Friday, January 18, 2008

Ancient Egyptions Gods and Godesses (3)

A serpent goddess of the Delta, a symbol and protrectress of Lower Egypt, the counterpart of Nekhbet in Upper Egypt, worn as part of the king's crown.


The four sons of Horus were the protectors of the parts of the body of Osiris, and from this, became the protectors of the body of the deceased. They were: Amset, Hapi, Duamutef, and Qebhsenuef. They were protected in turn by the goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Selket. See also Amset, Duamutef, Hapi, Qebehsenuf.

The god of the earth, son of Shu and Tefnut, brother and husband of Nut, and father of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Sacred animal and symbol was the goose. He is generally represented as a man with green or black skin - the color of living things, and the color of the fertile Nile mud, respectively. It was said that Geb would hold imprisoned the souls of the wicked, that they might not ascend to heaven. Note Geb is masculine, contrasting with many other traditions of Earth being female.

One of the Four Sons of Horus, Hapi was represented as a mummified man with the head of a baboon. He was the protector of the lungs of the deceased, and was protected by the goddess Nephthys. The name Hapi, spelled with different hieroglyphs, in most but not all cases, is also the name of the god who was the personification of the River Nile, depicted as a corpulent man (fat signifying abundance) with a crown of lilies (Upper Nile) or papyrus plants (Lower Nile).
One of the most important deities of Egypt. As the Child, Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis, who, upon reaching adulthood, avenges his father's death, by defeating and castrating his evil uncle Set. He then became the divine prototype of the Pharaoh. As Heru-Ur, "Horus the Elder", he was the patron deity of Upper (Southern) Egypt from the earliest times; initially, viewed as the twin brother of Set (the patron of Lower Egypt), but he became the conqueror of Set c. 3100 B.C.E. when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and formed the unified kingdom of Egypt.
Perhaps the most important goddess of all Egyptian mythology, Isis assumed, during the course of Egyptian history, the attributes and functions of virtually every other important goddess in the land. Her most important functions, however, were those of motherhood, marital devotion, healing the sick, and the working of magical spells and charms. She was believed to be the most powerful magician in the universe, owing to the fact that she had learned the Secret Name of Ra from the god himself. She was the sister and wife of Osiris, sister of Set, and twin sister of Nephthys. She was the mother of Horus the Child (Harpocrates), and was the protective goddess of Horus's son Amset, protector of the liver of the deceased. Isis was responsible for protecting Horus from Set during his infancy; for helping Osiris to return to life; and for assisting her husband to rule in the land of the Dead. Her cult seems to have originally centered, like her husband's, at Abydos near the Delta in the North (Lower Egypt); she was adopted into the family of Ra early in Egyptian history by the priests of Heliopolis, but from the New Kingdom onwards (c. 1500 BC) her worship no longer had any particular identifiable center, and she became more or less universally worshiped, as her husband was.

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