Learning Family learns about Egyptian Myths & Legends

While traveling.

Why were there so many gods in Ancient Egypt? What is the meaning of the Seeing Eye?

Egyptian mythology has captured the imagination of millions of people for over 200 years, ever since the rediscovery of this great culture began in the late 1700's.

We're working on this page now! Please check back soon to see what we learned.

Gods of Egypt

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The ancient Egyptians believed in many gods. This is called polytheism. We read that in the Tomb of Tuthmoses III, there were drawings of 746 unique gods, and we've heard that there were more than 1000 if you count up all the different gods over time! How did they get so many Gods?

We've made a page with images of 18 of the most significant gods of Ancient Egyptian mythology. What sort of game can you make up with these pictures? (It might take a while to load all 18 images, 10k each.)

Amanda's Report

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The Egyptian creation myth is the story of Re, the sun god, who gave birth to himself. He made the air and water gods (Shu and Tefnut) from his spit. The first people came from his tears. Shu and Tefnut's children were Nut, the sky goddess, and Geb, the earth god.

Each morning Re sailed his boat across the sky, and each night he got swallowed by Nut and fought a snake inside Nut all night. In the monring he was reborn. People thought that if the snake ever ate Re, it would be the end of the world.

Harrison's Report

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Maybe the reason there were so many gods was to help them explain their many questions. Maybe that's where the ideas for myths come from in the first place.

Why does the sun appear to go across the sky?
Because Ra the Sun God carries the sun in his solar boat as he sails across the sky.

Why does the Nile always flood?
Because, Khnum, the god of the Nile made it flood if the people did what he liked. The ancient Egyptians may not have known that rain storms hundreds of miles south in Tanzania would make the Nile flood.

Have you ever seen a cat fight?
Maybe cats are messengers of Bastet, the goddess of war, and that's why cats fight all the time.

COLOR ME! Amun-Re, the Sun God of Ancient Egypt. From a papyrus painting of the 18th dynasty.

Click on the image for the full-size picture, print and color it!

Susan's Report

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Myths are often confusing or silly to me, but I'm living in an age of knowledge and facts. I image mythical stories gave comfort to people in times before science discovered the real way things work. They were also religious in nature, giving people hope of a blissful afterlife. The story of Isis and Osiris is ancient Egypt's way of explaining the struggle of good vs. evil, and what happens after death.

Nothing could exist between the earth god, Geb, and his sky goddess wife, Nut, because they were so close. Their father, Shu (the air) separated them so life could begin on the earth. Nut had two sets of twins: Nepthys and Set, and Isis and Osiris. Both Nepthys and Isis loved Osiris but hated the evil Set. Osiris was the king of Egypt and Isis was his queen. Set was jealous and tricked Osiris into a coffin, which he sealed and dropped into the Nile.

Isis searched for her lost husband, and upon finding him, turned herself into a sparrowhawk and fanned breath into his body long enough to conceive a son (Horus, the falcon-headed sky god). Isis then had Osiris embalmed by Anubis (the jackal-headed "Lord of Mummy Wrappings").

When Set found the coffin during a hunting trip, he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them. Isis travelled all over Egypt gathering up the pieces and putting them back together. Osiris became the god of the Underworld and the judge of the newly dead. When Horus grew up, he began an eternal struggle for revenge with Set.

Isis and Osiris (Looking at Egyptian Myths and Legends) by Geraldine Harris

We haven't read this one, but it looks interesting enough to list here. Appropriate for intermediate readers.

Rob's Report

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There was a brief time, around 1350 bce, when a Pharoah named Akhenaten wanted to make his patron god, Aten, the only god of Egypt.  This seems to be the earliest recorded time of monotheism in the world.  This was a time of great artistic revolution, and an entirely new form of statuary are found. The capitol was moved from Thebes, to Amarna, several miles north, which is why this time in Egyptian history is known as the Amarna period. Akhenaten thought his wife, Nefertiti was the most beautiful woman in the world, and commissioned many sculptures of her.  Her image is probably the most famous of all the ancient Egyptian sculptures.

The monotheistic Atens didn't last long.  Only about 25 years.  The other people living up and down the Nile couln't worship their own patron God, and they fought to remove the Atens from power.  Tutankhamun claims to be the one to have thrown out the Atens, according to inscriptions written on some of his tomb walls. Since he was a young boy when he became Pharaoh, I think it was probably some older, disgruntled priests of the Amun era that used him as a vehicle to overthrow the Aten cult.

Questions & Answers from our visitors

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Harrison found the answers: feather, Maat, truth, eternal life, Eater, dead.

Links

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• Descriptions of Egyptian Gods - Comprehensive summary by Shaun C. Knight.
• Religion of Ancient Egypt - from the Canadian Museum of Civilization, a very hight quality site.
• Egyptian Book of the Dead - Complete translation by E.A. Wallis Budge. complete, but VERY COMPLICATED!
• Egyptian Mythology - Very detailed background of the major gods, worship and history.
• Egyptian Underworld - Washington State University classroom project for understanding Egypt mythology.
• Egyptian Mythology - Encyclopedia Mythica's extensive list of the gods, and brief descriptions.

Resources

Check these out from your local library, or buy them here. When you buy books here, you get the same great Amazon.com price, and help keep these pages going.

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For Younger Readers

Tales from Ancient Egypt by George Hart Seven fun stories that ancient Egyptians made up. It has many colorful pictures. Read Amanda's review in the Learning Family Library

The Voyage of OSIRIS by Gerald McDermott This book is about Osiris and Isis and the trouble that Set, Osiris' evil brother, causes for them.

The Illustrated Book of Myths, Tales & Legends of the World by Neil Philip A wonderful collection of stories about the beginnings, cultures, heros and gods. Short enough to be excellent bedtime stories. Read the review in our library.

For Older Readers

Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology by Anthony S. Mercatante, Robert Steven Bianchi (Editor) Confused by the more than 1,000 gods in Egyptian mythology? This reference book, along with many drawings by the author, is a great resource for sorting out the seemingly complex relationships in the ancient myths.

The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead by Raymond O. Faulkner, Carol Andrews (Editor) The complete translation of the 189 spells that were to ensure safe travels of the deceased in the afterlife. Presented line-by-line with the original Hieratic and English. I haven't read all of them, but so far haven't found any "curse" sorts of things for people disturbing the slumbering mummy.

Akhenaten : The Heretic King by Donald B. Redford I've not read all of this book, but have read some. It could be the best account of the Atens, and the Amarna period. There are plenty of photos and drawings to help describe this very dynamic period in Egyptian history and theology.

Akhenaten : King of Egypt by Cyril Aldred Cyril Aldred was perhaps the most highly regarded authority of the Amarna period and the innovations of Akhenatens. This is truly a work of scholarly art on the subject of one of the most intriguing periods in ancient Egyptian history.