Egyptian Gods
and Goddesses
"Hundreds of gods, and everyone has a favourite."
Who were the main gods of ancient Egypt, what did each one rule, and why do so many of them have animal heads? A who's who for adults, with the places where each was worshipped.
Who are the main gods of ancient Egypt?
The best-known Egyptian gods are Ra, the sun god; Osiris, ruler of the dead; his wife Isis, a goddess of magic and protection; their son Horus, the falcon-headed god of kingship; Set, god of storms and disorder; Anubis, who guards the dead; Thoth, god of writing and wisdom; Hathor, goddess of love and music; and Ma'at, the goddess of truth and order. The Egyptians worshipped many more, and their roles overlapped. This page is a guide; it is not one episode in the app.
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"A jackal, an ibis and a cow walk into a temple. It is a normal Tuesday."
Gods of the Two Lands
The Egyptian gods are the deities worshipped in ancient Egypt over some three thousand years. There was no single, fixed pantheon. Each region had its own important gods, a god could have several forms and names, and gods were often joined, as when Amun and Ra became Amun-Ra. This guide covers the best-known deities, their main roles and the places linked with them, and it avoids pretending that the tradition was simpler than it was.
Key Facts About the Egyptian Gods
A traditional way to organize the gods is the Ennead of Heliopolis, a group of nine told in the Pyramid Texts and associated with the city of Heliopolis. It begins with the creator Atum, who in the story gives rise to the air god Shu and the moisture goddess Tefnut. They have two children, the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, and Geb and Nut are the parents of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. It is a family tree of the world, running from the first act of creation to the gods of kingship and death.
Many gods are shown with the head of an animal, and the usual explanation is that the animal expressed a quality of the god. Anubis, a jackal-headed guide of the dead, was linked with the cemeteries. Thoth appears with the head of an ibis or as a baboon. Horus is a falcon, Sobek a crocodile, Hathor a cow, and Sekhmet a lioness. These are the forms in which the gods were shown, not proof that the Egyptians worshipped animals as such, and scholars use the term theriomorphic for them.
Gods were tied to places. Ptah was the creator god of Memphis, a patron of craftsmen. Amun was the great god of Thebes, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand. Osiris was worshipped at Abydos, Horus at Edfu, Hathor at Dendera and Sobek at Kom Ombo. In the Ptolemaic period, the rulers of Alexandria introduced Serapis, a god who combined Egyptian and Greek features, and the cult of Isis later spread across the Roman world.
"A family tree that starts with the creation of the universe. Awkward reunions guaranteed."
The Main Gods, One by One
Ra is the sun god and, in many periods, the king of the gods. He travels across the sky in a boat by day and through the underworld by night. Amun, whose name means hidden, grew in importance in the New Kingdom, when the state god became Amun-Ra. Atum is the creator who comes before the others in the Heliopolis tradition.
Osiris is the king who was killed and brought back to rule the dead. Isis is his wife, known for magic and for protecting her son, and she was later worshipped across the Mediterranean. Horus is their son, the rightful heir and a god of kingship, and every living king was identified with him. Set is their enemy, the god of storms, deserts and foreign lands, a figure with both a threatening and a protective side. Nephthys is the sister of Isis and mourns with her.
Anubis is the god of embalming and a guide of the dead. Thoth is the god of writing, counting and the moon, who in some texts keeps the record at the weighing of the heart. Ma'at is the goddess of truth and the order of the world, whose feather is the standard against which the heart is weighed. Hathor is a goddess of love, music, joy and the sky, who in many texts nurses and protects the king. Sekhmet, a lioness, is a fierce goddess of war and also of healing, and Bastet is shown as a cat or a lioness. Ptah, Sobek and Khnum each have a craft or a power over water.
How the gods change. The Egyptians accepted that one god might be seen as another or as part of another. Ra could be joined with Horus or Amun, and a goddess might be a mother, a wife and a daughter in different texts. The best approach for a modern reader is to treat each god as a cluster of roles tied to a place and a time, not as a fixed character with one story.
"Do not ask which god is in charge. The answer changes with the dynasty."
Hearing the Egyptian World
Alexandria Series
Visionaria does not have an episode about the Egyptian gods. Its closest setting is Alexandria, the Greek-founded city in Egypt, with episodes such as the Pharos lighthouse, the Library and Cleopatra's palace.
First-Person Audio
The Alexandria episodes are first-person audio journeys with narration, music and spatial (3D) sound. Headphones give the best effect.
Read, Then Listen
Use this page to know who is who. Use an episode if you want to spend time in the city where Greek and Egyptian worlds met, and where the cult of Serapis began.
Calm Pacing
The episodes are slow and atmospheric, written for evenings and breaks rather than study.
These gods are not in the app, but their city of meeting is. See the Pharos Lighthouse, the Library of Alexandria and Cleopatra's Royal Residence. For the stories these gods belong to, read Egyptian myths for adults. The format is explained under cinematic meditation.
"No jackals were harmed in the making of this guide."
Who This Guide Is For
Curious Readers
You know a few names and want to know which is which, and why one god seems to appear under three different names.
Museum and Travel Planners
Tomb paintings and temple reliefs are easier to read once you can tell Horus from Anubis at a glance.
Students
A map of the main deities, their roles and their cult centres, to use before turning to the primary sources.
Quiz and Game Fans
You want a quick reference for the names, the symbols and the animal forms.
Fans of Cleopatra's Era
Cleopatra ruled an Egypt in which Isis was a living cult. Our Antony and Cleopatra page covers the other side of that world.
Comparative Readers
Compare with the Greek view of the gods on our Greek gods guide.
Note for beginners: you do not need any background. If you want the stories, not the cast, start with Egyptian myths for adults.
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More to Explore
Egyptian Myths for Adults
Pharos Lighthouse
Antony and Cleopatra
"One Nile, many gods. Start anywhere."
Your Questions Answered
Everything you need to know about the Egyptian gods
"Questions asked on the banks of the Nile for thousands of years."
Ready to Walk
Into Alexandria?
Download Visionaria and begin with the Alexandria series, where Greek and Egyptian worlds met.
"The gods are old. The evening is yours."