Download Old Kingdom – Religion Gods Throughout Ancient Egypt, the gods

Old Kingdom – Religion Gods
Throughout Ancient Egypt, the gods played a major role in the daily lives of each citizen.
Egyptian religion was centered around a large number of deities with both animal and human
forms.
A brief overview of the Gods:Ra - The Sun God, the one who was there at the beginning.
Amun - the Father of life who later combined with Ra to become Amun-Ra the all important
State God.
Osisris, Isis, Seth & Nephthys came from the Creation of the Universe.
Ptah created Heaven and Earth.
Sekhmet was the Wife of Ptah.
Seth murdered his Brother Osiris by trapping him in a coffin and then threw him in the Nile!
Nephthys was Sister and Wife to Seth (!)
Isis was Osiris' Sister and Wife (!) and sometime after his death was able to revive him long
enough to conceive Horus.
Osiris was chosen to judge dead mortals who wanted to follow him to Heaven. He sat in
judgement as their heart was put in the balance against a feather of the Goddess Maat, who
stood for truth.
Horus - a Falcon, avenged his Father Osiris.
Thoth was given the Moon and appointed assistant to the Sun God, Ra.
Isis together with Horus, Anubis and Thoth were able to reassemble the previously
dissmembered parts of the body of Osiris, add a phallus (the original having been eaten by
fish), wrap it in bandages and thereby create the first Mummy.
Hathor, the Goddess of Love, Joy and Music first suckled Horus then later became his wife.
How the Gods came into being (existence)
1.
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At first, there was only Nun. Nun was the dark waters of chaos
One day, a hill rose up out of the waters. This hill was called Ben-Ben
On this hill stood Atum, the first god
Atum coughed and spat out Shu, the god of the air, and Tefnut, the
goddess of moisture
5. Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was Geb, the god of the
earth. Then, there was Nut, the goddess of the sky.
6. Shu lifted Nut up so that she became a canopy over Geb.
7. Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys
8. Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was the queen. Osiris was a good
king, and he ruled over the earth for many years
9. However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he
wanted to be the ruler of the earth. He grew angrier and angrier until one
day he killed Osiris.
10. Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on earth and
became king
11. Osiris and Isis had one son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and
regained the throne.
12. After that, Horus was the king of the earth and Osiris was the king of the
underworld
The Gods
Each god had their own specialised function. Here, some of the major gods will be
looked at. Hapi was the personification of the River Nile, depicted as a corpulent
man (fat signifying abundance) with a crown of lilies (Upper Nile) or papyrus
plants (Lower Nile).
Hathor
A very old goddess of Egypt, worshiped as a cow-deity from earliest times. The name "Hathor"
is the Greek corruption of the variants Het-Hert ("the House Above") and Het-Heru ("the House
of Horus"). Both terms refer to her as a sky goddess. She was frequently equated with Isis. She
was worshipped at Edfu as the consort of Horus. At Thebes, she was considered the goddess of
the dead. She was also the patron of love, dance, alcohol, and foreign lands.
Horus
One of the most important deities of Egypt. As the Child, Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis,
who, upon reaching adulthood, avenges his father's death, by defeating and castrating his evil
uncle Set. He then became the divine prototype of the Pharaoh.
As Heru-Ur, "Horus the Elder", he was the patron deity of Upper (Southern) Egypt from the
earliest times; initially, viewed as the twin brother of Set (the patron of Lower Egypt), but he
became the conqueror of Set c. 3100 B.C.E. when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and
formed the unified kingdom of Egypt.
Isis
Perhaps the most important goddess of all Egyptian mythology, Isis assumed, during the course
of Egyptian history, the attributes and functions of virtually every other important goddess in the
land. Her most important functions, however, were those of motherhood, marital devotion,
healing the sick, and the working of magical spells and charms. She was believed to be the most
powerful magician in the universe, owing to the fact that she had learned the Secret Name of Re
from the god himself. She was the sister and wife of Osiris, sister of Set, and twin sister of
Nephthys. She was the mother of Horus the Child (Harpocrates), and was the protective goddess
of Horus's son Amset, protector of the liver of the deceased.
Isis was responsible for protecting Horus from Set during his infancy; for helping Osiris to return
to life; and for assisting her husband to rule in the land of the Dead.
Osiris
The god of the dead, and the god of the resurrection into eternal life; ruler, protector, and judge
of the deceased. His cult originated in Abydos, where his actual tomb was said to be located.
Osiris was the first child of Nut and Geb, thus the brother of Set, Nephthys, and Isis, who was
also his wife. By Isis he fathered Horus, and according to some stories, Nephthys assumed the
form of Isis, seduced him thus, and from their union was born Anubis.
Osiris ruled the world of men in the beginning, after Ra had abandoned the world to rule the
skies, but he was murdered by his brother Set. Through the magic of Isis, he was made to live
again. Being the first living thing to die, he subsequently became lord of the dead. His death was
avenged by his son Horus, who defeated Set and cast him out into the desert to the West of Egypt
(the Sahara).
Ra (Re)
Ra was the god of the sun during dynastic Egypt; the name is thought to have meant "creative
power", and as a proper name "Creator", similar to English Christian usage of the term "Creator"
to signify the "almighty God." Very early in Egyptian history Ra was identified with Horus, who
as a hawk or falon-god represented the loftiness of the skies. Ra is represented either as a hawkheaded man or as a hawk. In order to travel through the waters of Heaven and the Underworld,
Ra was depicted as traveling in a boat.
In Dynasty V, the first king, Userkaf, was also Ra's high priest, and he added the term Sa-Ra
("Son of Ra") to the titulary of the pharaohs.
Set (Seth)
In earliest times, Set was the patron deity of Lower (Northern) Egypt, and represented the fierce
storms of the desert whom the Lower Egyptians sought to appease. However, when Upper Egypt
conquered Lower Egypt and ushered in the First Dynasty, Set became known as the evil enemy
of Horus (Upper Egypt's dynastic god).
Set was the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys, and husband of the latter; according to some
versions of the myths he is also father of Anubis.
Set is best known for murdering his brother and attempting to kill his nephew Horus; Horus,
however, managed to survive and grew up to avenge his father's death by establishing his rule
over all Egypt, castrating Set, and casting him out into the lonely desert for all time.