawk, a lion, or a cat | Ra, Phra, Pra | |
Sekhmet | goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun godRe; companion ofPtah; usually depicted as a lioness or as a woman with the head of a lioness, on which was placed the solar disk and the uraeus serpent | Sakhmet | |
Serapis | Greco-Egyptian god uniting attributes of Osiris and Apis; often depicted in a Greek style and given human traits | Sarapis | |
Seth | god of darkness or evil; brother and enemy of Osiris; often depicted as a composite figure, with a canine body, square-tipped ears, tufted tail, and a long pointed snout | Setekh,Setesh, Set | |
Shu | god of air and supporter of the sky; father of Nut and Geb; often portrayed in human form with thehieroglyphof his name—an ostrich feather—on his head or in the act of separating Geb and Nut, supporting with uplifted arms the body of Nut arched above him | Su | |
Tefnut | goddess of moisture and rainfall; wife and sister of Shu | Tefenet | |
Atum | solar deity associated with the setting sun; father of Shu and Tefnut; often shown as an aged figure who had to be regenerated during the night | Atmu, Atem, Tem, Temu | |
Thoth | god of the moon, of reckoning, of learning, and of writing; scribe of the gods; often represented in human form with the head of an ibis | Dhouti, Djehuti, Djhuty, Tahuti, Techa, Thout, Zehutia |
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.