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winter-gale · 7 years

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Astarte

Astarte is the name of a goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, cognate in name, origin and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts. Another transliteration is 'Ashtart; other names for the goddess. According to scholar Mark S. Smith, Astarte may be the Iron Age (after 1200 BC) incarnation of the Bronze Age (to 1200 BC) Asherah. Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. Astarte first appears in Ancient Egypt beginning in the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt along with other deities who were worshipped by northwest Semitic people. She was worshipped especially in her aspect of a warrior goddess, often paired with the goddess Anat. In the Contest Between Horus and Set, these two goddesses appear as daughters of Re and are given in marriage to the god Set, here identified with the Semitic name Hadad. Astarte also was identified with the lioness warrior goddess Sekhmet, but seemingly more often conflated, at least in part, with Isis to judge from the many images found of Astarte suckling a small child. Indeed there is a statue of the 6th century BC in the Cairo Museum, which normally would be taken as portraying Isis with her child Horus on her knee and which in every detail of iconography follows normal Egyptian conventions, but the dedicatory inscription reads: "Gersaphon, son of Azor, son of Slrt, man of Lydda, for his Lady, for Astarte." Plutarch, in his On Isis and Osiris, indicates that the King and Queen of Byblos, who, unknowingly, have the body of Osiris in a pillar in their hall, are Melcarthus and Astarte (though he notes some instead call the Queen Saosis or Nemanus, which Plutarch interprets as corresponding to the Greek name Athenais). Astarte was accepted by the Greeks under the name of Aphrodite. The island of Cyprus, one of Astarte's greatest faith centers, supplied the name Cypris as Aphrodite's most common byname. Other major centers of Astarte's worship were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos. Coins from Sidon portray a chariot in which a globe appears, presumably a stone representing Astarte. In Sidon, she shared a temple with Eshmun. At Beirut coins show Poseidon, Astarte, and Eshmun worshipped together. Other faith centers were Cytherea, Malta, and Eryx in Sicily from which she became known to the Romans as Venus Erycina. A bilingual inscription on the Pyrgi Tablets dating to about 500 BC found near Caere in Etruria equates Astarte with Etruscan Uni-Astre that is, Juno. At Carthage Astarte was worshipped alongside the goddess Tanit. Donald Harden in The Phoenicians discusses a statuette of Astarte from Tutugi (Galera) near Granada in Spain dating to the 6th or 7th century BC in which Astarte sits on a throne flanked by sphinxes holding a bowl beneath her breasts which are pierced. A hollow in the statue would have been filled with milk through the head and gentle heating would have melted wax plugging the holes in her breasts, producing an apparent miracle when the milk emerged. The Syrian goddess Atargatis (Semitic form 'Atar'atah) was generally equated with Astarte and the first element of the name appears to be related to the name Astarte. Astarte appears in Ugaritic texts under the name 'Athtart', but is little mentioned in those texts. 'Athtart and 'Anat together hold back Ba'al from attacking the other deities. Astarte also asks Ba'al to "scatter" Yamm "Sea" after Ba'al's victory. 'Athtart is called the "Face of Ba'al". Astarte described by Sanchuniathon In the description of the Phoenician pantheon ascribed to Sanchuniathon Astarte appears as a daughter of Sky and Earth and sister of the God El. After El overthrows and banishes his father Sky, as some kind of trick Sky sends to El his "virgin daughter" Astarte along with her sisters Asherah and the goddess who will later be called Ba'alat Gebal, "the Lady of Byblos". It seems that this trick does not work as all three become wives of their brother El. Astarte bears to El children who appear under Greek names as seven daughters called the Titanides or Artemides and two sons named Pothos "Longing" and Eros "Desire". Later we see, with El's consent, Astarte and Hadad reigning over the land together. Astarte, puts the head of a bull on her own head to symbolize Her sovereignty. Wandering through the world Astarte takes up a star that has fallen from the sky (meteorite) and consecrates it at Tyre. Astarte in Judea The Masoretic pointing in the Hebrew Tanach (bible) indicate the pronunciation as Astoret instead of the expected Asteret, probably because the two last syllables have here been pointed with the vowels belonging to boshet "abomination" to indicate that word should be substituted when reading. The plural form is pointed Astoret. For what seems to be the use of the Hebrew plural form Astoret as the name of a demon, see also Astaroth. Astarte, or Ashtoret in Hebrew, was the principal goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the productive power of nature. She was a lunar goddess and was adopted by the Egyptians as a daughter of Ra or Ptah. In Jewish mythology, She is referred to as Ashtoreth, supposedly interpreted as a female demon of lust in Hebrew monotheism. The name Asherah may also be confused with Ashtoreth, but is probably a different goddess. Astarte means "she of the womb" in Canaanite and Hebrew. When the Hebrews turned from goddess-worship to a religion centered on the male Yahweh (or Jehovah), her name Athtarath was deliberately mis-rendered as Ashtoreth ("shameful thing") and confused with Asherah (see Monaghan). Depicted variously as a death-dealing virgin warrior, a life-giving mother, and a wanton of unbridled sexuality, her emblems were the moon and the morning and evening stars (the planet Venus). Astarte was a warrior goddess of Canaan and Syria who is a Western Semitic counterpart of the Akkadian Ishtar worshipped in Mesopotamia. In the Egyptian pantheon to which she was officially admitted during the 18th Dynasty, her prime association is with horses and chariots. On the stela set up near the sphinx by Amenhotep II celebrating his prowess, Astarte is described as delighting in the impressive equestrian skill of the monarch when he was still only crown prince. In her iconography her aggression can be seen in the bull horns she sometimes wears as a symbol of domination. Similarly, in her Levantine homelands, Astarte is a battlefield goddess. For example, when the Peleset (Philistines) killed Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa, they deposited the enemy armor as spoils in the temple of "Ashtoreth". Like Anat, she is the daughter of Re and the wife of the god Seth, but also has a relationship with the god of the sea. From the fragmentary papyrus giving the legend of Astarte and the sea we learn that Yamm, the sea god, demanded tribute from the gods, particularly Renenutet. Her place is then taken by Astarte called, in this aspect, "daughter of Ptah". The story is lost from that point on but one assumes this liaison resulted in the goddess tempering the arrogance of Yamm. It should also be noted that outside of Egypt, as well as being a warlike goddess, Astarte seems to have had sexual and motherhood attributes and is sometimes identified with Isis. Asherah, Athirat ("Lady Asherah of the Sea", "she who gives birth", "wet-nurse of the gods") (Canaanite and Hebrew). Her name seems to come from a root meaning "straight," perhaps signifying both moral rectitude and the upright trees or pieces of wood in which her essence was believed to dwell. In homes, she was represented by a simple, woman-shaped clay figurine with, instead of legs, a tapered base which was inserted in the floor of the home. She was also depicted as a naked, curly-haired goddess standing on her sacred lion and holding lilies and serpents in upraised hands. According to one source, she was "the force of life, experienced as benevolent and enduring, found in flocks of cattle and groves of trees, evoked in childbirth and in planting time." She was also called Elat ("Goddess"). Her dying-god consort may have been Yahweh. After the shift among the Hebrews to the worship of the male Yahweh, a centuries-long campaign to stamp out her worship began, in which she was deliberately confused with the more wantonly sexual Astarte. A later, Babylonian form of the Sumerian Inanna, but also identified with Asherah and Astarte. Like Inanna, she loved a dying and reborn vegetation god (Tammuz), whom she descended into the underworld in rescue of after his death. There, she supplicates herself before the queen of the Underworld, Erishkegal (no doubt, the death form of herself). Her emblems were the moon and the morning and evening stars (the planet Venus). Ishtar ("light-giving queen of heaven") (Babylon) Ishtar, also known as Htar (or Inanna in Sumerian mythology), the name of the chief goddess of Babylonia and Assyria, the counterpart of the Phoenician Astarte. The meaning of the name is not known, though it is possible that the underlying stem is the same as that of Assur, which would thus make her the "leading one" or "chief." At all events it is now generally recognized that the name is Semitic in its origin. Where the name originated is likewise uncertain, but the indications point to Erech where we find the worship of a great mother goddess independent of any association with a male counterpart flourishing in the oldest period of Babylonian history. She appears under various names, among which are Nana, Innanna, Nina and Anunit. As early as the days of Khammurabi we find these various names which represented originally different goddesses, though all manifest as the chief trait the life-giving power united in Ishtar. Even when the older names are employed it is always the great mother-goddess who is meant. Ishtar is the one goddess in the pantheon who retains her independent position despite and throughout all changes that the Babylonian-Assyrian religion undergoes. Even when Ishtar is viewed as the consort of some chief - of Marduk occasionally in the south, of Assur more frequently in the north - the consciousness that she has a personality of her own apart from this association is never lost sight of. With Adbeel may be identified Idibi'il (-ba'il) a tribe, employed by Tiglath-Pileser IV. ('l33 B.c.) to watch the frontier of Musri (Sinaitic peninsula or Northern Arabia). This is suggested by the fact that Ashurbanipal (7th century) mentions as the name of their deity Atar-Samain (i.e. "Ishtar of the heavens"). We may reasonably assume that the analogy drawn from the process of reproduction among men and animals led to the conception of a female deity presiding over the life of the universe. The extension of the scope of this goddess to life in general - to the growth of plants and trees from the fructifying seed - was a natural outcome of a fundamental idea; and so, whether we turn to incantations or hymns, in myths and in epics, in votive inscriptions and in historical annals, Ishtar is celebrated and invoked as the great mother, as the mistress of lands, as clothed in splendor and power - one might almost say as the personification of life itself. But there are two aspects to this goddess of life. She brings forth, she fertilizes the fields, she clothes nature in joy and gladness, but she also withdraws her favors and when she does so the fields wither, and men and animals cease to reproduce. In place of life, barrenness and death ensue. She is thus also a grim goddess, at once cruel and destructive. We can, therefore, understand that she was also invoked as a goddess of war and battles and of the chase; and more particularly among the warlike Assyrians she assumes this aspect. Before the battle she appears to the army, clad in battle array and armed with bow and arrow. In myths symbolizing the change of seasons she is portrayed in this double character, as the life-giving and the life-depriving power. The most noteworthy of these myths describes her as passing through seven gates into the nether world. At each gate some of her clothing and her ornaments are removed until at the last gate she is entirely naked. While she remains in the nether world as a prisoner - whether voluntary or involuntary it is hard to say - all fertility ceases on Earth, but the time comes when she again returns to Earth, and as she passes each gate the watchman restores to her what she had left there until she is again clad in her full splendor, to the joy of mankind and of all nature. Closely allied with this myth and personifying another view of the change of seasons is the story of Ishtar's love for her son and consort Tammuz - symbolizing the spring time - but as midsummer approaches her husband is slain and, according to one version, it is for the purpose of saving Tammuz from the clutches of the goddess of the nether world that she enters upon her journey to that region. In all the great centres Ishtar had her temples, bearing such names as E-anna, "heavenly house," in Erech; E-makh, "great house," in Babylon; E-mash-mash, "house of offerings," in Nineveh. Of the details of her cult we as yet know little, but there is no evidence that there were obscene rites connected with it, though there may have been certain mysteries introduced at certain centres which might easily impress the uninitiated as having obscene aspects. She was served by priestesses as well as by priests, and it would appear that the votaries of Ishtar were in all cases virgins who, as long as they remained in the service of Ishtar, were not permitted to marry. In the astral-theological system, Ishtar becomes the planet Venus, and the double aspect of the goddess is made to correspond to the strikingly different phases of Venus in the summer and winter seasons. On monuments and seal-cylinders she appears frequently with how and arrow, though also simply clad in long robes with a crown on her head and an eight-rayed star as her symbol. Statuettes have been found in large numbers representing her as naked with her arms folded across her breast or holding a child. The art thus reflects the popular conceptions formed of the goddess. Together with Sin, the Moon god, and Shamash, the Sun god, she is the third figure in a triad personifying the three great forces of nature - Moon, Sun and Earth, as the life-force. The doctrine involved illustrate, the tendency of the Babylonian priests to centralize the manifestations of divine power in the universe, just as the triad Anu, Bel and ha - the heavens, the earth and the watery deep - form another illustration of this same tendency. Naturally, as a member of a triad, Ishtar is dissociated from any local limitations, and similarly as the planet Venus - a conception which is essentially a product of theological speculation - no though of any particular locality for her cult is present. It is because the cult, like that of Sin and Shamash, is spread over al Babylonia and Assyria, that she becomes available for purposes of theological speculation. source: http://www.crystalinks.com/astarte.html Offerings: honey, beer, wine, incense source: http://www.spiralgoddess.com/Astarte.html

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seawolv · 6 years

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A'ah - An early moon god who evolved into Iah (also known as Yah) and, eventually, Khonsu.

Ammit (Ammut) - "Devourer of Souls", a goddess with the head of a crocodile, torso of a leopard, and hindquarters of a hippo. She sat beneath the scales of justice in the Hall of Truth in the afterlife and devoured the hearts of those souls which were not justified by Osiris.

Amun (Amun-Ra) - God of the sun and air. One of the most powerful and popular gods of ancient Egypt, patron of the city of Thebes, where he was worshipped as part of the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. Supreme king of the gods in some periods, though originally a minor fertility god. By the time of the New Kingdom he was considered the most powerful god in Egypt and his worship bordered on monotheism. Other gods were even considered mere aspects of Amun at this time. His priesthood was the most powerful in Egypt and the position of God's Wife of Amun, given to royal women, almost on par with that of the pharaoh.

Amunhotep (Amenhotep), Son of Hapu - God of healing and wisdom. Along with Hardedef and Imhotep, one of the few human beings deified by the Egyptians. He was the royal architect of Amunhotep III (1386-1353 BCE). He was considered so wise that, after death, he became deified. He had a major temple in western Thebes and a healing center at Deir el-Bahri.

Anat - Goddess of fertility, sexuality, love, and war. She was originally from Syria or Canaan. In some texts she is referred to as the Mother of the Gods while in others she is a virgin and, in still others, sensuous and erotic, described as the most beautiful goddess. In one version of The Contendings of Horus and Set, she is given as a consort to Set at the suggestion of the goddess Neith. Often equated with Aphrodite of Greece, Astarte of Phoenicia, Inanna of Mesopotamia, and Sauska of the Hittites.

Anuke - A war goddess originally and one of the oldest deities of Egypt, sometimes consort of Anhur, god of war. She came to be associated with Nephthys and, to a lesser degree, Isis and is referred to in some texts as their younger sister. Early depictions show her in battledress with bow and arrow but she was transformed into a Mother Goddess and nurturing figure. The Greeks associated her with Hestia.

Apedemak - A war god depicted as a lion, originally thought to be from Nubia.

Apep (Apophis) - Apep, the celestial serpent assaulted the sun barge of Ra every night as it made its way through the underworld toward the dawn. Gods and the justified dead would help Ra fend the serprent off. The ritual known as Overthrowing of Apophis was performed in temples to help the gods and departed souls protect the barge and ensure the coming of day.

Apis - The Divine Bull worshipped at Memphis as an incarnation of the god Ptah. One of the earliest gods of ancient Egypt depicted on the Narmer Palette (c. 3150 BCE). The Apis Cult was one of the most important and long-lived in the history of Egyptian culture.

Arensnuphis - Companion to the goddess Isis and worshipped primarily at her sacred site at Philae. He was depicted as a lion or a man with a feathered headdress. Originally from Nubia.

Asclepius (Aesculapius) - A god of healing of the Greeks also worshipped in Egypt at Saqqara and identified with the deified Imhotep. His symbol, possibly derived from the god Heka, was a staff with a serpent entwined about it, associated in the modern day with healing and the medical profession, known as the Rod of Asclepius.

Ash (As) - God of the Libyan desert, a kindly deity who provided the oasis for travelers.

Astarte - Phoenician goddess of fertility and sexuality, often closely equated with Aphrodite of the Greeks, Inanna/Ishtar of Mesopotamia, and Sauska of the Hittites; referred to as Queen of Heaven. In Egyptian mythology, she is given as a consort to Set, along with Anat, by the goddess Neith.

Aten - The sun disk, originally a sun deity who was elevated by pharaoh Akhenaten (1353-1336 BCE) to the position of sole god, creator of the universe.

Atum (Ra) - The sun god, supreme lord of the gods, first god of the Ennead (tribunal of nine gods), creator of the universe and human beings. Atum (Ra) is the first divine being who stands on the primordial mound in the midst of chaos and draws on the magical forces of Heka to create all the other gods, human beings, and life on earth.

Auf (Efu-Ra) - An aspect of Atum (Ra).

Ba'al - Storm god originally from Phoenicia. His name means "Lord" and his was a major deity in Canaan only worshipped in Egypt in the later period of the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE).

Ba'alat Gebal - Phoenician goddess of the city of Byblos, a protector deity, incorporated into Egyptian worship through her association with papyrus, which came from Byblos.

Babi (Baba) - He was a virility god depicted as a baboon and symbolizing male sexuality.

Banebdjedet - A fertility/virility god who appears as a ram or a man with a ram's head, associated with the city of Mendes, eventually another name for Osiris.

Ba-Pef - God of terror, specifically spiritual terror. His name translates as "that soul". He lived in the House of Woe in the afterlife and was known to afflict the king of Egypt. He was never worshipped with a temple but a Cult of Ba-Pef existed to help appease the god and protect the king.

Bastet (Bast) - The beautiful goddess of cats, women's secrets, childbirth, fertility, and protector of the hearth and home from evil or misfortune. She was the daughter of Ra and closely associated with Hathor. Bastet was one of the most popular deities of ancient Egypt. Men and women revered her equally and carried talismans of her cult. She was so universally adored that, in 525 BCE, the Persians used the Egyptian devotion to Bastet to their advantage in winning the Battle of Pelusium. They painted images of Bastet on their shields and drove animals in front of their army knowing the Egyptians would rather surrender than offend their goddess. She is depicted as a cat or a woman with a cat's head, and her major cult center was at Bubastis.

Bat - An early cow goddess associated with fertility and success. She is one of the oldest Egyptian goddesses dating from the early Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE). Bat is depicted as a cow or a woman with cow ears and horns and is most probably the image at the top of the Narmer Palette (c. 3150 BCE) as she was associated with the king's success. She blessed people with success owing to her ability to see both past and future. Eventually, she was absorbed by Hathor who took on her characteristics.

Bennu - An avian deity better known as the Bennu Bird, the divine bird of creation and inspiration for the Greek Phoenix. The Bennu Bird was closely associated with Atum, Ra, and Osiris. It was present at the dawn of creation as an aspect of Atum (Ra) which flew over the primordial waters and woke creation with its cry. Afterwards, it determined what would and would not be included in creation. It was associated with Osiris through the imagery of rebirth as the bird was closely connected to the sun which died each night and rose again the next morning.

Beset - The female aspect of Bes invoked in ceremonial magic. As a protective god, Bes also fended off dark magic, ghosts, spirits, and demons. His feminine aspect was called on to combat these forces.

Buchis - Aspect of the Ka (life force/astral self) of the god Montu in the form of a live bull. Depicted as a bull running.

Cavern Deities - A group of nameless gods who lived in caverns in the underworld and punished the wicked and helped the souls of the justified dead. They are mentioned in Spell 168 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and are represented as serpents or serpent-like. The spell is popularly known as 'Spell of the Twelve Caves' and makes mention of offerings which should be left for them. The people of Egypt would leave bowls of offerings by caves for them.

Celestial Ferryman (Hraf-haf) - "He Who Looks Behind Him", the surly boatman who ferried the souls of the justified dead across Lily Lake to the shores of paradise in the Field of Reeds. Hraf-haf was rude and unpleasant, and the soul had to find some way to be courteous in response in order to reach paradise. Hraf-haf is depicted as a man in a boat with his head facing behind him.

Denwen - A serpent deity in the form of a dragon surrounded by flames. He held power over fire and was strong enough to destroy the gods. In the Pyramid Texts, he attempts to kill all the gods with his breath of fire but is overpowered by the spirit of the dead king who saves creation.

Ennead - The nine gods worshipped at Heliopolis who formed the tribunal in the Osiris Myth: Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. These nine gods decide whether Set or Horus should rule in the story The Contendings of Horus and Set. They were known as The Great Ennead. There was also a Little Ennead venerated at Heliopolis of minor deities.

Fetket - The butler of the sun god Ra who served him his drinks, patron god of bartenders.

Field of Offerings - A region of the afterlife devoted to Osiris, located to the west. In some inscriptions it is synonymous with the Field of Reeds.

Field of Reeds - The Egyptian paradise in the afterlife which the soul was admitted to after passing successfully through judgment and being justified by Osiris. It was a direct reflection of one's life on earth where one continued to enjoy everything as before but without sickness, disappointment, or the threat of death.

Forty-Two Judges - The Forty-two deities who presided with Osiris, Thoth, and Anubis over the judgment of the soul in the afterlife. Once the soul had made the Negative Confessions (Declaration of Innocence) the Forty-Two Judges advised Osiris on whether the confession should be accepted. They had names like Far-Strider, Fire-Embracer, Demolisher, Disturber, Owner of Faces, and Serpent Who Brings and Gives, among others.

Four Sons of Horus - Four deities, Duamutef, Hapy, Imset, and Qebehsenuef, who watched over the viscera or the dead in the four canopic jars placed in the tomb. Each had his own cardinal point to guard, his own internal organ to protect, and was watched over by a specific goddess.

Geb - God of the earth and growing things. Geb is the son of Shu and Tefnut, husband of Nut, the sky.

Gengen Wer - The celestial goose whose name means "Great Honker". He was present at the dawn of creation and guarded (or laid) the celestial egg containing the life force. He is a protector god who was worshipped very early in Egypt's history. Followers of Gengen Wer identified themselves with his protective attributes and wore talismans reminding them to respect life and honor the earth.

Ha - A protector god, Lord of the Western Deserts also known as Lord of the Libyans. He was god of the desert to the west of Egypt, son of the god Iaaw who was probably also a desert god. Ha provided protection from the Libyans and opened oases for travelers in the desert. Depicted as a strong young man with the sign of the desert over his head.

Hapi - A fertility god, god of the Nile silt and associated with the inundation which caused the river to overflow its banks and deposit the rich earth which the farmers relied on for their crops. Hapi was a very ancient god whose name may have originally been derived from the river and who was a personification of the river at flood. He is depicted as a man with large breasts and belly signifying fertility and success.

Hardedef - The son of King Khufu (also known as Cheops, 2589-2566 BCE) who wrote a book known as Instruction in Wisdom. The work was so brilliant it was considered the work of a god and he was deified after death.

Haroeris - The Greek name for the sky aspect of Horus the Elder (also known as Horus the Great who appeared in the earthly realm as a falcon.

Harpocrates - The Greek and Roman name for Horus the Child, son of Osiris and Isis. Depicted as a young winged boy with his finger to his lips. He was venerated in Greece as the god of secrets, silence, and confidentiality.

Hathor - One of the best known, most popular, and most important deities of ancient Egypt. She was the daughter of Ra and, in some stories, wife of Horus the Elder. A very ancient goddess, she was sent by Ra to destroy humanity for their sins. The other gods implored Ra to stop her destruction before no humans were left to benefit from the lesson. Ra then had a vat of beer dyed red, to resemble blood, and placed at Dendera which Hathor, in her blood lust, drank. She fell asleep and woke as the benevolent goddess who was a friend to all. She was the patron goddess of joy, inspiration, celebration, love, women, women's health, childbirth, and drunkenness. One of her names is "The Lady of Drunkenness". She was thought to live in sycamore trees and so was also known as 'The Lady of the Sycamore." In the afterlife she helped guide the souls of the dead toward paradise and was one of the deities aboard the sun barge of Ra who defended it from Apep. She is further associated with gratitude and a thankful heart. The Greeks associated her with Aphrodite. She is depicted as a cow or a woman with a cow's head and evolved from the earlier goddess Bat. Her characteristics were later largely absorbed by Isis.

Hathor-Nebet-Hetepet - A Mother Goddess aspect of Hathor worshipped at Heliopolis. She represented the hand, the active part, of the supreme god Atum (Ra).

Haurun - A protector god associated with the Great Sphinx of Giza. He was originally a Canaanite god associated with destruction who planted a tree of death. When he was brought to Egypt by Canaanite and Syrian workers and merchants, he was transformed into a god of healing. His association with the Sphinx of Giza comes from these foreign workers who believed the Sphinx represented Haurun and built a shrine to their god in front of the statue. He is known as "The Victorious Herdsman" for a popular spell recited in his name for protection before going hunting.

Heh and Hauhet - God and goddess of infinity and eternity. Heh was depicted as a frog and Hauhet as a serpent. Their names mean "endlessness" and they were among the original gods of the Ogdoad.

Heka - One of the oldest and most important gods in ancient Egypt. He was the patron god of magic and medicine but was also the primordial source of power in the universe. He existed before the gods and was present in the act of creation although, in later myths, he is seen as the son of Menhet and Khnum and part of the triad of Latopolis. He is depicted as a man carrying a staff and knife, and physicians were known as Priests of Heka. Magic was an integral part of medical practice in ancient Egypt, and so Heka became an important deity for doctors. He was said to have killed two serpents and entwined them on a staff as a symbol of his power; this image (borrowed from the Sumerians, actually) was passed on to the Greeks who associated it with their god Hermes and called it the caduceus. In the modern day, the caduceus is frequently confused with the Rod of Asclepius in iconography related to the medical profession.

Horus - An early avian god who became one of the most important deities in ancient Egypt. Associated with the sun, sky, and power, Horus became linked with the king of Egypt as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3150-2890 BCE). Although the name 'Horus' might refer to a number of avian deities it principally designates two: Horus the Elder, one of the first five gods born at the beginning of creation, and Horus the Younger who was the son of Osiris and Isis. Following the rise in popularity of the Osiris Myth, Horus the Younger became one of the most important gods in Egypt. In the story, after Osiris is murdered by his brother Set, Horus is raised by his mother in the Delta swamps. When he comes of age he battles his uncle for the kingdom and wins, restoring order to the land. The kings of Egypt, with some exceptions, all linked themselves with Horus in life and with Osiris in death. The king was thought to be the living incarnation of Horus and, through him, the god gave all good things to his people. He is usually depicted as a man with the head of a hawk but is represented by many different images. His symbols are the Eye of Horus and the hawk.

Hu - God of the spoken word, personification of the first word spoken by Atum (Ra) at the dawn of creation which brought all into being. Linked with Sia and Heka. Sia represented the heart, Hu the tongue, and Heka their underlying force which gave them their power. Hu is often seen as a representation of the power of Heka or Atum and is depicted in funerary texts guiding the soul to the afterlife.

Iah (Yah) - A god of the moon who figures prominently in the Egyptian calendar. In the story of the creation of the world, Atum is angered by the intimate relationship between Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) and so separates them, declaring that Nut may not give birth to her children on any day of the year. The god Thoth appeared and gambled with Iah for five days worth of moonlight. He won and divided the moonlight hours into days which, because they were not part of the days of the year decreed by Atum, Nut could give birth in. She then gave birth to the first five gods: Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder in July. The Egyptians regulated their calendar with these five magical days. Iah was eventually absorbed into the god Khonsu.

Iabet - Goddess of fertility and rebirth, known as "She of the East" and sometimes associated with Amenet ("She of the West"). Iabet presided over the eastern deserts and, in time, came to personify them. She was also known as "Cleanser of Ra" who bathed the sun before it appeared in the dawn sky and personified the freshness of the morning sun. She was eventually absorbed into Isis.

Ihy - God of music and joy, specifically the music of the sistrum. Son of Hathor and Horus the Elder. He was worshipped with Hathor at Dendera and invoked at festivals. His birth is honored in wall inscriptions at birth houses in Dendera in the belief that joy and music should welcome children to earth at their birth. Depicted as a child with a sistrum.

Imhotep - The vizier of king Djoser (c. 2670 BCE) who designed and built the Step Pyramid. He lived c. 2667-2600 BCE and was a polymath expert in many fields of study. His name means "He Who Comes in Peace" and, after his death, he was deified as a god of wisdom and medicine. He was identified by the Greeks with Aesculapius and was invoked in spells for healing. His medical treatises claimed, against convential belief, that disease was natural in origin and not a punishment from the gods.

Imsety - A protector god, one of the Four Sons of Horus who protected the canopic jar holding the liver. He presided over the south, had the form of a human male, and was watched over by Isis.

Ishtar - The Mesopotamian goddess of love, sexuality, and war. She was originally Inanna of the Sumerians and Akkadians, who became Ishtar to the Assyrians and influenced the development of other similar goddesses such as Aphrodite of the Greeks, Astarte of the Phoenicians, Hathor of the Egyptians, and Sauska of the Hittites, among others. She was probably first introduced to Egypt through trade in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) but definitely gained prominent standing after the Assyrian conquest of Egypt by Ashurbanipal in 666 BCE.

Isis - The most powerful and popular goddess in Egyptian history. She was associated with virtually every aspect of human life and, in time, became elevated to the position of supreme deity, "Mother of the Gods", who cared for her fellow deities as she did for human beings. She is the second-born of the First Five Gods (Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder), sister-wife of Osiris, mother of Horus the Younger, and symbolically understood as the mother of every king. Her Egyptian name, Eset, means "Goddess of the Throne" because of her association with the monarch. She was also known as Weret-Kekau, "The Great Magic", because of her incredible powers. She cared for people in life and appeared to them after death to help guide them safely to paradise. After the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, her worship traveled to Greece and then to Rome. During the time of the Roman Empire, she was worshipped in every corner of their realm from Britain through Europe to Anatolia. The Cult of Isis was the strongest opponent of the new religion of Christianity between the 4th-6th centuries CE, and iconography, as well as tenets of belief, of the Isis cult were incorporated into the new faith. Imagery of the Virgin Mary holding her son Jesus comes directly from Isis cradling her son Horus and the Dying and Reviving God figure of Jesus himself is a version of Osiris.

Isis-Eutheria - A later Greek version of Isis worshipped in Egypt whose tears, when she mourned for Osiris, were thought to cause the inundation of the Nile River.

Iusaaset - A very early Mother Goddess referred to as "Grandmother of the Gods" and linked to Atum at the creation of the world. She is depicted in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) as a woman with the uraeus and solar disc on her head holding a scepter and the ankh, symbol of life, and was associated with the acacia tree, the Tree of Life, considered the oldest tree in Egypt. She was known as "Lady of the Acacia", an epithet later attributed to Hathor. She was known to the Greeks as Saosis.

Iw - A creation goddess worshipped at Heliopolis associated with Hathor and Atum, combining the qualities of Hathor, Nebet, and Hetepet.

Judgement Deities - See Forty-Two Judges

Jupiter-Amun - The Roman version of Zeus-Amun, king of the gods, worshipped at the Siwa Oasis in Egypt.

Kabechet (Kebehwet or Qebhet) - She was originally a celestial serpent deity who became known as the daughter of Anubis and a funerary deity. She provided pure, cool water to the souls of the deceased as they awaited judgment in the Hall of Truth. She was associated with Nephthys as a friend of the dead.

Kagemni - A vizier to the king Sneferu (c. 2613-2589 BCE) who wrote the wisdom text known as Instructions of Kagemni. The book was considered so important it was required instruction for children of the monarchy. He was deified after death and worshipped as a god of wisdom.

Kek and Kauket - Gods of obscurity and night, members of the original Ogdoad of Hermopolis. Kek and Kauket were the male/female aspects of darkness but not in any way associated with evil. Kek was the god of the hours before dawn and was known as "Bringer-in-of-the-Light" as he guided the sun barge of the god Ra toward the sky from the underworld. Kauket, his feminine balance, was depicted as a woman with the head of a serpent also called "Bringer-in-of-the-Darkness" who presided over the hours of twilight when the sun was setting and guided the sun barge into the underworld.

Khenmu (Khnum) - Also known as "The Great Potter", Khenmu was an early god of Upper Egypt most probably from Nubia originally. In early myths, he was the god who fashioned human beings from the clay of the Nile River and then held them high so the light of Ra could shine upon them and give them life. Humans were then placed in a womb from which they were born on earth. Khenmu is depicted as a ram-headed god symbolizing virility and fertility. He formed a triad with the gods Anuket and Satis at Elephantine on the Egyptian border of Nubia. Linked to the god Kherty, another ram-headed god, though a completely different entity. He is the patron god of potters and those who work in ceramics.

Khonsu (Kons, Chonsu, Khensu, or Chons) - His name means "The Traveler" and he was god of the moon. He formed one of the most important and influential triads at Thebes along with his father Amun and mother Mut. He is depicted as a mummy holding the crook and flail with a uraeus and moon disc on his head. Khonsu replaced the earlier god Montu as son of Mut and also took on his protective qualities. By the time of the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE) he was extremely popular and worshipped as the greatest among the gods after Amun. He was associated with healing and images of Khonsu were believed to have miraculous abilities to heal the sick instantly.

Maahes (Mahes, Mihos, or Mysis) - He was a powerful solar god and protector of the innocent depicted as a lion-headed man carrying a long knife or a lion. His name is linked to the goddess of harmony and truth, Ma'at, and may mean "True Before Ma'at". This interpretation is likely as his other names include "Lord of Slaughter" and "The Scarlet Lord" referring to his punishment of those who violated the sacred order life presided over by the goddess. He was commonly understood to be the son of Bastet but is also referred to as son of Sekhmet, only natural since both were associated with cats/lions. He possibly an aspect of the god Nefertum, also a son of Bastet, and formed a triad with Nefertum and Imhotep at Memphis. Linked by the Greeks with the Furies because of his vengeful nature.

Ma'at - Goddess of truth, justice, and harmony, one of the most important deities in the Egyptian pantheon. She set the stars in the sky and regulated the seasons. Ma'at embodied the principle of ma'at (harmony) which was central to the culture of ancient Egypt. Ma'at walked with one through life, was present in the form of the Feather of Truth at the soul's judgment after death, and continued as a presence in the paradise of the Field of Reeds. She is depicted as a woman wearing a crown with an ostrich feather. The word means "that which is straight" and the concept of harmony infused every aspect of an Egyptian's life. There is a time for every action and aspect of existence within ma'at but all must be recognized and acted upon at appropriate times.

Mafdet (Mefdet) - She was an early goddess of justice who pronounced judgment and meted out execution swiftly. Her name means "She Who Runs" for the speed with which she dispensed justice. She is the earliest feline deity in Egypt, pre-dating both Bastet and Sekhmet. She protected people from venomous bites, especially from scorpions, and predates Serket who later took on that role. All of Mafdet's qualities were later assumed by other female deities but Mafdet remained a popular goddess from the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) through the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE) when she appears as a judge in the afterlife. She is depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, cheetah, leopard, or lynx holding the rope and executioner's blade.

Mau - The divine cat who, in some stories, is present at the dawn of creation as an aspect of Ra. Mau protected the Tree of Life, which held the secrets of eternal life and divine knowledge, from the evil serprent Apep. The story of Mau and the tree is told in Spell 17 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead where it is clear the cat is Ra personified. Spell 17 also claims that this is the origin of cats on earth.

Mehet-Weret - An ancient sky goddess and one of the oldest deities of Egypt. She is the celestial cow goddess who rose from the primordial waters of chaos to give birth to the sun god Ra at the beginning of time. Her name means "Great Flood" and she is associated with fertility and abundance. After giving birth to the sun, she placed it between her horns and every morning lifted it into the sky. Her qualities were later absorbed by Hathor.

Menhit (Menhyt) - She was a solar deity who represented the brow of the sun god Ra, depicted as a reclining lioness. She was worshipped in the Delta region and associated with Neith and Wadjet as a protective goddess.

Meskhenet - Goddess of childbirth and one of the oldest deities of Egypt. Meskhenet was present at one's birth, created one's ka (aspect of the soul) and breathed it into one's body. In doing so, she provided the person's destiny through their character. She was also present at the judgment of the soul in the afterlife as a comforter and so was with an individual at birth, through life, and after death. She is depicted as a birthing brick (the stone women would squat on to give birth) with the head of a woman or a seated woman with a birthing brick on her head. Her role of providing one's destiny was eventually taken over by the Seven Hathors but she continued to be venerated in homes throughout Egypt's history.

Min - An ancient fertility god from the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE). Min was god of the eastern deserts who watched over travelers but was also associated with the black fertile mud of the Egyptian Delta. He is shown as the husband of Isis and father of Horus in early inscriptions and so is associated with Osiris. Min is depicted as a man holding his erect penis in one hand with the flail of authority in the other.

Mnevis (Mer-Wer or Nem-Wer) - Mnevis was the sacred bull of Heliopolis considered an aspect of the sun god Ra. He was a live bull selected from a herd for his completely black coat. Only one Mnevis bull could exist at any one time and another was chosen only after the first died. He was eventually absorbed into Apis.

Mut - An early mother goddess who most likely had a minor role during the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) but who later became prominent as the wife of Amun and mother of Khonsu, part of the Theban Triad. Mut was a protector deity associated with Bastet and Sekhmet. She guarded over people in life and, in Spell 164 of the Book of the Dead, is depicted as a savior of souls trapped by demons in the afterlife. She was also the divine protector of the king and state who roasted conspirators and traitors in her flaming brazier.

Nebethetpet - A goddess worshipped at Heliopolis as the personification of the hand of Atum, the active, feminine principle of the god.

Nefertum (Nefertem) - God of perfume and sweet aromas. Nefertum was born from the bud of the blue lotus flower at the dawn of creation and was originally an aspect of Atum. His name means "Beautiful Atum". He was later considered his own deity and became associated with sweet-smelling flowers. He is associated with rebirth and transformation through his link to the sun god and flowers. In Egyptian medicine he was called upon for healing aromas to cure disease and associated with incense.

Nehebkau (Nehebu-Kau) - "He Who Unites the Ka", was a protector god who joined the ka (aspect of the soul) to the body at birth and united the ka with the ba (winged aspect of the soul) after death. He is depicted as a serpent and, like Heka, has always existed. Nehebkau swam in the primordial waters at the dawn of creation before Atum rose from the chaos to impose order.

Neith - One of the oldest and most enduring deities of ancient Egypt, worshipped from the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE), the last to rule Egypt before it was taken by Rome. Neith was a war goddess, creator goddess, mother goddess, and funerary goddess in her time and patron of the city of Sais in the Nile Delta. She was the most important goddess of Lower Egypt in early history and continued to hold a prominent position in worship for millenia. In early depictions she is seen with a bow and arrows and one of her epithets was "Mistress of the Bow". As a creator goddess she was identified with the waters of chaos (Nun) prior to creation and, in this role, she is called "Grandmother of the Gods" or "Mother of the Gods". She was thought to have invented birth and was closely associated with living and growing things. As a mother goddess, she is the mediator of the gods' disputes, most famously as the goddess who settles the question of whether Horus or Set should rule Egypt when the tribunal of the gods cannot decide. She also became prominent as a funerary goddess who watched over the dead. Her statue appears with those of Isis, Nephthys, and Serket in Tutankhamun's tomb. She is the guardian goddess over Duamutef, one of the Four Sons of Horus who watch over the canopic jars in the tombs and is also depicted as a just judge of the dead in the Hall of Truth.

Nephthys - A funerary goddess, one of the first five gods born of Geb and Nut after the creation of the world, wife of Set, twin sister of Isis, and mother of Anubis. Her name means "Mistress of the Temple Enclosure" or "Mistress of the House" referring to a heavenly house or temple. She is depicted as a woman with a house on her head. Nephthys is widely, and incorrectly, regarded as a minor deity when actually she was worshipped throughout Egypt from the earliest periods to the last dynasty to rule Egypt. She was considered the dark goddess to the light of Isis but this carried no negative connotation, only balance. Nephthys features prominently in the Osiris myth when she transforms herself into the form of Isis to seduce Osiris, when she betrays the location of Osiris' body to Set, and when she helps her sister revive the dead king. She was known as "Friend of the Dead" for her care of the souls in the afterlife and professional mourners at funerals, who encouraged the open expression of grief, were known as the "Kites of Nephthys". In the text The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys she calls the soul of Osiris back from the dead. This text was recited regularly at festivals, services, and funerals throughout Egypt.

Nu (Nun) and Naunet - Nu was the personification of the primordial chaos from which the world arose. Naunet is his female aspect and consort. Nu is commonly regarded as "Father of the Gods" while Naunet is only referenced regarding the Ogdoad, the grouping of eight primordial gods, four males matching four females, who represent the original elements of creation. In some later myths, the goddess Neith is associated with Nu.

Nut - The primordial sky goddess who personified the canopy of the heavens, wife of Geb (earth), mother of Osiris, Isis, Set, Nepththys, and Horus the Elder. After the primordial mound rose from the waters of chaos at creation, Atum (Ra) sent his children Shu and Tefnut out to create the world. When they returned, he was so happy he shed tears of joy which became human beings. These creatures had nowhere to live and so Shu and Tefnut mated to give birth to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). Their relationship was so intimate that it disturbed Atum who pushed Nut high above Geb and fixed her there. He also decreed that she could not give birth on any day of the year. Thoth, the god of wisdom, gambled with Iah, god of the moon, and won five days worth of moonlight which he transformed into days. Nut was able to then give birth to her five children on five consecutive days in July which were not part of Atum's original. In some versions of the story it is Khonsu who loses the gamble with Thoth.

Osiris - Lord and judge of the dead, one of the First Five gods born of Nut at the dawn of creation, and one of the most popular and enduring gods of Egypt. His name means "Powerful" or "Mighty". Osiris was originally a fertility god who grew in popularity and influence through the Osiris Myth in which he is killed by his brother, Set, brought back to life by his wife Isis, fathers sky god Horus, and descends to the underworld as Judge of the Dead. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead he is mentioned frequently as the just judge in the Hall of Truth who weighs the hearts of the souls of the dead against the white feather of ma'at. He is an early example of the Dying and Reviving God figure in mythology who leant himself to the later version of this figure, Jesus Christ. Egyptian kings identified themselves with Osiris in death and he is usually depicted as a mummy (symbolizing death) and with green or black skin (symbolizing the fertility of the Nile region and life). He was so popular that people in ancient Egypt paid to have their bodies buried at Abydos near his cult center and those who could not afford that would pay for memorials to be erected to them or their loved ones at Abydos believing that proximity to Osiris on earth guaranteed easier access to paradise after death. His cult naturally merged with that of his wife and the Cult of Isis, with its symbolism of salvation, eternal life, the dying and reviving god, and the divine son born of a virgin mother, would later influence the development of early Christianity.

Osiris-Apis - The Apis bull, traditionally associated with the god Ptah, became linked to Osiris as the latter god grew more popular. At Saqqara, the priests began to worship a hybrid god they called Osiris-Apis who was the god in bull form. As with the traditional Apis bull, a live bull was considered an incarnation of the god. When the sacred bull died it was mummified with the same care given a king.

Pakhet - A hunting goddess in lioness form, her name means "She Who Scratches" or "Tearer". She was a consort of Horus and associated with the vengeful aspects of Sekhmet and the justice of Isis. She was thought to hunt at night and terrify her enemies.

Ptah - One of the oldest Egyptian gods who appears in the First Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) but most likely dates from the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE). Ptah was the great god of Memphis, creator of the world, lord of truth, and chief god of the city of Memphis and its surrounding area c. 3000 BCE. Ptah was originally the figure who stood on the primordial mound of the ben-ben at the creation of the world. He was probably an early fertility god and is associated with the moringa tree which, in an early myth, he liked to rest beneath. He was the patron god of sculptors and craftsmen as well as builders of monuments as he was thought to have sculpted the earth. He was sometimes known as Ptah-Nun or Ptah-Naunet in his creative aspect, linking him with the primordial substances of the Ogdoad. He is depicted as a mummified man wearing a skull cap holding the Was scepter of authority with the ankh and djed symbols at the top.

Ptah-hotep - Author of one the more famous Wisdom Texts, who was deified after his death and honored with his own cult.

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris - A hybrid god of these three associated with creation, death, and rebirth. Worshipped in the period of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE).

Qebhet - See Kabechet

Qudshu (Qadesh) - Syrian goddess of love, consort of the war god Reshep, assimilated into Egyptian worship during the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE). She was the goddess of sexual pleasure and sacred ecstasy who was associated with Hathor, Anat, and Astarte. Her name means "Holy" and she is always depicted as a slim naked woman holding the symbols of eroticism and fertility; lotus blossoms in her right hand and snakes or papyrus stems in her left. She was widely venerated throughout Egypt. Her cult reenacted the sacred marriage between Qudshu and Reshep, a ritual long associated with the Cult of Ishtar/Inanna in Mesopotamia and Astarte in Phoenicia.

Raettawy (Raet or Raet-Tawy) - She was the female aspect of Ra. She is associated with Hathor and is depicted as closely resembling Hathor with the uraeus on her head holding the solar disk, sometimes with two feathers over the disk.

Renpet - A goddess who personified the year. She is represented in inscriptions by a notched palm branch signifying the passing of time, the heiroglyphic image for 'year'. She had no formal cult or temple but was an integral part of the Egyptian's understanding of time: that it was imbued, like everything else, with personality and vitality.

Renenutet (Renenet or Ernutet) - A very important goddess depicted as a cobra or a rearing cobra with the head of a woman. Her name means "Snake Who Nourishes" and she was goddess of nursing and rearing children. In time, she became closely associated with Meskhenet, goddess of childbirth and destiny, and even superceded her to determine the length of a person's life and significant events which would befall them. Along with Meskhenet, she was also associated with Neith and sometimes portrayed as the mother of Osiris, with Isis as the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, as Atum's wife or consort. In the afterlife she appeared as the "Lady of Justification" linking her with the goddess Ma'at. She was thought to protect the clothing worn by the king in the afterlife and so was also known as "Lady of the Robes". In this capacity, she appeared as a fire-breathing cobra who drove away the enemies of the king. She was also a grain goddess known as "Lady of the Fertile Fields" and "Lady of the Granaries" who protected the harvest and was the mother of Nepri, god of grain. As a fertility goddess, she was further linked to the Nile River and the inundation and so with Hapi, the god of the fertile mud of the Nile.

Reshep - A Syrian war god assimilated into Egyptian worship during the period of the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE). He was the consort of the goddess of sexual pleasure and sacred ecstasy Qudshu (Qadesh) and was worshipped with her in a triad which included the fertility god Min. The sacred marriage of Qudshu and Reshep was reenacted by their followers linking the cult to that of Inanna/Ishtar of Mesopotamia which had long practiced the same ritual. Reshep is further linked to Mesopotamia through his identification in iconography with the Mesopotamian war god Nergal. As a god of pestilence, he is also linked to Set, god of chaos and the arid wastes. Reshep is uniformly depicted as a strong warrior holding a raised war club and wearing a skirt and long Mesopotamian-styled beard.

Sah - An astral god, personification of the constellation Orion, usually paired with Sothis (Sopdet) as representations of the astral forms of Osiris and Isis. He is referred to as "Father of the gods" in the Pyramid Texts and was an important aspect of funerary rites where he welcomed the king to the afterlife. Known also as the "Dweller in Orion", Pyramid Text chapter 186 welcomes the soul, "In the name of the Dweller in Orion, with a season in the sky and a season on earth" which can be understood as, "with a season in the sky after a season on earth". He is depicted as a man holding the ankh and was sceptre standing in a boat surrounded by stars in a night sky.

Sekhmet - One of the most significant goddesses of ancient Egypt. Sekhmet was a leonine deity usually depicted as a woman with the head of a lion. Her name means "Powerful" and is usually interpreted as "The Female Powerful One". She was a goddess of destruction and healing, of desert winds and cool breezes. She was the daughter of Ra who appears in one of the most important stories concerning the Eye of Ra/Distant Goddess motif. When Ra became tired of the sins of humanity, he sent Sekhmet to destroy them. She ravaged the land until the other gods implored Ra to stop her before humans were destroyed completely. Ra had a vat of beer dyed red to attract Sekhmet's blood lust and left it at Dendera where she drank it and fell into a deep sleep; when she woke she was the benevolent Hathor. Sekhmet continued to exist in her leonine form, however, and was the patron deity of the military for her powers of destruction and vengeance. She was known as "Smiter of the Nubians" in this regard but she also brought natural disaster. Plagues were known as "Messengers of Sekhmet" or "Slaughterers of Sekhmet". In the same way that she could bring the desert winds, she could deflect them, and the same with pestilence; just as she had brought the plague, she could cure it and was known as "Mistress of Life" in this capacity (and so was frequently invoked in healing spells and incantations by ancient doctors). She was closely associated with other leonine deities such as Bastet and Pakhet and was thought to be the aggressive, violent aspect of the goddess Mut.

Seret - A leonine protective goddess probably from Libya. She is only mentioned in a Fifth Dynasty (2498-2345 BCE) inscription as a goddess of a region of Egypt inhabited mainly by Libyans - the 3rd Lower Egypt nome (province). Like the other leonine deities, she is a fierce protector of her followers and avenges wrongs done to them.

Serket (Selket, Serqet or Serkis) - She was a protective and also an important funerary goddess probably originating in the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) and first mentioned during the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3150-2890 BCE). She is best known from her golden statue found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Serket was a scorpion goddess depicted as a woman with a scorpion on her head and arms outstretched in a protective pose. She may have been an early Mother Goddess who evolved into a deity who protected people (especially children) from scorpion venom and then to one who protected from all venom. A story known as Isis and the Seven Scorpions tells of how Isis was insulted by a rich woman once and Serket, who had sent her seven scorpions along as Isis' bodyguards, instructed one of them to sting the woman's son. The boy was going to die from the venom but Isis saved him and forgave the woman. Afterwards, Serket followed Isis' example of forgiveness and protected other children from scorpions. Her priests were largely physicians who invoked her name in healing. In the afterlife she helped guide the souls of the dead to paradise and protected a certain dangerous section of travel. Along with Isis, Neith, and Nephthys, she watches over the Four Sons of Horus as they guard the viscera of the dead in tombs.

Set (Seth) - God of war, chaos, storms, and pestilence. His name is translated as "Instigator of Confusion" and "Destroyer". He is depicted as a red beast with cloven hooves and a forked tale and is the prototype for the later iconography of the Christian Devil. Set was originally a hero-god who drove away the serpent Apep (Apophis) from the barge of the sun god and killed it nightly. He was a desert god who brought the evil winds of the dry lands to the lush Nile Valley and was associated with foreign lands and people. His consorts were Anat and Astarte, both goddesses associated with war and both from foreign countries, as well as Taweret, the benign protective goddess of childbirth and fertility. Set is often characterized as "evil", and did manifest many evil qualities, but was not regarded by the ancient Egyptians as an embodiment of evil or darkness. He was rather seen as a necessary balance to gods like Osiris and Horus who represented all things noble and good, fertility, vitality, and eternity. Set is best known as the world's first murderer in the Myth of Osiris where he kills his brother to usurp the throne. Isis returns Osiris to life but, because he is incomplete, descends to the underworld as Lord of the Dead. Isis gives birth to Osiris' son, Horus, who grows up to challenge set for the throne. Their battles, which lasted for eighty years, are described in the text The Contendings of Horus and Set and were resolved in one version by Isis while, in another, by Neith with Horus declared rightful king and Set banished to the desert lands.

Shay (Shai) - The personification of fate. Shay presided over one's personal destiny and so was associated with goddesses like Meskhenet and Renenutet. Similar to The Fates of the ancient Greeks, no one could resist or alter Shay's decisions. The scholar Wilkinson cites a text known as Instructions of Amenemopet which states, "None can ignore Shay" (128). This statement epitomizes Shay's chief characteristic: inevitability. He is depicted as being present at the weighing of the heart of the soul in the afterlife or as a man standing in a posture of patience. During the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE), when Egyptian gods were hellenized, he was known as Agathadaimon, the serpent deity who could tell one's future.

Shentayet - An obscure protective goddess whose name means "Widow" and who was associated with that aspect of Isis who lost her husband and then brought him back to life. This aspect was referred to as Isis-Shentayet. Quite likely invoked as a protectress of widows but references to her are rare and Isis fulfilled that role as she did so many others.

Shesmetet - A protective leonine goddess known as "Lady of Punt" and most likely an important goddess brought to Egypt through trade with Punt. She is generally regarded as an aspect of Bastet or Sekhmet but quite possibly she was a much older deity whose attributes were absorbed by later leonine goddesses. Her name is mentioned as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3150-2890 BCE) and leant itself to the Shesmetet girdle, a belt of beads, worn by the kings of that time. She is depicted as a woman with the head of a lion.

Shezmu - God of wine and, later, of perfume and plenty who personified the positive and negative aspects of drunkenness. Shezmu is depicted in the Pyramid Text 403 killing and cooking the gods for the king's pleasure and, by the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) was seen tormenting the souls of the dead as he "lassoes the damned and corrals them for slaughter, squeezing their heads like grapes in a bloody image of destruction" (Wilkinson, 129). His image was softened by others showing his benign and peaceful side as lord of the wine press and this was softened further as he became associated with oils and perfumes.

Shu - The primordial god of the air whose name means "Emptiness". He was born at the beginning of creation of Atum (Ra) and sent to create the world with his sister Tefnut (goddess of moisture). The two were gone so long that Atum came to miss them and sent his eye (the Eye of Ra) in search of them. When the eye returned with them, Atum was so happy he cried and his tears created human beings. She and Tefnut then mated and gave birth to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) who Atum pushed high apart from each other, providing a place for humans to live. Mist was attributed to him as "Lakes of Shu" and the clouds as "Bones of Shu" and he was also associated with light and brightness. In this regard he came to be linked to Thoth and Khonsu, both associated with the moon, because of moonlight.

Sia - The personification of perception and thoughtfulness who represented the heart (seat of emotion, thought, and character). Sia formed a dyad with Hu (representing the tongue), personification of the authority of the spoken word, and a triad with Hu and Heka, god of magic and medicine but also the primordial force in the universe which empowered life and sustained ma'at. Sia represented the intellect while Hu symbolized the word of Ptah (or Atum) which brought thought into reality and Heka was the underlying force which gave them power. Sia is depicted as a man standing at the right side of Ptah (later, Atum/Ra) and held his papyrus scroll. In the Valley of the Kings he is seen in paintings as a member of the crew aboard Ra's sun barge.

Sky Bull - The deity who presided over the heavens and the afterlife as a protector, also known as "Bull of the West" for his association with the afterlife. Commonly understood to be the husband of the seven cows which are seen with him.

Sokar (Seker) - A protective falcon god of Memphis who was originally an agricultural deity and one of the oldest in Egypt. His festival was one of the earliest observed and, merged with the Khoiak Festival of Osiris, continued to be celebrated throughout Egypt's history. He evolved from a god of agriculture and growth to the god of craftsmen and guardian of the Memphis necropolis after Osiris became more popular. Sokar is often depicted as a funerary mound surrounded by falcon heads, as a falcon, or as a falcon-headed man. He is associated with the afterlife as guardian of the entrance to the underworld and the god who carries the deceased king's soul in his barge to paradise. In time, he became associated with Ptah and then Osiris to eventually combine by the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) into Ptah-Sokar-Osiris who was a hybrid funerary deity presiding over the afterlife.

Sothis - The personification of the star Sirius (the "dog star") whose appearance heralded the annual inundation of the Nile. She was worshipped as a cow-goddess in the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) associated with Sirius. She was the consort of Sah, who personified the constellation Orion, and the two were associated with Osiris and Isis. In this role, she was the mother of Sopdu and so appealed to as a protective influence. She was also associated with Satis who was linked to the inundation of the Nile as consort of Khnum. Early depictions of Sothis represent her as a cow with a plant between her horns while later images show her as a woman wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt with horns on her head or feathers with a five-pointed star above her. She became increasingly identified with Isis and was eventually absorbed into that goddess completely. Isis refers to herself as Sothis in a copy of the text of The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys from the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE) showing how the assimilation was almost complete by that time.

Star Deities - Gods and goddesses identified with the night sky. By the time of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) the Egyptians had identified five of the planets which they referred to as "Stars That Know No Rest" and associated with gods: the called Mercury 'Sebegu' (a form of the god Set); Venus ("The One Who Crosses" and "God of the Morning"); Mars ("Horus of the Horizon" and "Horus the Red"); Jupiter ("Horus Who Limits the Two Lands"); Saturn ("Horus Bull of the Heavens"). Further, the star Sirius was associated with Sothis and then Isis while Orion represented the god Sah, "Father of the Gods". The appearance of Sirius heralded the inundation of the Nile, the promise of fertility, and represented the cyclical nature of existence and so came to be linked to Osiris, the dying and reviving god, and Isis, the one who revived him. The stars then were called "Followers of Osiris" who sailed across the night sky in accordance with divine pattern. Sah and Sothis in the heavens reflected the divine couple Osiris and Isis and the god Sopdu, (son of Sothis), the astral form of Horus. Thus the night sky told the stories of the most meaningful stories of the Egyptian culture and assured the people of an eternity in the gods' presence when they looked up at the stars.

Sutekh - The Semitic name for the god Set (Seth) which the people known as the Hyksosintroduced during the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1782-1570 BCE). The Hyksos identified Set with the warlike aspect of their god Baal. Set was referred to as Sutekh through the reign of Ramesses II (1279-1213 BCE) and invoked as a vanguard in war.

Tatenen - An earth god who personified the primordial mound at creation and symbolized the land of Egypt. He is most likely the same god referred to as Khenty-Tjenenet in the period of the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE). He was worshipped at Memphis during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) and continued to be venerated primarily in that region through the rest of Egypt's history. His association with the primordial mound linked him with Ptah and, through Ptah, with Atum and Ra, the other names for the creator god/sun god. Tatenen was a bisexual god, referred to as "Mother of All the Gods" in one text.

Thoth - God of writing and wisdom, truth and integrity, one of the most important deities in the Egyptian pantheon worshipped from the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) on to the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE), the last to rule Egypt. He was probably originally a lunar god, son of Atum (Ra) but later texts represent him as the son of Horus. Thoth is depicted in some texts as a baboon but mostly as a man with the head of an ibis holding a writing implement. He is credited with inventing writing and was the record-keeper of the gods. He was known as "Lord of Time" and "Reckoner of Years" because he marked the passage of time and, through the powerful magic of his divine knowledge of words, gave the king a long reign so he could maintain order on earth. He was the patron god of libraries and of scribes. In every story told of him, Thoth is the divine friend and benefactor of humanity who gave people understanding through the gift of the written word. He appears in one story as gambling for the five days required for Nut to give birth to the First Five Gods and in others as mediating between the gods and delivering messages. In the afterlife he stands with Osiris and keeps records in the Hall of Truth at the ritual of the Weighing of the Heart. His consort was Seshat, his daughter or his wife, who was his female counterpart and also patron deity of libraries and books.

Tjenenyet - A protective goddess from the 12th Dynasty (1991-1802 BCE) who was most likely worshipped earlier. She was consort of the god Montu and was primarily worshipped at Hermonthis (Armant) near Thebes.

Tree Goddesses - A number of well-known Egyptian goddesses were associated with trees, most notably Isis, Hathor, and Nut. Male gods were sometimes linked to a certain tree but it seems only in specific myths or imagery. Hathor was famously associated with the sycamore tree and known as "Lady of the Sycamore" but Isis was also linked to this tree. The practice of burying a body in a wooden casket was thought to be a return of the deceased to the womb of the Mother Goddess.

Triads - Important groupings of three deities, usually a father-god, mother-god, and child-god, the two best known being the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Khons and the Abydos Triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. There are examples of other triads, however, which did not follow this pattern such as the Amun-Ra-Ptah Triad where all three gods represented the same celestial power (the sun). Triads are also seen in depictions of the afterlife where ram, lion, and jackal-headed gods are grouped together.

Tutu - A protective god known as "He Who Keeps Enemies at a Distance", worshipped during the latter part of Egypt's history. He warded off demons and black magic and was depicted as a striding lion with the head of a man, large wings, and a snake for a tail.

Unut (Wenet or Wenut) - A protective goddess worshipped at Hermopolis and known as "The Swift One". She was depicted as a woman with a rabbit's head or a serpent with a rabbit's head and is often referred to as "the rabbit goddess". She was associated with the god Wenenu, depicted as a man with a rabbit's head, who was an aspect of Osiris or sometimes Ra. She is known primarily from amulets showing her image.

Wadjet - A great protective goddess and patroness of Lower Egypt, one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian pantheon, represented as the rearing cobra which became the king's insignia (the uraeus). She was also referred to as Uajyt in her aggressive form and was the counter-balance to the more motherly Nekhbet, her sister. Wadjet was worshipped as an important goddess in the Predynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) and by the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE) was the supreme deity of Lower Egypt represented frequently with Nekhbet who symbolized Upper Egypt. She was the daughter of Ra and one of the goddesses featured in stories about the Eye of Ra. At the dawn of creation she was sent forth by Ra as his eye to find Shu and Tefnut when they had gone off to create the world. She planted the first papyrus plants, laid out the papyrus fields in the swamps of the Nile Delta, and helped Isis raise Horus there when they were hiding from Set. Among her titles is Weret-Hekau, meaning "Great of Magic" and she was regularly invoked for protection against demons, bad luck, or ghosts.

Wadj-Wer (Uat-Ur) - The personification of the Mediterranean Sea whose name means "The Great Green". Recent scholarship has changed the traditional view of this god and he is now believed to have personified the lakes, swamps, and lagoons of the Delta region near to the Mediterranean. Wilkinson notes inscriptions which reference "crossing the great green" by foot which would indicate a land-crossing through the Delta region instead of the sea. He was worshipped as early as the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE) and continues to be referenced through the rest of Egypt's history, especially through protective amulets and tomb inscriptions.

Wepset - A protective goddess whose name means "She Who Burns" who destroys the enemies of Osiris. She is usually represented as a serpent but later as a woman wearing the uraeus with horns and the sun disk overhead. She features in stories concerning the Eye of Ra and is one of the personifications of the Distant Goddess motif where the Eye of Ra departs from the god and is returned, or returns itself, bringing transformation.

Wepwawet (Wepiu or Wepuaut) - One of the most ancient gods of Egypt and the oldest depiction of a jackal god, pre-dating Anubis, with whom he is often confused. His name means "Opener of the Ways" and this has been interpreted as opening the way for king in battle, opening the way to the afterlife, and opening the way at one's birth. He is depicted on the Narmer Palette (c. 3150 BCE) and associated with Wadjet. He eventually became closely associated with Horus and, as Wepwawet-Ra, with the sun god Ra. He is depicted as a jackal, sometimes wearing a scarf with a falcon before him.

Yam - The Phoenician god of the sea who battled the Lord Baal for control of the world. He entered the Egyptian pantheon through trade and made his way into Egyptian mythology through stories of his battles with Set. He was the personification of the raging sea and greatly feared. No temples were ever raised to him but he is referenced in some manuscripts which indicate he was a concern to seafarers who may have worn amulets with his image for protection.

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