The Egyptian gods, along with the Romans and Greeks, are the best known, with a very extensive pantheon, so today we are going to focus on the most feared and powerful Egyptian gods.
Ancient Egypt has attracted people of all kinds, at all times, especially in the great century of explorers and excavations of antiquity. This search for knowledge of the ancient has made let's get to know better those civilizations of the past.
The Egyptian gods
The pantheon of Egyptian gods is very extensive There were 14 of the most important gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amun-Ra, Anubis, Bastet, Hathor, Ptah, and Seth. The most famous gods would eventually become general deities throughout Egypt, while there would be other minor gods who were venerated in specific regions or for specific rites. You can learn more about them at Egyptian gods.
The most feared and powerful Egyptian gods
As we have seen, the pantheon of Egyptian gods is extensive, but among them 6 gods stood out, adored, powerful and feared by the people, but above all, respected.
Anubis, the jackal god, the god of the underworld
Anubis is a fundamental god for the Egyptians since It is associated with death, the underworld, the afterlife. And everything related to the dead was highly revered. The jackal god is one of the great ones represented in Egyptian tombs both in painting and in hieroglyphs.
It is represented as a man with the head of a jackal or black dog. God of resurrection and therefore He is represented with the anj symbol of life, also called the Egyptian cross or key of life, in one hand.
One of the most abundant and important representations of Anubis is at the time of the "weighing of souls.". This passage from the Book of the Dead tells how Anubis weighs the person's heart on a scale as a counterweight to a feather from the goddess Maat (symbol of truth). If the hearts were heavier than the feather they would be devoured by Ammit and if they were equal to or lighter than the weight of the feather they would enter the world of the dead and could opt for resurrection.
Anubis He is also the embalming god, which is why he is often seen on an embalming table with the body of the deceased either as a mummy or in his sarcophagus.
For all this He was a god with great power, who was feared by people as he would be the one in charge of deciding where their souls would go. He was highly venerated in the context of the egyptian religion.
Osiris, the god of death
Osiris was originally a king of Ancient Egypt who was murdered in a terrible way by his brother Seth and thrown into the Nile River. He would be brought back to life by the power of his sister Nephthys and his wife Isis. This martyrdom turned him into the god of death, of the afterlife, sovereign judge of the laws of Maat.
he is represented painted green or the color of dead flesh, with the body wrapped like a mummy, being a dead god. He is crowned with the white crown Hedjet, the symbol of Upper Egypt and the royal symbols of the scepter of Heka and the flagellum of Nekhekh, which he holds crossed on his chest.
Usually another of the greats represented, can be seen continuously in the texts of the famous pyramids. Represented alongside Anubis, Horus and Isis. He was one of the most venerated gods due to the importance the Egyptians gave to the afterlife, which is related to the Egyptian myth of his resurrection.
Isis, the goddess of the moon
The goddess Isis is very important for the role she has in the resurrection of Osiris, she is the sister and wife of Osiris and with him she would give birth to Horus. She was revered as a goddess who helped the dead enter the afterlife, just as she had done with Osiris. She was the considered divine mother of the pharaoh, who was identified with the god Horus.
It is represented cwith a throne as a crown and with the key of life, but in the New Kingdom, on many occasions he takes the attributes of the goddess Hathor wearing a crown with cow horns and the sun between them.
Sometimes she is shown breastfeeding Horus, but the myth about the death and resurrection of Osiris is what is shown most in the Pyramid Texts and is the most important Egyptian legend in which it appears.
Her power to help the dead made her a important and revered goddess, In addition to being powerful for being the mother of Horus and the pharaohs, as seen in the representation of the goddess Hathor.
Seth, the god of violence
Lord of chaos, of drought, of the desert, of the uncontrollableBrother and murderer of Osiris, husband of the goddess Nephthys, and together they would have been the parents of Anubis. Or so has traditionally been held, although there is some doubt among Egyptologists.
he is represented with the body of a man and an animal head: curved snout and rectangular ears. It can also be represented as their sacred animals: pig, whippet, donkey, oryx, crocodile, hippopotamus, snake or fish.
He is considered one of the oldest gods, deity of the desert that was the inheritance that Geb left him. Very feared for its capacity for destruction, for being the representative of evil. Later, in the New Kingdom, he was considered the god of war and oases, softening the negative that seemed to surround the god.
It is also a protective god for people who crossed the desert and faced sand stormsHe was considered one of the most powerful and antithesis to Osiris, so his figure is fundamental in the Egyptian culture.
Horus, god of the sky
The god of the sky, solar godOne of the most important gods, with numerous functions. The pharaoh is like Horus in life and Osiris in death. Therefore, his relationship with royalty made him powerful, feared, and venerated.
He is represented as man with the head of a falcon or like a whole falcon, with the head crowned by the double crown of the high and low Egyptian.
His wife was his sister Nut, goddess of the sky, and son of Osiris and Isis. The eye of Horus is one of the popular symbols in Egypt. The god would lose his eye in one of his battles against Seth to regain the throne of Osiris after his assassination. Horus would recover his eye and would offer it as an offering to his father to restore his sight.
As a solar god, defend the boat of Ra, with the help of Seth, against the great serpent Apep. He is protector of Osiris and mediator in the "judgment of Osiris" between the deceased and his father. All this makes him a powerful, venerated and very important god, being a prominent character in the fate of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Amun-Ra, the king of the gods
Amon is the god of creation. He is often represented that way, at the time of creation together with his wife Amonet. He is a fundamental god because he is the one who creates life, the gods, Egypt itself, everything.
The god would gain importance and would merge with the sun god, Ra, and it would be called Amón-Ra or Amón-Re.
Depicted on many occasions as a man with blue skin. He is along with Osiris, the most represented and cited god of all. He was also worshiped outside Egypt and was identified with Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome.
