Egyptian Mythology

Egyptian Mythology is based on the various gods of ancient Egypt. These gods formed the religion of the era and the myths that helped explain the world and the reasons many things occur.
 
Most of the Egyptian Mythology comes from:
  • The religious writings,
  • Arts,
  • Short stories,
  • Myths,
  • Temple decorations
  • Other texts discovered over the years.
 
Most of the myths and stories recovered were incomplete or in fragments.
 

Origin

 
Egyptian mythology originated from the natural order of things such as:
  • The rising and setting of the sun,
  • The flooding of the Nile River
  • The later renewal of fertility to the lands near the river.
 
This natural order could be disrupted by enemies or even nature with low rainfall reducing the river flow and so forth.
 
This brought about a religion or mythology based on chaos, order and renewal.
Various rituals also form part of the mythology.
 
Creation Story
 
Many of the Egyptian myths focus on origin. From the origin of the world, natural phenomena and even some of the human institutions.
Even kingship originated with the gods and it is then passed on to the human Pharaohs.
Warfare originated when the sun god Ra withdrew in to the sky, then the humans began to fight among each other. Maat refers to order and is believed to have been established at the creation of the world from the chaos.
Maat also refers to the normal patterns and behavior of natural phenomena as well as that of humans. When maat exists, life and happiness becomes possible.
Egyptian gods govern all the forces of nature as per the myths. And thus are responsible for life and the correct functioning of everything in existence.
The human responsible for maat among the people is the Pharaoh. And in the myths, pharaoh is the son of various gods and represents them on earth.
He is also responsible in seeing to the rituals necessary to keep the gods happy.
 
 

Egyptian Myths

 
As in most myths, the Egyptian mythology myths focuses around traditions, daily life as well as the big questions such as the fate of the universe.
Egyptian gods relate to physical objects such as the sun and the earth as well as more abstract forces such as creativity and knowledge.
The Egyptians believed that their gods were the power behind all forces and elements.
The myths are often incomplete or even only partial narratives, and tend to be quite flexible.
Some of the myths even seem to contradict each other. But this could also be due to varied religious ideas and practices in different regions of Egypt at the time.
Many areas based their religion around a patron god and adapted the myths to suit their cults.
The Egyptians also combined and adapted many myths and combined old myths with new ones. So they made their tales and deities very complicated.
 
Some of the fundamental myths focus on the shape of the world. In this case a flat piece of land (personified as the god Geb), over which is the sky (the goddess Nut).
Sky and earth as separated by air (Shu). And the sun (Ra) travels across the sky and then disappears in to the Duat. The duat is an area on the border of the formless water that earth was brought from (personified by the god Nun)).
Egypt was seen as the center of the world and most myths are told of the gods being in Egypt, very seldom in a foreign setting. Creation myths are many and some are similar while others are not but most have a few elements in common.
Most myths agree that the world came from the waters of chaos (Nu). And that a pyramid (benben) was the first thing to arise from the waters.
The sun arise from this first mound either directly or a lotus flower and originally in the form of a child, a falcon, a scarab beetle or a heron.  
The origin of humans is not as well documented in the myths except for the myths which say humans came from the tears of Ra-Atum or Eye of Ra or molded from clay by Khnum.
Most myths are around creationism from chaos rather than human beginnings.
 

Gods and goddesses

 
The sun god Ra, was leader of earth and all the gods after creation. There are various myths surrounding his rule and conflicts with some of the other gods and later humanity. as well until he leaves earth and lives in the sky, traveling through the heavens daily. Osiris is associated with kingship and fertility and certain myths tell of him being killed and dismembered by his brother Set. Set then takes over ruling the world. His parts are scattered all over Egypt but his wife Isis (who is also his sister) recovers all the parts and with the help of Anubis and Nephthys restores his body to completeness. He is then revived for enough time to impregnate Isis with a son, Horus.  Isis raises Horus out of sight of Set and when he is grown, he challenges Set for the throne.
 
There are many parts to the myths of their conflict, including one in which Set pulls out Horus’s eyes, which are restored by Hathor or Thoth.
The “eye of Horus”is a very powerful symbol in ancient Egyptian life. There are two endings to the myth, one in which Horus rules and another where they divide the kingdom between them.
 
Royal children such as the first human kings are said to descend from the joining of a god with a human woman. In some of the myths the god is Ra and in others it is Amun. This was one way of stating that the human ruler was there due to deliberate intervention by a god or gods.
Although not described in any detail, many of the recovered texts indicated a belief that the world is destined to end along with everything else besides the gods Atum and Osiris.
This also indicated that the world will then be reformed anew as these gods represent renewal and creation.
 
In this section are descriptions of Egyptian Mythologies and mythological beings described in the encyclopedia, gods and goddesses.

The following articles are presented:

Ammut
Amum
Amun
Amunet
Anubis
Aton
Atum
Bastet
Geb
Harakhte
Harmakhis
Haroeris
Harpokrates
Harsomtus
Hathor
Heh
Hehet
Heliopolitan Theological System
Hermopolitan Theological System
Horus
Horus BehdetyIsis
Kek
Keket
Maat
Mehet-Weret
Min
Montu
Mut
Naunet
Neith
Nephthys
Nun
Nut
Osiris
Ptah
Re
Sefkhet-Abwy
Seshat
Seth
Sezmu
Su
Tefnut
Thoth
Wadj Wer

Apis

Apis, an Egyptian bull god, was the personification of the creator god Ptah in Memphis. He is an intermediary between the supreme god and human beings. His mother Isis could engender him in a lightening flash. The bull is depicted as being totally black, except for the small white triangle on its forehead, and having … Read more

Thoth

Thoth (also Toth) , scribe of the Egyptian gods, was the chief deity of Khmun, or Hermopolis. He was conceived as either having the head of an ibis or of a bamboo. Thoth is usually depicted as an ibis-headed man with a pen-and-ink holder.   He became known as the god of: The foundation of … Read more

Tefnut

Tefnut, primordial Egyptian goddess of moisture, is one of the first nine deities in the Heliopolitan Theological System. According to the genealogy of the priests of Heliopolis, she was created from the breath or saliva of the creator sun god Atum. She is the sister/consort of Su, and mother of Geb and Nut. Her main cult sanctuary was in Heliopolis. … Read more

Seth

Seth (or Set) was among the first nine deities in the Heliopolitan Theological System, probably originating from Libya, whose followers appeared to have worshipped him under crocodile and hippopotamus fetishes. At first they were centered in Upper Egypt but later spread throughout the country. There seemed to be no rivalry between the cults of Osiris and Isis and his cult, perhaps … Read more

Seshat

Seshat, a very ancient goddess who was believed to be the sister and more commonly the wife of Thoth, was the deity of writing and measurement until such functions were ascribed to her husband. She was called the “Lady of Books,” or celestial librarian, and was the patroness also of arithmetic, architecture and records, although she … Read more

Sefkhet-Abwy

Sefkhet-Abwy, in egyptian mythology also known as she who has seven horns, was the Egyptian goddess of libraries and writing. Probably a form of Seshat. She was depicted in human form as bearing a seven-point star or rosette on her head below a bow-shaped object. A.G.H. Source: Jordan, Michael, Encyclopedia of Gods, New York, Facts On File, … Read more