Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Question: Which goddess was probably first worshipped as a lioness or a wild cat but was represented as a domestic cat after domestic cats were introduced into Egypt about 2000 BCE?

Answer: Bastet is often represented carrying an ancient percussion instrument called the sistrum.

Question: Which god is typically represented as a mummy?

Answer: Egyptian myth says that Osiris was the king of Egypt until he was murdered by his brother Seth. He was resurrected by his wife Isis and became the god of the dead.

Question: Which god is credited with inventing writing?

Answer: Thoth, the god of learning, was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis.

Question: Which Egyptian fertility goddess was often represented standing at one corner of a deceased person’s sarcophagus and was also thought to guard the canopic jar containing the liver of the deceased person?

Answer: The goddesses Nephthys, Neith, and Selket stood at the other three corners of the sarcophagus. Isis and the god Imsety were thought to guard the liver of the deceased person.

Question: During the Amarna period (c. 1353–36 BCE) which god was elevated above all other gods?

Answer: King Amenhotep IV took the name Akhenaten and made drastic changes to the official Egyptian religion, including establishing a new cult dedicated to the Aton, the sun’s disk. The changes were reversed soon after Akhenaten’s rule ended.

Question: Which Egyptian god was often represented as a falcon, or as a man with the head of a falcon?

Answer: Horus, a sky god, was the son of the goddess Isis and the god Osiris.

Question: What is the goggle-eyed, bowlegged, dwarf god Bes known for doing?

Answer: His unusual appearance was believed to drive away evil spirits.

Question: Which evil snake god gave his name in 2005 to an asteroid that was briefly believed to be on a possible collision course with Earth?

Answer: Apophis, the god of chaos, was the enemy of the sun god Re. The asteroid 99942 Apophis, discovered in 2004, was ultimately determined to pose no threat to Earth.

Question: Which Egyptian god—known as the god of storms and the desert—was usually represented as an animal whose species has not been identified by modern Egyptologists and zoologists?

Answer: Seth was represented with a dog-like body, squared ears, a tufted tail, and a long snout. A number of real animals—such as the aardvark, fennec fox, jackal, and okapi—have been suggested as the basis for his form, but it is also possible that the animal is a mythical composite.