text: ancient egyptian deities ancient egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient egypt . the beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient egyptian religion , which emerged sometime in prehistory . deities represented natural forces and phenomena , and the egyptians supported and appeased them through offerings and rituals so that these forces would continue to function according to maat , or divine order . after the founding of the egyptian state around 3100 bc , the authority to perform these tasks was controlled by the pharaoh , who claimed to be the gods ' representative and managed the temples where the rituals were carried out . the gods ' complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities : family ties , loose groups and hierarchies , and combinations of separate gods into one . deities ' diverse appearances in art — as animals , humans , objects , and combinations of different forms — also alluded , through symbolism , to their essential features . in different eras , various gods were said to hold the highest position in divine society , including the solar deity ra , the mysterious god amun , and the mother goddess isis . the highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world and often connected with the life - giving power of the sun . some scholars have argued , based in part on egyptian writings , that the egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and was present in all the other deities . yet they never abandoned their original polytheistic view of the world , except possibly during the era of atenism in the 14th century bc , when official religion focused exclusively on the impersonal sun god aten . gods were assumed to be present throughout the world , capable of influencing natural events and the course of human lives . people interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines , for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites . egyptians prayed for divine help , used rituals to compel deities to act , and called upon them for advice . humans ' relations with their gods were a fundamental part of egyptian society . definition the beings in ancient egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count . egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown and make vague , indirect references to other gods who are not even named . the egyptologist james p. allen estimates that more than 1 , 400 deities are named in egyptian texts , whereas his colleague christian leitz says there are " thousands upon thousands " of gods . the egyptian language 's terms for these beings were nṯr , " god " , and its feminine form , " goddess " . scholars have tried to discern the original nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words , but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance , and the terms ' origin remains obscure . the hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the egyptians connected with divinity . the most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole . similar objects were placed at the entrances of temples , representing the presence of a deity , throughout ancient egyptian history . other such hieroglyphs include a falcon , reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons , and a seated male or female deity . the feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative , connecting goddesses with creation and birth , or with a cobra , reflecting the use of the cobra to depict many female deities . the egyptians distinguished , " gods " , from , " people " , but the meanings of the egyptian and the english terms do not match perfectly . the term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life . deceased humans were called nṯr because they were considered to be like the gods , whereas the term was rarely applied to many of egypt 's lesser supernatural beings , which modern scholars often call " demons " . egyptian religious art also depicts places , objects , and concepts in human form . these personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings , only mentioned once or twice , that may be little more than metaphors . confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings , scholars have proposed various definitions of a " deity " . one widely accepted definition , suggested by jan assmann , says that a deity has a cult , is involved in some aspect of the universe , and is described in mythology or other forms of written tradition . according to a different definition , by dimitri meeks , nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual . from this perspective , " gods " included the king , who was called a god after his coronation rites , and deceased souls , who entered the divine realm through funeral ceremonies . likewise , the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across egypt . origins the first written evidence of deities in egypt comes from the early dynastic period ( c . 3100 – 2686 bc ) . deities must have emerged sometime in the preceding predynastic period ( before 3100 bc ) and grown out of prehistoric religious beliefs . predynastic artwork depicts a variety of animal and human figures . some of these images , such as stars and cattle , are reminiscent of important features of egyptian religion in later times , but in most cases there is not enough evidence to say whether the images are connected with deities . as egyptian society grew more sophisticated , clearer signs of religious activity appeared . the earliest known temples appeared in the last centuries of the predynastic era , along with images that resemble the iconographies of known deities : the falcon that represents horus and several other gods , the crossed arrows that stand for neith , and the enigmatic " set animal " that represents set . many egyptologists and anthropologists have suggested theories about how the gods developed in these early times . gustave , for instance , thought the egyptians first revered primitive fetishes , then deities in animal form , and finally deities in human form , whereas henri frankfort argued that the gods must have been envisioned in human form from the beginning . some of these theories are now regarded as too simplistic , and more current ones , such as siegfried morenz ' hypothesis that deities emerged as humans began to distinguish themselves from and personify their environment , are difficult to prove . predynastic egypt originally consisted of small , independent villages . because many deities in later times were strongly tied to particular towns and regions , many scholars have suggested that the pantheon formed as disparate communities coalesced into larger states , spreading and intermingling the worship of the old local deities . but others have argued that the most important predynastic gods were , like other elements of egyptian culture , present all across the country despite the political divisions within it . the final step in the formation of egyptian religion was the unification of egypt , in which rulers from upper egypt made themselves pharaohs of the entire country . these sacred kings and their subordinates assumed the exclusive right to interact with the gods , and kingship became the unifying focus of the religion . new gods continued to emerge after this transformation . some important deities like isis and amun are not known to have appeared until the old kingdom ( c . 2686 – 2181 bc ) . places and concepts could suddenly inspire the creation of a deity to represent them , and deities were sometimes created to serve as opposite - sex counterparts to established gods or goddesses . kings were said to be divine , although only a few continued to be worshipped long after their deaths . some non - royal humans were said to have the favor of the gods and were venerated accordingly . this veneration was usually short - lived , but the court architects imhotep and amenhotep son of were regarded as gods centuries after their lifetimes , as were some other officials . through contact with neighboring civilizations , the egyptians also adopted foreign deities . , who is first mentioned in the old kingdom , may have come from nubia , and baal , anat , and astarte , among others , were adopted from canaanite religion during the new kingdom ( c . 1550 – 1070 bc ) . in greek and roman times , from 332 bc to the early centuries ad , deities from across the mediterranean world were revered in egypt , but the native gods remained , and they often absorbed the cults of these newcomers into their own worship . characteristics modern knowledge of egyptian beliefs about the gods is mostly drawn from religious writings produced by the nation 's scribes and priests . these people were the elite of egyptian society and were very distinct from the general populace , most of whom were illiterate . little is known about how well this broader population knew or understood the sophisticated ideas that the elite developed . commoners ' perceptions of the divine may have differed from those of the priests . the populace may , for example , have mistaken the religion 's symbolic statements about the gods and their actions for literal truth . but overall , what little is known about popular religious belief is consistent with the elite tradition . the two traditions form a largely cohesive vision of the gods and their nature . roles most egyptian deities represent natural or social phenomena . the gods were generally said to be immanent in these phenomena — to be present within nature . the types of phenomena they represented include physical places and objects as well as abstract concepts and forces . the god shu was the deification of all the world 's air ; the goddess oversaw a limited region of the earth , the theban necropolis ; and the god sia personified the abstract notion of perception . major gods often had many roles and were involved in several types of phenomena . for instance , khnum was the god of elephantine island in the midst of the nile , the river that was essential to egyptian civilization . he was credited with producing the annual nile flood that fertilized the nation 's farmland . perhaps as an outgrowth of this life - giving function , he was said to create all living things , fashioning their bodies on a potter 's wheel . gods could share the same role in nature ; ra , atum , , horus , and other deities acted as sun gods . despite their diverse functions , most gods had an overarching role in common : maintaining maat , the universal order that was a central principle of egyptian religion and was itself personified as a goddess . but some deities represented disruption to maat . most prominently , apep was the force of chaos , constantly threatening to annihilate the order of the universe , and set was an ambivalent member of divine society who could both fight disorder and foment it . not all aspects of existence were seen as deities . although many deities were connected with the nile , no god personified it in the way that ra personified the sun . short - lived phenomena , like rainbows or eclipses , were not represented by gods ; neither were elements like fire and water or many other components of the world . the roles of each deity were fluid , and each god could expand its nature to take on new characteristics . as a result , gods ' roles are difficult to categorize or define . but despite their flexibility , the gods had limited abilities and spheres of influence . not even the creator god could reach beyond the boundaries of the cosmos that he created , and even isis , though she was said to be the cleverest of the gods , was not omniscient . richard h. wilkinson , however , argues that some texts from the late new kingdom suggest that , as beliefs about the god amun evolved , he was thought to approach omniscience and omnipresence and to transcend the limits of the world in a way that other deities did not . the deities with the most limited and specialized domains are often called " minor divinities " or " demons " in modern writing , although there is no firm definition for these terms . among these lesser deities , egyptologist claude draws a distinction between " genies " — specialized patron spirits of certain places , objects , or activities , such as the sea or marsh god - wer and the harvest goddess renenutet — and demons , who have a more dangerous character . many demons are hostile , causing illness and other troubles among humans . their power can also be protective ; they may guard certain places in the duat , the realm of the dead , or advise and watch over humans . egyptians believed the landscape was full of these unpredictable divine powers . demons often act as servants and messengers to the greater gods , but their position in the hierarchy is not fixed . the protective deities and originally had minor , demon - like roles , but over time they came to be credited with great influence . behavior divine behavior was believed to govern all of nature . except for the few deities who disrupted the divine order , the gods ' actions maintained maat and created and sustained all living things . they did this work using a force the egyptians called heka , a term usually translated as " magic " . was a fundamental power that the creator god used to form the world and the gods themselves . the gods ' actions in the present are described and praised in hymns and funerary texts . in contrast , mythology mainly concerns the gods ' actions during a vaguely imagined past in which the gods were present on earth and interacted directly with humans . the events of this past time set the pattern for the events of the present . periodic occurrences were tied to events in the mythic past ; the succession of each new pharaoh , for instance , reenacted horus ' accession to the throne of his father osiris . myths are metaphors for the gods ' actions , which humans cannot fully understand . they contain seemingly contradictory ideas , each expressing a particular perspective on divine events . the contradictions in myth are part of the egyptians ' many - faceted approach to religious belief — what henri frankfort called a " multiplicity of approaches " to understanding the gods . in myth , the gods behave much like humans . they feel emotion ; they can eat , drink , fight , weep , sicken , and die . some have unique character traits . set is aggressive and impulsive , and thoth , patron of writing and knowledge , is prone to long - winded speeches . yet overall , the gods are more like archetypes than well drawn characters . their behavior is inconsistent , and their thoughts and motivations are rarely stated . most myths about them lack highly developed characters and plots , because the symbolic meaning of the myths was more important than elaborate storytelling . the first divine act is the creation of the cosmos , described in several creation myths . they focus on different gods , each of which may act as creator deities . the eight gods of the , who represent the chaos that precedes creation , give birth to the sun god , who establishes order in the newly formed world ; ptah , who embodies thought and creativity , gives form to all things by envisioning and naming them ; atum produces all things as emanations of himself ; and amun , according to the myths promoted by his priesthood , preceded and created the other creator gods . these and other versions of the events of creation were not seen as contradictory . each gives a different perspective on the complex process by which the organized universe and its many deities emerged from undifferentiated chaos . the period following creation , in which a series of gods rule as kings over the divine society , is the setting for most myths . the gods struggle against the forces of chaos and among each other before withdrawing from the human world and installing the historical kings of egypt to rule in their place . a recurring theme in these myths is the effort of the gods to maintain maat against the forces of disorder . they fight vicious battles with the forces of chaos at the start of creation . ra and apep , battling each other each night , continue this struggle into the present . another prominent theme is the gods ' death and revival . the clearest instance where a god dies is the myth of osiris ' murder , in which that god is resurrected as ruler of the duat . the sun god is also said to grow old during his daily journey across the sky , sink into the duat at night , and emerge as a young child at dawn . in the process he comes into contact with the rejuvenating water of primordial chaos . funerary texts that depict ra 's journey through the duat also show the corpses of gods who are enlivened along with him . instead of being immortal , the gods periodically died and were reborn by repeating the events of creation , thus renewing the whole world . but it was always possible for this cycle to be disrupted and for chaos to return . some poorly understood egyptian texts even suggest that this calamity is destined to happen — that the creator god will one day dissolve the order of the world , leaving only himself and osiris amid the primordial chaos . locations gods were linked with specific regions of the universe . in egyptian tradition , the world includes the earth , the sky , and the duat . surrounding them is the dark formlessness that existed before creation . the gods in general were said to dwell in the sky , although gods whose roles were linked with other parts of the universe were said to live in those places instead . most events of mythology , set in a time before the gods ' withdrawal from the human realm , take place in an earthly setting . the deities there sometimes interact with those in the sky . the duat , in contrast , is treated as a remote and inaccessible place , and the gods who dwell there have difficulty communicating with those in the world of the living . the space outside the cosmos is also said to be very distant . it too is inhabited by deities , some hostile and some beneficial to the other gods and their orderly world . in the time after myth , most gods were said to be either in the sky or invisibly present within the world . temples were their main means of contact with humanity . each day , it was believed , the gods moved from the divine realm to their temples , their homes in the human world . there they inhabited the cult images , the statues that depicted deities and allowed humans to interact with them in temple rituals . this movement between realms was sometimes described as a journey between the sky and the earth . as temples were the focal points of egyptian cities , the god in a city 's main temple was the patron god for the city and the surrounding region . deities ' spheres of influence on earth centered on the towns and regions they presided over . many gods had more than one cult center , and their local ties changed over time . they could establish themselves in new cities , or their range of influence could contract . therefore , a given deity 's main cult center in historical times is not necessarily his or her place of origin . the political influence of a city could affect the importance of its patron deity . when kings from thebes took control of the country at start of the middle kingdom ( c . 2055 – 1650 bc ) , they elevated thebes ' patron gods — first the war god montu and then amun — to national prominence . names and epithets in egyptian belief , names express the fundamental nature of the things to which they refer . in keeping with this belief , the names of deities often relate to their roles or origins . the name of the predatory goddess sekhmet means " powerful one " , the name of the mysterious god amun means " hidden one " , and the name of the goddess nekhbet , who was worshipped in the city of , means " she of " . but many other names have no certain meaning , even when the gods who bear them are closely tied to a single role . the names of the sky goddess nut and the earth god geb do not resemble the egyptian terms for sky and earth . the egyptians also devised false etymologies giving more meanings to divine names . a passage in the coffin texts renders the name of the funerary god as sk r , meaning " cleaning of the mouth " , to link his name with his role in the opening of the mouth ritual , while one in the pyramid texts says the name is based on words shouted by osiris , connecting with the most important funerary deity . the gods were believed to have many names . among them were secret names that conveyed their true natures more profoundly than others . to know the true name of a deity was to have power over it . the importance of names is demonstrated by a myth in which isis poisons the superior god ra and refuses to cure him unless he reveals his secret name to her . upon learning the name , she tells it to her son , horus , and by learning it they gain greater knowledge and power . in addition to their names , gods were given epithets , like " possessor of splendor " , " ruler of abydos " , or " lord of the sky " , that describe some aspect of their roles or their worship . because of the gods ' multiple and overlapping roles , deities can have many epithets — with more important gods accumulating more titles — and the same epithet can apply to many deities . some epithets eventually became separate deities , as with , an epithet applied to several goddesses meaning " great enchantress " , which came to be treated as an independent goddess . the host of divine names and titles expresses the gods ' multifarious nature . relationships egyptian deities are connected in a complex and shifting array of relationships . a god 's connections and interactions with other deities helped define its character . thus isis , as the mother and protector of horus , was a great healer as well as the patroness of kings . such relationships were the base material from which myths were formed . family relationships are a common type of connection between gods . deities often form male and female pairs , reflecting the importance of procreation in egyptian religious thought . families of three deities , with a father , mother , and child , represent the creation of new life and the succession of the father by the child , a pattern that connects divine families with royal succession . osiris , isis , and horus formed the quintessential family of this type . the pattern they set grew more widespread over time , so that many deities in local cult centers , like ptah , sekhmet , and their child at memphis and amun , mut , and khonsu at thebes , were assembled into family triads . genealogical connections like these are changeable , in keeping with the multiple perspectives in egyptian belief . hathor , as a fertility goddess , could act as mother to any child god , including the child form of the sun god , although in other circumstances she was the sun god 's daughter . other divine groups were composed of deities with interrelated roles , or who together represented a region of the egyptian mythological cosmos . there were sets of gods for the hours of the day and night and for each nome ( province ) of egypt . some of these groups contain a specific , symbolically important number of deities . paired gods can stand for opposite but interrelated concepts that are part of a greater unity . ra , who is dynamic and light - producing , and osiris , who is static and shrouded in darkness , merge into a single god each night . groups of three are linked with plurality in ancient egyptian thought , and groups of four connote completeness . rulers in the late new kingdom promoted a particularly important group of three gods above all others : amun , ra , and ptah . these deities stood for the plurality of all gods , as well as for their own cult centers ( the major cities of thebes , heliopolis , and memphis ) and for many threefold sets of concepts in egyptian religious thought . sometimes set , the patron god of the nineteenth dynasty kings and the embodiment of disorder within the world , was added to this group , which emphasized a single coherent vision of the pantheon . nine , the product of three and three , represents a multitude , so the egyptians called several large groups " " , or sets of nine , even if they had more than nine members . the most prominent ennead was the ennead of heliopolis , an extended family of deities descended from the creator god atum , which incorporates many important gods . the term " ennead " was often extended to include all of egypt 's deities . this divine assemblage had a vague and changeable hierarchy . gods with broad influence in the cosmos or who were mythologically older than others had higher positions in divine society . at the apex of this society was the king of the gods , who was usually identified with the creator deity . in different periods of egyptian history , different gods were most frequently said to hold this exalted position . horus was the most important god in the early dynastic period , ra rose to preeminence in the old kingdom , amun was supreme in the new , and in the ptolemaic and roman periods , isis was the divine queen and creator goddess . newly prominent gods tended to adopt characteristics from their predecessors . isis absorbed the traits of many other goddesses during her rise , and when amun became the ruler of the pantheon , he was conjoined with ra , the traditional king of the gods , to become a solar deity . manifestations and combinations the gods were believed to manifest in many forms . the egyptians had complex conception of the human soul , consisting of several parts . the spirits of the gods were composed of many of these same elements . the ba was the component of the human or divine soul that affected the world around it . any visible manifestation of a god 's power could be called its ba ; thus , the sun was called the ba of ra . a depiction of a deity was considered a ka , another component of its being , which acted as a vessel for that deity 's ba to inhabit . the cult images of gods that were the focus of temple rituals , as well as the sacred animals that represented certain deities , were believed to house divine bas in this way . gods could be ascribed many bas and kas , which were sometimes given names representing different aspects of the god 's nature . everything in existence was said to be one of the kas of atum the creator god , who originally contained all things within himself , and one deity could be called the ba of another , meaning that the first god is a manifestation of the other 's power . divine body parts could act as separate deities , like the eye of ra and hand of atum , both of which were personified as goddesses . nationally important deities gave rise to local manifestations , which sometimes absorbed the characteristics of older regional gods . horus had many forms tied to particular places , including horus of nekhen , horus of buhen , and horus of edfu . such local manifestations could be treated almost as separate beings . during the new kingdom , one man was accused of stealing clothes by an oracle supposed to communicate messages from amun of pe - khenty . he consulted two other local oracles of amun hoping for a different judgment . gods ' manifestations also differed according to their roles . horus could be a powerful sky god or vulnerable child , and these forms were sometimes counted as independent deities . gods were combined with each other as easily as they were divided . a god could be called the ba of another , or two or more deities could be joined into one god with a combined name and iconography . local gods were linked with greater ones , and deities with similar functions were combined . ra was connected with the local deity sobek to form sobek - ra ; with his fellow ruling god , amun , to form amun - ra ; with the solar form of horus to form ra - ; and with several solar deities as - - ra - atum . on rare occasion , even deities of different sexes were joined in this way , producing combinations like osiris - neith and mut - min . this linking of deities is called syncretism . unlike other situations for which this term is used , the egyptian practice was not meant to fuse competing belief systems , although foreign deities could be syncretized with native ones . instead , syncretism acknowledged the overlap between their roles , and extended the sphere of influence for each of them . combinations were not permanent ; a god who was involved in one combination continued to appear separately and to form new combinations with other deities . but closely connected deities did sometimes merge . horus absorbed several falcon gods from various regions , such as khenty - and khenty - , who became little more than local manifestations of him ; hathor subsumed a similar cow goddess , bat ; and an early funerary god , - , was supplanted by osiris and anubis . the aten and possible monotheism in the reign of akhenaten ( c . 1353 – 1336 bc ) in the mid - new kingdom , a single solar deity , the aten , became the sole focus of the state religion . akhenaten ceased to fund the temples of other deities and erased the gods ' names and images on monuments , targeting amun in particular . this new religious system , sometimes called atenism , differed dramatically from the polytheistic worship of many gods in all other periods . whereas , in earlier times , newly important gods were integrated into existing religious beliefs , atenism insisted on a single understanding of the divine that excluded the traditional multiplicity of perspectives . yet atenism may not have been full monotheism , which totally excludes belief in other deities . there is evidence suggesting that the general populace was still allowed to worship other gods in private . the picture is further complicated by atenism 's apparent tolerance for some other deities , like shu . for these reasons , the egyptologist dominic montserrat suggested that akhenaten may have been , worshipping a single deity while acknowledging the existence of others . in any case , atenism 's aberrant theology did not take root among the egyptian populace , and akhenaten 's successors returned to traditional beliefs . unity of the divine in traditional religion scholars have long debated whether traditional egyptian religion ever asserted that the multiple gods were , on a deeper level , unified . reasons for this debate include the practice of syncretism , which might suggest that all the separate gods could ultimately merge into one , and the tendency of egyptian texts to credit a particular god with power that surpasses all other deities . another point of contention is the appearance of the word " god " in wisdom literature , where the term does not refer to a specific deity or group of deities . in the early 20th century , for instance , e. a. wallis budge believed that egyptian commoners were polytheistic , but knowledge of the true monotheistic nature of the religion was reserved for the elite , who wrote the wisdom literature . his contemporary james henry thought egyptian religion was instead pantheistic , with the power of the sun god present in all other gods , while hermann junker argued that egyptian civilization had been originally monotheistic and became polytheistic in the course of its history . in 1971 , erik hornung published a study rebutting these views . he points out that in any given period many deities , even minor ones , were described as superior to all others . he also argues that the unspecified " god " in the wisdom texts is a generic term for whichever deity the reader chooses to revere . although the combinations , manifestations , and iconographies of each god were constantly shifting , they were always restricted to a finite number of forms , never becoming fully interchangeable in a monotheistic or pantheistic way . , hornung says , describes egyptian religion better than other labels . an egyptian could worship any deity at a particular time and credit it with supreme power in that moment , without denying the other gods or merging them all with the god that he or she focused on . hornung concludes that the gods were fully unified only in myth , at the time before creation , after which the multitude of gods emerged from a uniform nonexistence . hornung 's arguments have greatly influenced other scholars of egyptian religion , but some still believe that at times the gods were more unified than he allows . jan assmann maintains that the notion of a single deity developed slowly through the new kingdom , beginning with a focus on amun - ra as the all - important sun god . in his view , atenism was an extreme outgrowth of this trend . it equated the single deity with the sun and dismissed all other gods . then , in the backlash against atenism , priestly theologians described the universal god in a different way , one that coexisted with traditional polytheism . the one god was believed to transcend the world and all the other deities , while at the same time , the multiple gods were aspects of the one . according to assmann , this one god was especially equated with amun , the dominant god in the late new kingdom , whereas for the rest of egyptian history the universal deity could be identified with many other gods . james p. allen says that coexisting notions of one god and many gods would fit well with the " multiplicity of approaches " in egyptian thought , as well as with the practice of ordinary worshippers . he says that the egyptians may have recognized the unity of the divine by " identifying their uniform notion of ' god ' with a particular god , depending on the particular situation . " descriptions and depictions egyptian writings describe the gods ' bodies in detail . they are made of precious materials ; their flesh is gold , their bones are silver , and their hair is lapis lazuli . they give off a scent that the egyptians likened to the incense used in rituals . some texts give precise descriptions of particular deities , including their height and eye color . yet these characteristics are not fixed ; in myths , gods change their appearances to suit their own purposes . egyptian texts often refer to deities ' true , underlying forms as " mysterious " . the egyptians ' visual representations of their gods are therefore not literal . they symbolize specific aspects of each deity 's character , functioning much like the ideograms in hieroglyphic writing . for this reason , the funerary god anubis is commonly shown in egyptian art as a dog or jackal , a creature whose scavenging habits threaten the preservation of buried mummies , in an effort to counter this threat and employ it for protection . his black coloring alludes to the color of mummified flesh and to the fertile black soil that egyptians saw as a symbol of resurrection . most gods were depicted in several ways . hathor could be a cow , cobra , lioness , or a woman with bovine horns or ears . by depicting a given god in different ways , the egyptians expressed different aspects of its essential nature . the gods are depicted in a finite number of these symbolic forms , so that deities can often be distinguished from one another by their iconographies . these forms include men and women ( anthropomorphism ) , animals ( ) , and , more rarely , inanimate objects . combinations of forms , such as gods with human bodies and animal heads , are common . new forms and increasingly complex combinations arose in the course of history . some gods can only be distinguished from others if they are labeled in writing , as with isis and hathor . because of the close connection between these goddesses , they could both wear the cow - horn headdress that was originally hathor 's alone . certain features of divine images are more useful than others in determining a god 's identity . the head of a given divine image is particularly significant . in a hybrid image , the head represents the original form of the being depicted , so that , as the egyptologist henry fischer put it , " a lion - headed goddess is a lion - goddess in human form , while a royal sphinx , conversely , is a man who has assumed the form of a lion . " divine headdresses , which range from the same types of crowns used by human kings to large hieroglyphs worn on gods ' heads , are another important indicator . in contrast , the objects held in gods ' hands tend to be generic . male deities hold was staffs , goddesses hold stalks of papyrus , and both sexes carry ankh signs , representing the egyptian word for " life " , to symbolize their life - giving power . the forms in which the gods are shown , although diverse , are limited in many ways . many creatures that are widespread in egypt were never used in divine iconography , whereas a few , such as falcons , cobras , and cattle , can each represent many deities . animals that were absent from egypt in the early stages of its history were not used as divine images . for instance , the horse , which was only introduced in the second intermediate period ( c . 1650 – 1550 bc ) , never represented a god . similarly , the clothes worn by anthropomorphic deities in all periods changed little from the styles used in the old kingdom : a kilt , false beard , and often a shirt for male gods and a long , tight - fitting dress for goddesses . the basic anthropomorphic form varies . child gods are depicted nude , as are some adult gods when their procreative powers are emphasized . certain male deities are given heavy bellies and breasts , signifying either androgyny or prosperity and abundance . whereas most male gods have red skin and most goddesses are yellow — the same colors used to depict egyptian men and women — some are given unusual , symbolic skin colors . thus the blue skin and paunchy figure of the god alludes to the nile flood he represents and the nourishing fertility it brought . a few deities , such as osiris , ptah , and min , have a " " appearance , with their limbs tightly swathed in cloth . although these gods resemble mummies , the earliest examples predate the cloth - wrapped style of mummification , and this form may instead hark back to the earliest , limbless depictions of deities . interactions with humans relationship with the pharaoh in official writings , pharaohs are said to be divine , and they are constantly depicted in the company of the deities of the pantheon . each pharaoh and his predecessors were considered the successors of the gods who had ruled egypt in mythic prehistory . living kings were equated with horus and called the " son " of many deities , particularly osiris and ra ; deceased kings were equated with these elder gods . pharaohs had their own mortuary temples where rituals were performed for them during their lives and after their deaths . but few pharaohs were worshipped as gods long after their lifetimes , and non - official texts portray kings in a human light . for these reasons , scholars disagree about how genuinely most egyptians believed the king to be a god . he may only have been considered divine when he was performing ceremonies . however much it was believed , the king 's divine status was the rationale for his role as egypt 's representative to the gods , as he formed a link between the divine and human realms . the egyptians believed the gods needed temples to dwell in , as well as the periodic performance of rituals and presentation of offerings to nourish them . these things were provided by the cults that the king oversaw , with their priests and laborers . yet , according to royal ideology , temple - building was exclusively the pharaoh 's work , as were the rituals that priests usually performed in his stead . these acts were a part of the king 's fundamental role : maintaining maat . the king and the nation he represented provided the gods with maat so they could continue to perform their functions , which maintained maat in the cosmos so humans could continue to live . presence in the human world although the egyptians believed their gods to be present in the world around them , contact between the human and divine realms was mostly limited to specific circumstances . in literature , gods may appear to humans in a physical form , but in real life the egyptians were limited to more indirect means of communication . the ba of a god was said to periodically leave the divine realm to dwell in the images of that god . by inhabiting these images , the gods left their concealed state and took on a physical form . to the egyptians , a place or object that was — " sacred " — was isolated and ritually pure , and thus fit for a god to inhabit . temple statues and reliefs , as well as particular sacred animals , like the apis bull , served as divine intermediaries in this way . dreams and trances provided a very different venue for interaction . in these states , it was believed , people could come close to the gods and sometimes receive messages from them . finally , according to egyptian afterlife beliefs , human souls pass into the divine realm after death . the egyptians therefore believed that in death they would exist on the same level as the gods and fully understand their mysterious nature . temples , where the state rituals were carried out , were filled with images of the gods . the most important temple image was the cult statue in the inner sanctuary . these statues were usually less than life - size , and made of the same precious materials that were said to form the gods ' bodies . many temples had several sanctuaries , each with a cult statue representing one of the gods in a group such as a family triad . the city 's primary god was envisioned as its lord , employing many of the residents as servants in the divine household that the temple represented . the gods residing in the temples of egypt collectively represented the entire pantheon . but many deities — including some important gods as well as those that were minor or hostile — were never given temples of their own , although some were represented in the temples of other gods . to insulate the sacred power in the sanctuary from the impurities of the outside world , the egyptians enclosed temple sanctuaries and greatly restricted access to them . people other than kings and high priests were thus denied contact with cult statues . the only exception was during festival processions , when the statue was carried out of the temple but still enclosed in a portable shrine . people did have less direct means of interaction . the more public parts of temples often incorporated small places for prayer , from doorways to freestanding chapels near the back of the temple building . communities also built and managed small chapels for their own use , and some families had shrines inside their homes . despite the gulf that separated humanity from the divine , the egyptians were surrounded by opportunities to approach their gods . intervention in human lives egyptian gods were involved in human lives as well as in the overarching order of nature . this divine influence applied mainly to egypt , as foreign peoples were traditionally believed to be outside the divine order . but in the new kingdom , when other nations were under egyptian control , foreigners were said to be under the sun god 's benign rule in the same way that egyptians were . thoth , as the overseer of time , was said to allot fixed lifespans to both humans and gods . other gods were also said to govern the length of human lives , including , who presided over birth , and shai , the personification of fate . thus the time and manner of death was the main meaning of the egyptian concept of fate , although to some extent these deities governed other events in life as well . several texts refer to gods influencing or inspiring human decisions , working through a person 's " heart " — the seat of emotion and intellect in egyptian belief . deities were also believed to give commands , instructing the king in the governance of his realm and regulating the management of their temples . egyptian texts rarely mention direct commands given to private persons , and these commands never evolved into a set of divinely enforced moral codes . morality in ancient egypt was based on the concept of maat , which , when applied to human society , meant that everyone should live in an orderly way that did not interfere with the well - being of other people . because deities were the upholders of maat , morality was connected with them . for example , the gods judged humans ' moral righteousness after death , and by the new kingdom , a verdict of innocence in this judgment was believed to be necessary for admittance into the afterlife . but in general , morality was based on practical ways to uphold maat in daily life , rather than on strict rules that the gods laid out . humans had free will to ignore divine guidance and the behavior required by maat , but by doing so they could bring divine punishment upon themselves . a deity carried out this punishment using its ba , the force that manifested the god 's power in the human world . natural disasters and human ailments were seen as the work of angry divine bas . conversely , the gods could cure righteous people of illness or even extend their lifespans . both these types of intervention were eventually represented by deities : shed , who emerged in the new kingdom to represent divine rescue from harm , and , an apotropaic god from the late eras of egyptian history who was believed to avenge wrongdoing . egyptian texts take different views on whether the gods are responsible when humans suffer unjustly . misfortune was often seen as a product of , the cosmic disorder that was the opposite of maat , and therefore the gods were not guilty of causing evil events . some deities who were closely connected with , such as set , could be blamed for disorder within the world without placing guilt on the other gods . but some writings do accuse the deities of causing human misery , while others give theodicies in the gods ' defense . beginning in the middle kingdom , several texts connected the issue of evil in the world with a myth in which the creator god fights a human rebellion against his rule and then withdraws from the earth . because of this human misbehavior , the creator is distant from his creation , allowing suffering to exist . new kingdom writings do not question the just nature of the gods as strongly as those of the middle kingdom . they emphasize humans ' direct , personal relationships with deities and the gods ' power to intervene in human events . people in this era put faith in specific gods who they hoped would help and protect them through their lives . as a result , upholding the ideals of maat grew less important than gaining the gods ' favor as a way to guarantee a good life . even the pharaohs were regarded as dependent on divine aid , and after the new kingdom came to an end , government was increasingly influenced by oracles communicating the gods ' will . worship official religious practices , which maintained maat for the benefit of all egypt , were related to , but distinct from , the religious practices of ordinary people , who sought the gods ' help for their personal problems . official religion involved a variety of rituals , based in temples . some rites were performed every day , whereas others were festivals , taking place at longer intervals and often limited to a particular temple or deity . the gods received their offerings in daily ceremonies , in which their statues were clothed , anointed , and presented with food as hymns were recited in their honor . these offerings , in addition to maintaining maat for the gods , celebrated deities ' life - giving generosity and encouraged them to remain benevolent rather than vengeful . festivals often involved a ceremonial procession in which a cult image was carried out of the temple in a barque - shaped shrine . these processions served various purposes . in roman times , when local deities of all kinds were believed to have power over the nile inundation , processions in many communities carried temple images to the riverbanks so the gods could invoke a large and fruitful flood . processions also traveled between temples , as when the image of hathor from dendera temple visited her consort horus at the temple of edfu . rituals for a god were often based in that deity 's mythology . such rituals were meant to be repetitions of the events of the mythic past , renewing the beneficial effects of the original events . in the khoiak festival in honor of osiris , his death and resurrection were ritually reenacted at a time when crops were beginning to sprout . the returning greenery symbolized the renewal of the god 's own life . personal interaction with the gods took many forms . people who wanted information or advice consulted oracles , run by temples , that were supposed to convey gods ' answers to questions . amulets and other images of protective deities were used to ward off the demons that might threaten human well - being or to impart the god 's positive characteristics to the wearer . private rituals invoked the gods ' power to accomplish personal goals , from healing sickness to cursing enemies . these practices used heka , the same force of magic that the gods used , which the creator was said to have given to humans so they could fend off misfortune . the performer of a private rite often took on the role of a god in a myth , or even threatened a deity , to involve the gods in accomplishing the goal . such rituals coexisted with private offerings and prayers , and all three were accepted means of obtaining divine help . prayer and private offerings are generally called " personal piety " : acts that reflect a close relationship between an individual and a god . evidence of personal piety is scant before the new kingdom . votive offerings and personal names , many of which are , suggest that commoners felt some connection between themselves and their gods . but firm evidence of devotion to deities became visible only in the new kingdom , reaching a peak late in that era . scholars disagree about the meaning of this change — whether direct interaction with the gods was a new development or an outgrowth of older traditions . egyptians now expressed their devotion through a new variety of activities in and around temples . they recorded their prayers and their thanks for divine help on stelae . they gave offerings of figurines that represented the gods they were praying to , or that symbolized the result they desired ; thus a relief image of hathor and a statuette of a woman could both represent a prayer for fertility . occasionally , a person took a particular god as a patron , dedicating his or her property or labor to the god 's cult . these practices continued into the latest periods of egyptian history . these later eras saw more religious innovations , including the practice of giving animal mummies as offerings to deities depicted in animal form , such as the cat mummies given to the feline goddess bastet . some of the major deities from myth and official religion were rarely invoked in popular worship , but many of the great state gods were important in popular tradition . the worship of some egyptian gods spread to neighboring lands , especially to canaan and nubia during the new kingdom , when those regions were under pharaonic control . in canaan , the exported deities , including hathor , amun , and set , were often syncretized with native gods , who in turn spread to egypt . the egyptian deities may not have had permanent temples in canaan , and their importance there waned after egypt lost control of the region . in contrast , many temples to the major egyptian gods and deified pharaohs were built in nubia . after the end of egyptian rule there , the imported gods , particularly amun and isis , were syncretized with local deities and remained part of the religion of nubia 's independent kingdom of kush . these gods were incorporated into the nubian ideology of kingship much as they were in egypt , so that amun was considered the divine father of the king and isis and other goddesses were linked with the nubian queen , the . some deities reached farther . became a goddess in minoan crete , and amun 's oracle at siwa oasis was known to and consulted by people across the mediterranean region . under the greek ptolemaic dynasty and then roman rule , greeks and romans introduced their own deities to egypt . these newcomers equated the egyptian gods with their own , as part of the greco - roman tradition of interpretatio graeca . but the worship of the native gods was not swallowed up by that of foreign ones . instead , greek and roman gods were adopted as manifestations of egyptian ones . egyptian cults sometimes incorporated greek language , philosophy , iconography , and even temple architecture . meanwhile , the cults of several egyptian deities — particularly isis , osiris , anubis , the form of horus named harpocrates , and the fused greco - egyptian god serapis — were adopted into roman religion and spread across the roman empire . roman emperors , like ptolemaic kings before them , invoked isis and serapis to endorse their authority , inside and outside egypt . in the empire 's complex mix of religious traditions , thoth was transmuted into the legendary esoteric teacher hermes trismegistus , and isis , who was venerated from britain to mesopotamia , became the focus of a greek - style mystery cult . isis and hermes trismegistus were both prominent in the western esoteric tradition that grew from the roman religious world . temples and cults in egypt itself declined as the roman economy deteriorated in the third century ad , and beginning in the fourth century , christians suppressed the veneration of egyptian deities . the last formal cults , at philae , died out in the fifth or sixth century . most beliefs surrounding the gods themselves disappeared within a few hundred years , remaining in magical texts into the seventh and eighth centuries . but many of the practices involved in their worship , such as processions and oracles , were adapted to fit christian ideology and persisted as part of the coptic church . given the great changes and diverse influences in egyptian culture since that time , scholars disagree about whether any modern coptic practices are descended from those of pharaonic religion . but many festivals and other traditions of modern egyptians , both christian and muslim , resemble the worship of their ancestors ' gods .