Residents of Ancient Egypt worshiped many gods, because they deified literally everything around them. Every significant sphere of life or object had its patron. Since for the ancient Egyptians animals were of great importance, all the Egyptian gods had a connection with them. First of all, it was expressed in their appearance. What is important, in no other culture has been achieved such harmonious reunion of supernatural forces and animals.
Egyptian Pantheon of the Gods
As has been said, religion, ancient Egypt is characterized by polytheism, that is polytheism, but in spite of this, in general, it is possible to identify several of the most significant figures:
- Anubis is the Egyptian god of death . Represented him most often a man with a jackal head or a wild dog Sab. His main task is to lead the souls of dead people to the afterlife. His father was Osiris, and the mother of Nephthys, whom he took for his own wife Isis. The Egyptian god of death was the judge of other gods. It is he who in the afterlife is weighing the truth. It was as follows: on one side of the scales lay the heart, and on another feather of the goddess of truth. Over time, all his duties go to Osiris. Anubis played an important role in the process of burial, as he prepared the bodies for embalming. In sacrifice to this god, white and yellow cocks were brought.
- Egyptian god of the earth Geb ruled Egypt long before the appearance of mortal rulers. That is why many Pharaohs were called "heirs of Hebe". In their representations the Egyptians tried to portray him as the real embodiment of the earth. The body of the god was very elongated, which resembled a plain. Hebe's hands were pointing upwards - this is a symbol of the slopes, and knees are bent and this personifies the mountains. Above the god of the earth was Nut, his sister and wife, who embodied the sky. Hegas was portrayed often standing with a wand in his hand, which is called uas. On his head was a goose - the hieroglyph of this god. On his chin, his beard is tied, which eventually was worn by all the pharaohs.
- Seth is the Egyptian god of chaos, war and destruction . He was also considered the patron saint of the desert. Seth had several sacred animals: a pig, an antelope, a giraffe, but the most important was an ass. They portrayed this god as a man with a thin body and an ass's head. To the distinctive features of appearance can be attributed long ears, red mane and the same color of the eye. Initially, Seth was revered as a defender of Ra. Rarely there are images where Seth is represented by a crocodile, a hippopotamus and a snake.
- The Egyptian god of fertility Apis . He was the most revered animal in ancient Egypt. His embodiment is a black bull, in which there were 29 signs, and they were known exclusively by the priests. When the new Apis was born, a national holiday was held. The bull was given a whole temple, where he lived and people courted him. Once a year, Apis was harnessed to the plow, and Pharaoh plowed the first furrow on it. The bull's death field was embalmed and buried with all the honors. Apis depicted with elegant ornaments, and between the horns he had a solar disk of Ra.
- Ra the Egyptian god was the supreme ruler. There were several representations of this god, which differed in the time of day, the era and even the residence of the Egyptians. Most often it was represented with the body of a man and with the head of a falcon, who was his sacred bird. In his hands he holds the symbol ankh , which indicates the eternal rebirth of the god Ra. Every day he was on a boat across the heavenly Nile, moving from east to west, and in the evening he was transplanted to another ship and descended into the underworld, where he had a battle with different entities.