List of Egyptian deities facts for kids

The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus in the Tomb of Horemheb (KV57) in the Valley of the Kings.

Ancient Egyptian deities were the gods and goddesses worshiped in Ancient Egypt. They were a very important part of religion and daily life for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians believed that these deities controlled nature, such as the flooding of the Nile river and the movement of the sun. They also watched over human activities and helped the Pharaoh rule the country.

There are more than 1,500 known gods and goddesses. They appear in paintings, statues, and writings all over ancient Egypt. Some look like humans, while others look like animals or a mix of both. For example, a god might have the body of a man and the head of a bird. It is difficult to make a complete list because some texts mention names without explaining who the god was.

Major Ancient Egyptian Gods

These are some of the most famous male gods in ancient Egyptian history. Many of them were worshiped all over the country.

• Amun – He was often called the "King of the Gods." He was the patron god of the city of Thebes. During the New Kingdom, he was extremely powerful.
• Anubis – The god of funerals and mummification. He is usually shown with the head of a jackal. He protected the dead.
• Aten – The sun disk itself. For a short time during the reign of Akhenaten, he was the only god worshiped in Egypt.
• Atum – A creator god who was the first of the Ennead. He was associated with the setting sun.
• Bes – A protector god who looked like a dwarf. He was very popular in homes because he protected children and families from evil.
• Geb – The god of the Earth. He was the father of Osiris and Isis.
• Hapi – The god of the Nile flood. He brought the water that allowed farmers to grow crops.
• Horus – A sky god with the head of a Falcon. He was the protector of the Pharaoh. Egyptians believed the Pharaoh was the living Horus.
• Khepri – A solar god representing the rising sun. He was shown as a scarab beetle.
• Khnum – A god with the head of a ram. He was said to create humans on a potter's wheel and controlled the waters of the Nile.
• Khonsu – The god of the Moon. He was the son of Amun and Mut.
• Montu – A warrior god and solar god worshiped in Thebes.
• Osiris – The ruler of the underworld and judge of the dead. He was also the god of resurrection and vegetation.
• Ptah – A creator deity and the god of craftsmen and architects. He was the main god of Memphis.
• Ra – The great sun god. He was believed to travel across the sky during the day and through the underworld at night. He was the king of the gods in many stories.
• Set – The god of chaos, storms, and the desert. He was the enemy of Horus and Osiris, but he also helped protect the sun boat of Ra.
• Sobek – The crocodile god. He was worshiped in places where crocodiles were common, like the Faiyum.
• Thoth – The god of wisdom, writing, and magic. He is often shown with the head of an ibis bird or as a baboon.

Major Ancient Egyptian Goddesses

Goddesses were just as important as gods. They represented concepts like truth, justice, and motherhood.

• Bastet – A goddess of protection and cats. She was usually shown as a cat or a woman with the head of a lioness.
• Hathor – A very popular goddess of joy, music, and motherhood. She was often depicted as a cow or a woman with cow horns holding a sun disk.
• Isis – The wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. She was famous for her powerful magic and for protecting her family.
• Maat – The goddess of truth, justice, and balance. She wore an ostrich feather on her head.
• Mut – A mother goddess and the wife of Amun. She was worshiped at Thebes.
• Neith – A hunter goddess and creator. She carried a bow and arrows and was the patron of the city of Sais.
• Nephthys – The sister of Isis and wife of Set. She helped Isis mourn for Osiris and protected the dead.
• Nut – The goddess of the sky. She was imagined as a giant woman arching over the earth god, Geb.
• Sekhmet – A powerful lioness goddess. She represented the fierce heat of the sun and could cause or cure disease. She protected the Pharaoh in battle.
• Taweret – A goddess who looked like a standing hippopotamus. She was a fierce protector of women and children.
• Tefnut – The goddess of moisture and rain. She was usually shown as a lioness.
• Wadjet – The cobra goddess who protected Lower Egypt.

Other Interesting Deities

Besides the major gods, there were many others with specific roles or interesting forms.

• Ammit – A creature with the head of a crocodile, body of a lion, and legs of a hippo. She sat by the scales of justice to eat the hearts of bad people in the afterlife.
• Apophis – A giant serpent of chaos. He tried to stop the sun boat of Ra every night.
• Babi – A fierce baboon god.
• Four sons of Horus – Four gods who protected the internal organs of mummies. They were often shown on canopic jars.
  • Imsety (human head) protected the liver.
  • Duamutef (jackal head) protected the stomach.
  • Hapi (baboon head) protected the lungs.
  • Qebehsenuef (falcon head) protected the intestines.
• Heka – The personification of magic itself.
• Khepri – The morning sun, shown as a beetle pushing the sun across the sky.
• Mafdet – A goddess who protected people from snakes and scorpions.
• Meretseger – A cobra goddess who watched over the Valley of the Kings. Her name means "She Who Loves Silence."
• Seshat – The goddess of writing and measurement. She helped record the years of the Pharaoh's reign.

Groups of Deities

Sometimes gods were grouped together in families or teams.

• The Ennead – A family of nine gods from the creation story of Heliopolis. It includes Atum, his children Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut, and their grandchildren Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.
• The Ogdoad – A group of eight gods worshiped in Hermopolis. They represented the chaos before the world was created. They were arranged in four pairs, like Amun and Amunet.
• The Theban Triad – The main family of gods in Thebes: Amun (father), Mut (mother), and Khonsu (son).