10 Questions about Egyptian Gods and Goddesses | Humanities

Answer: Bennu

Bennu, in the form of a heron, was said to have flown over the waters of Nun, the primordial abyss that existed before the creation of the world. Landing upon a rock, his call determined the form and nature of creation.

Bennu is also considered to be an aspect of Ra (the sun god), specifically the 'ba', or personality.

Answer: Sobek

Sobek (also called Sebek) was depicted both as a full crocodile, and as a man with the head of a crocodile in Egyptian hieroglyphs and art. A powerful deity in his own right, Sobek later came to be more closely associated with Horus, and then with Ra.

Sobek was known for his aggressive and virile nature, earning the epithets "he who eats while he also mates" and "he who loves robbery". Yet he would also be invoked to provide protection (crocodiles are very protective of their young).

Answer: Horus

Represented as the falcon, or as a falcon-headed man, Horus (also Her, Heru, Hor, Har) was a major god in the Egyptian pantheon. A pharaoh would be regarded as a manifestation of Horus while ruling, and when he died, he would become a manifestation of Osiris (thus allowing the next pharaoh to become the new/continuing manifestation of Horus).

Horus had a bitter conflict with Set, his parent's (Osiris and Isis were brother and sister) brother, who killed his father, Osiris. In the story of their battle, Horus' eye was injured, which explained another aspect of life: the sun and the moon. As the god of the sky, the sun and the moon were Horus' right and left eye, respectively.

Answer: Maahes

Maahes (also Mihos, Miysis, Mios, Maihes, or Mahes) was a lion-headed god who got his feline attributes from his mother. Maahes had other titles, including "Lord of Slaughter", "Wielder of the Knife", and "The Scarlet Lord".

As origins for Egyptian gods go, Maahes was also seen as a son of Ra with Bastet, or sometimes with Sekhmet, another feline goddess.

Answer: Khnum

Khnum (also Khnemu) was usually depicted in hieroglyphs and Egyptian art as a man with a ram's head, sitting at a potter's wheel. Khnum's consort was Satis, who was also associated with the Nile and the flooding season. Their daughter was Anuket, the goddess of the cataracts of the Nile and Lower Nubia.

He was also associated with Heqet, the frog goddess, who was associated with fertility and the flood season, and their son Her-Ur (a form of Horus).

Answer: Nekhbet

Nekhbet (also Nekhebit) was depicted as the white vulture goddess with her wings spread wide in protection of Upper Egypt. Lower Egypt had the cobra goddess Wadjet as their patron goddess, and together they were referred to as the "Two Ladies".

Nekhbet was also called the "Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning" and was the patron of nature and of childbirth.

Answer: Bastet

Bastet (also called Bast, B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset) was originally depicted as a fierce lioness-headed warrior goddess, but when she became associated with Sekhmet, her aspect took on a gentler definition, and she became associated with the home, pregnancy and childbirth.

Amongst her titles were the "Lady of the East", the "Goddess of the Rising Sun", the "Cat Goddess", and the "Devouring Lady".

Answer: Heqet

As an Egyptian fertility goddess, Heqet was associated with and represented by the frog, which itself was a symbol of fertility, related to the flooding of the Nile. Heqet (also Heqtit) became associated with the final stages of the flooding of the Nile, and thus her affinity with the final stages of birth. In the Osiris myth, Heqet was the one who breathed life into his body, and became connected with the resurrection of Osiris.

While the word for 'midwife' in ancient Egyptian is uncertain, those who filled this role were called the Servants of Heqet.

Answer: Hathor

Hathor was also a sky deity and was one of several goddesses who filled the role of the Eye of Ra, giving her an aspect of protectiveness and vengefulness. This, combined with her other described aspects, made her the ideal of Egyptian femininity. Called the "Golden One", Hathor was the feminine counterpart to the sun gods Horus and Ra, and traveled with them in their barque across the sky.

Her varied roles and representations throughout Egyptian history have made her more of a type of goddess than a single entity, and even in Egyptian texts she is referred to as "Seven Hathors".

Answer: Wadjet

Wadjet (also Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo) was originally the local goddess of the city of Dep, which grew into a city named Per-Wadjet (House of Wadjet). She became the protector of kings and of women in childbirth and is said to have nursed Horus as an infant.

Wadjet was often depicted as a woman with two cobra heads, or as a snake with a woman's head, and later was also shown as a cobra coiled protectively on the sun god Ra's head.