Auf

An aspect of the sun god Re Auf was a ram-headed god who wore the solar disc and traveled at night through the Underworld waterways in order to reach the east in time for the new day; however, he still had to fight off the creatures of the Underworld. Demons and gods towed his boat along while Auf stood in a deck-house, over which was coiled the serpent Mehen who warded off the dangerous Apep. The boat of night was crewed by the gods Hu, Saa and Wepwawet.

Atum

Other Names: (Tem, Temu, Tum, Atem)

Patron of: the sun, creation, rulership of the gods.

Appearance: rarely human, usually depicted as a crown or as one of his many totem animals. He is sometimes depicted as a black bull carrying the sun disk between his horns.

Description: Atum was one of the most ancient gods in Egypt and was part of the Heliopolitan cosmology. Originally an earth god, he became associated with Re, the sun god. Specifically, he was considered to be the setting sun. In later times he became associated with Ptah and eventually Osiris.

-According to the priests of Heliopolis, Atum was the first being to emerge from the waters of Nun at the time of creation. Originally, he was a serpent in Nun and will return to that form at the end of time. However, Atum was depicted in art as a man wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. As such, he is the first living man god conceived of by the ancient Egyptians. Until then, their gods were all forms of animals.

-Following his self-creation from Nun, Atum created his children Shu and Tefnut by masturbating. This may seem impossible but Atum was a bisexual god. He embodied both the male and female aspects of life. Therefore, his semen contained all that was necessary to create new life and deities. The Egyptians called Atum "Great He-She" and his name meant "the complete one."
-Later myths said that his children were products of his relationship with his shadow, or with the goddess Iusaaset.
Worship: Worshipped widely throughout Egypt, with his cult center at Heliopolis.

Aten

During the reign of Akhenaten The Aten was installed as the principle god of ancient Egypt, and the worship of many of the traditional gods of ancient Egypt was rejected. The Aten was not a new god but an obscure aspect of the sun god worshipped as early as the Old Kingdom. "Aten" was the traditional name for the sun-disk itself and so the name of the god is often translated as "the Aten" (for example, in the coffin texts of the Middle Kingdom) the word "Aten" represents the sun disc, and in the 'Story of Sinuhe' (also from the Middle Kingdom) Amenemhat I is described as soaring into the sky and uniting with Aten, his creator. During the New Kingdom, the Aten was considered to be an aspect of the composite deity Ra-Amun-Horus. (Ra represented the daytime sun, Amun represented the sun in the underworld and Horus represented the sunrise). Akhenaten proclaimed "the Aten" (the visible sun itself) to be the sole deity, taking sun worship a stage further. Because of the naturalistic qualities of some of the art works of the time, some have suggested that his religion was based on the scientific observation that the sun's energy is the ultimate source of all life.

As

Other Names: Ash

Patron of: the desert.

Appearance: A man with the head of a hawk.

Description: As was the "Lord of Libya" and the god of the Sahara Desert. Although sometimes depicted as a companion of Set (who had the duties of the god of desert storms), As was a benign god who was the god of good cause to make the oases. He also looked after those who had to travel through the desert, and to ensure they did not die of its cruel heat.

Apep

Other Names: Apepi, Apophis, the Destroyer.
Patron of: evil and darkness.

Appearance: Apep was a huge serpent (or crocodile) which lived in the waters of Nun or in the celestial Nile
Description: Every day he attempted to disrupt the passage of the solar barque of Re. In some myths, Apep was an earlier and discarded sun-god himself. This helps to explain the snake's strength and his resentment of the daily journey of the sun. In Seth's battle for the throne of Egypt, he claimed that he was stronger than Horus because it was he that stood at the prow of the solar barque and defeated the enemies of Re.
Apep was a genuine threat to Re and his daily travels. At times he was successful and when this occurred stormy weather would occur. When Apep swallowed the barque, there was a solar eclipse.
Apep was known by many epithets, such as "the evil lizard", "the encircler of the world", "the enemy" and "the serpent of rebirth". He was not worshipped, he was feared, but was possibly the only god (other than The Aten during the Amarna period) who was considered to be all powerful. He did not require any nourishment and could never be completely destroyed, only temporarily defeated.
Apep led an army of demons that preyed on the living and the dead. To defeat this malevolent force a ritual known as "Banishing Apep" was conducted annually by the priests of Ra. An effigy of Apep was taken into the temple and imbued with all of the evil of the land. The effigy was then beaten, crushed smeared with mud and burned. Other rituals involved the creation of a wax model of the serpent which was ritually dismembered and the burning of a papyrus bearing an image of the snake. The "Book of Apophis" is a collection of magical spells from the New Kingdom which were supposed to repel or contain the evil of the serpent.
Apep was hated and feared by the Egyptians, but two of the Hyksos rulers chose his name as their coronation names (although they used a slightly different spelling).

Anubis

Other Names: Anpu, Inpu, Ienpw, Imeut (Lord-of-the-Place-of-Mummification).

Patron of: mummification, and the dead on their path through the underworld.

Appearance: A man with the head of a jackal-like animal. Unlike a real jackal, Anubis' head is black, representing his position as a god of the dead. He is rarely shown fully-human, but he is depicted so in the Temple of Abydos of Rameses II. There is a beautiful statue of him as a full jackal in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Description: Anubis had three important functions. He supervised the embalming of bodies. He received the mummy into the tomb and performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony and then conducted the soul in the Field of Celestial Offerings. Most importantly though, Anubis monitored the Scales of Truth to protect the dead from deception and eternal death.

-Early in Egyptian history, Anubis was a god of the dead. This role was usurped by Osiris as he rose in popularity.
-The god of embalming is probably associated with the jackal due to the habits of jackals to lurk about tombs and graves. One of the reasons the early Egyptians sought to make their tombs more elaborate was to keep the bodies safe from the jackals lingering about the graves. It is only natural therefore that a god of mummification would be connected with them. By worshipping Anubis, the Egyptians hoped to invoke him to protect their deceased from jackals, and later, the natural decay that unprotected bodies endure.
-Anubis was the son of Nephthys, and his father was Osiris. One myth says that Nephthys got Osiris drunk and the resultant seduction brought forth Anubis. Yet another says she disguised herself as Isis and seduced Osiris and subsequently gave birth to Anubis.

-Prayers to Anubis are found carved on the most ancient tombs in Egypt, and his duties apparently are many. He watches over the mummification process to ensure that all is done properly. He conducts the souls through the underworld, testing their knowledge of the gods and their faith. He places their heart on the Scales of Justice during the Judging of the Heart, and he feeds the souls of wicked people to Ammit.
-In some stories, Anubis is the son of Ra and Nephthys, or Set and Nephthys (probably due to Set and Anubis having the same totem animal). Some have Heset as his mother, and still others say Bast. This apparent confusion is still another sign of Anubis' origins in the most ancient of times. He also has a daughter, Kabechet, who helps him in the mummification.
Worship: Worshipped widely throughout all of Egypt, his cult center was Cynopolis.

Anqet

Other Names: (Anuket, Anukis, Anket, Anjet)
Patron of: The Embracer, Goddess of Fertility and the Nile at Aswan. She was a personification of the Nile as "Nourisher of the Fields".

Appearance: Anqet was generally depicted as a woman wearing a tall headdress made either of reeds or of ostrich feathers, often holding a sceptre and the ankh symbol

Description: Anqet was an Old Kingdom goddess related to the Nile in the Aswan area.Anqet was the goddess of the island of Sahal, near the First Cataract of the Nile. She was shown as a woman who wears a crown of ostrich feathers. Her sacred animal was the gazelle. She was the daughter of Satet, the wife of Khnemu. Together, the three deities formed the Triad of Elephantine, the principal deities of that city.

Anqet was originally a water goddess from Sudan. Her name meant, "to embrace" which was interpreted to mean that her embrace during the annual Nile floods fertilized the fields. Later, she became a goddess of lust, whose attributes and cult were obscene. However, her cult's origins can be traced back to the Old Kingdom. She is closely associated with Nubia. She is not an imported goddess though.

Her worship was common throughout northern Nubia and the center of her worship was the island of Sahal, near Aswan. There she was called the "Lady of Sahal" (Nebt Satet). Anqet's temple at Sahal was called "Amen-heri-ab".

 

Andjety

Other Names: (Anezti, Anedjti)
Appearance: Andjety was depicted as an old man bearing all of the emblems of kingship and wearing a crown with two feathers, echoing the Atef crown worn by Osiris who replaced and absorbed both Andjety and the Djed

Description: After the old kingdom, he was merged with Osiris who adopted many of his emblems and took over his role as a god of agriculture, although he was occasionally recognised as the god Osiris-Andjety. In his temple at Abydos, Seti I offers incense to this hybrid god, who holds a 'crook' scepter, wears the double plumed crown and is accompanied by Isis.
-In the Pyramid Texts, the power of the pharaoh is linked to Andjety who is described as "presiding over the eastern districts". He is also given the epithet "bull of vultures" in the coffin texts, confirming his role as a virile consort to the ancient goddesses. 

Andjety in his anthropomorphic form was originally worshipped in the mid-Delta in the Lower ninth nome. Andjety (meaning 'he of Andjet', i.e. the town of Busiris) was the precursor of Osiris at the cult center of Busiris. The iconography of this god persuasively argues for his being the forerunner of Osiris. Andjety holds the two scepters in the shape of a 'crook' and a 'flail', insignia which are Osiris' symbols of dominion. Also his high conical crown decorated with two feathers is clearly related to the 'atef' crown of Osiris.

Anat

Other Names: ( Anant, Anit, Anti, Anthat and Antit)

Patron of: Mother of Gods

Description: was an ancient Canaanite deity who became popular in ancient Egypt towards the end of the Middle Kingdom. She was particularly popular in the northern delta area during the Second Intermediate period (the Hyksos period) but her worship suggests that there had been a slow migration of people from the levant for some time before the Hyksos invasion.

-Although the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom were hostile to the Hyksos culture, she was not rejected when the Hyksos were repelled and Egypt was reunified under Amose I. In fact, Ramesses II adopted Anat as his personal guardian in battle and expanded the shrine to Anat when he undertook the restoration of Tanis. He also named his dog "Anat in vigor" and had a daughter (who later became his wife) called "Bint-Anat" ("Daughter of Anat").

Amun



Amun was one of the eight ancient Egyptian gods who formed the Ogdoad of Hermopolis. He was the god of the air and his consort was Ament (Amaunet). However, during the Twelfth dynasty (Middle Kingdom) Amun was adopted in Thebes as the King of the gods with Mut as his consort. Amun and Mut had one child, the moon god Khonsu. He was promoted to national god by Ahmose I, the first pharaoh of the New Kingdom because the king believed that Amun had helped him drive the Hyksos from Egypt. He was also adopted into the Ennead of Heliopolis when he merged with the ancient sun god (Ra) to become Amun-Ra.

 It is possible that there were once two separate gods with the same name, but equally likely that Amun of Heliopolis merely took on the attributes of the Theban god Montu (Montju) when he replaced him as the principle god of the nome in the later period. His name is generally translated as "the hidden one" or "the secret one" and it was thought that he created himself and then created everything else while remaining distanced and separate from the world. In that sense he was the original inscrutable and indivisible creator. When he merged with Ra he became both a visible and invisible deity. This duality (the hidden god and the visible sun) appealed to the Egyptian concept of balance and duality leading to an association between Amun-Ra and Ma´at. Amun was also identified with Montu (who he pretty much absorbed) and the hybrid gods Amun-Ra-Atum, Amun-Re-Montu, Amun-Re-Horakhty and Amun-Min.

Amun was associated with a number of animals, whose form he sometimes took in inscriptions. Originally he was depicted as a goose and given the epithet the "Great Cackler" (like Geb). It was also thought that he could regenerate himself by becoming a snake and shedding his skin. However, he was most frequently depicted as a Ram, a symbol of fertility. He is also depicted as a man with the head of a ram, a frog, an Uraeus (royal cobra), a crocodile, or as an ape. Finally, he is depicted as a king sitting on his throne wearing the double plumed crown (also associated with Min). During the Ptolemaic period images of Amun were cast in bronze in which he was depicted as bearded man with four arms the body of a beetle, the wings of a hawk, the legs of a man and the paws and claws of a lion.

Ammit



Ammit



Other Names: Ammut, Ahemait, and the Devourer.
Patron of: destruction of the souls of the wicked.
Appearance: a demon with the head of crocodile, the torso of a leopard and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.
Description: Ammit was a creature which dwelled in the Hall of Ma'at awaiting the judgement of the deceased that passed through there. Those souls who were found unworthy to dwell in the Afterlife were devoured by her. The process of judgement involved the weighing of the deceased person's heart against the feather of Ma'at. If the heart (the seat of the soul, according to the ancient Egyptians) was found to be heavy with sin and impurities and did not balance with the feather, Ammut would devour them.
Worship:Ammit was never worshipped, and was not strictly a goddess, but her image was thought to ward off evil. She was the personification of all that the ancient Egyptians feared and a reminder to live by the principles of Maat. Although she was referred to as a demon, she was in reality a force for order. Moreover, each person was at least given the chance to defend their life before being consigned to eternal damnation.

Amentet

Amentet

Other Names: (Ament, Amentit, Imentet and Imentit)
Patron of: the gates of the underworld
Appearance: a woman dressed in the robes of a queen.
Description: Ament is the consort of Aken, and it is she who greets the souls of the newly dead, offering them bread and water at the gates of the underworld following their arrival.
As a goddess of the dead, Amentet is thought to have lived in a tree at the edge of the desert overlooking the gates to the underworld. She was often depicted in tombs and coffins, protecting the dead. However, she was also a fertility goddess. She met the souls of the recently deceased and offered them bread and water before ushering them into the realm of the dead. This sustenance revitalised them and prepared them for the rebirth of their souls and the trials they would face on their way to the "field of reeds" (paradise).
Worship: Not truly worshipped, but mentioned in many hymns and passages of The Book of the Dead.

Am-heh

Am-heh

Patron of: Am-heh was a terrifying god of the netherworld.

Appearance: He was depicted as a man with the head of a ferocious hunting dog.

Description: Am-Heh name translates as "the devourer of millions". He lived on a lake of fire, and only Atum was able to repel him.He is sometimes seen as an aspect of Ammit, the personification of divine retribution, as she had his name as an epithet. He has also been linked to the baboon god Babi (or Baba) because of their common interest in human flesh.

Worship: Am-heh was not worshipped, he was feared.

Aker

Aker (Akeru, Akerui)

Patron of: Earth god who also presided over the western and eastern boarders of the Underworld

Appearance: He was portrayed as a double-headed lion, or a two lions sitting back-to-back. In between them is shown the sun with the sky overhead

Description: As Egyptians believed that the gates of the morning and evening were guarded by Aker, they often placed statues of lions at the doors of their palaces and tombs. This was to guard the households and tombs from evil spirits and other malevolent beings. Sometimes they gave these statues the heads of men and women. The Greeks called this class of statuary, "Sphinxes."

-It was Aker who opened the earth's gate for the king to pass into the Underworld. He was also known to absorb the poison from the body of anyone bitten by a snake and he neutralizes the venom in the belly of a person who has swallowed an obnoxious fly.

-The two lions were called Sef and Duau, which means "Yesterday" and "Today" respectively.

Aken

Aken

Patron of: the ferryboat that carries the souls of the dead to the underworld.

Appearance: A man dressed in the garb of a sailor, standing in the stern of a papyrus boat.

Description: Apparently he remained in a deep sleep when he was not needed, and had to be woken by the Ferryman, Mahaf, when the dead required his services. He was generally depicted as a sailor standing in the stern of a papyrus boat. He was not the focus of worship, and had no cult centre but is referred to a number of times in the Book of the Dead.

Worship: Not truly worshipped, but mentioned in many hymns and passages of The Book of the Dead.