EGYPTIAN GODS AND GODDESSES

Egyptian Pantheon

Egyptian Deities adapted from Gardiner's Sign List of common Egyptian hieroglyphs. Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner [1879 - 1963] was one of the foremost British Egyptologists, carrying out research in the early 20th century. Along with his definitive 'Sign List' of the Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs, Gardiner's publications included 'The Royal Canon of Turin' 1959 and 'Egypt of the Pharaohs' 1961. It was in 1915 that Gardiner decoded the Proto-Sinaitic [from Canaan, now Palestine, and the Sinai peninsula] writing system by deciphering the 'B'alat inscriptions'.

Sixteen are shown here to view in the gallery, each box image below can be clicked for an enlarged image of each Deity.

Ra		Ra		Thoth		Anubis
Khnum		Khnum		Seth		Min
Hathor		Ma'at		Ha		Amun
Menthu		Tenenet		Ptah		Ptah

Ra - the sun, also a creator deity - whose chief cult centre was based in Heliopolis meaning "city of the sun".

Thoth - 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.

Anubis -jackal god of embalming and tomb-caretaker who watches over the dead.

Khnum - a creator deity, god of the inundation.

Seth - god of storms, later became god of evil, desert, also Lower Egypt.

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. As Khem or Min, he was the god of reproduction; as Khnum, he was the creator of all things, "the maker of gods and men". By the New Kingdom he was also fused with Amen in the deity Min-Amen-kamutef (Min-Amen- bull of his mother). Min's shrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns.

Hathor - among the oldest of Egyptian deities - often depicted as the cow, a solar deity who was the mother to the pharaoh, the golden calf of the bible, and later goddess of Love and Music. 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.

Hathor one of the oldest often depicted as the cow as seen here in the 'Papyrus of Ani'

Amun (also spelled Amen) - the hidden one, a local creator deity later married to Mut after rising in importance.

Menthu - an ancient god of war - nomad - represented strength, virility, and victory.

Ptah - a creator deity, also god of craft.