Egyptians have the tradition of deifying living beings
from human, animals as well as nature. It is believed that they have millions
of gods whom they worship or regard as sacred. There are three stages of
creation of life according to many Egyptians and they are: the creation of
body, the transfer of divine essence to the body, and the body animation by the
breath of life.
Out of numerous numbers of gods that they
have, they still believe in the ultimate god – god of all gods. The creator often referred as “the one who made himself into
millions” or “He Who Made Himself into Millions of Gods” So in other words there are parts of god actually manifest in many living things thus the existence of many gods of the Egyptians. Most kings in Egypt were regard as gods as they
were given specialty to communicate with the divine through dreams or portent. When
they died, their sons were to be their successor in ruling Egypt and the people
were to held responsible in keeping the gods presence in forms of statues and doing
rituals and offerings.
Below is the famous family tree of highest rank of Egyptian gods. it was believed they were the firsts to exist thus spawned other million gods.
There are approximately 124 deities mentioned by Geraldine Pinch his book Handbook of Egyptian Mythology. They are the most prominent and commonly known by Egyptologist. Here
I present to you 3 nature deities worshiped by the ancient Egyptians.
Apis (bull)
Apis was a bull deity which was believed a
manifestation of Ptah the creator god. He was worshiped as the Osiris, the son
god of the earth and sky. According to Deodorus, the soul of Osiris was passed
into Apis bull after he died and continued by other new bull. Herodotus narrated
that Apis was conceived by his mother after she was hit by lightning. On the
other hand, Plutarch recorded that Apis was created miraculously by the moon
light. Apis bull was said to be able to predict future. Since Apis bull was a
sacred animal, he was not touched by any carrion eaters after being killed by
Persian King in the 6th BCE him out of the temple, except dogs which
was then regard as filthy or unclean animal in Egyptian religion.
Heqet (frog)
Heqet was a frog goddess who primarily helped women
giving birth and helped reborn the dead. She also helped other goddesses giving
birth to divine children. A myth was narrated that Heqet and the other 3
deities were sent by Ra (sun god) to assist a women to give birth as she was
said by the husband on her painful and difficult birth. Heqet then ease and
hasten the birth of the babies. Other than that, she also helped in bringing
back the dead deities and helped them in process of reborn. The Egyptians hoped
that Heqet would be their divine midwife in bringing them back to life after
death.
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Khonsu (moon)
He was the moon god who was often
associated with fate, judgement and punishment. Khonsu was feared by the
Egyptians as he was a keeper of The Book of The End of Year. This book has
the names of people who will die on that year. So the people of Egypt appealed to a gentler aspect of the god
“Khonsu the Merciful” to alter the decrees of their fate. He could also heal those bodies who were
possessed by evil spirit. by
