THE DEITIES GEB (god) - Geb was the god of the earth. His consort/wife was also his sister, the goddess of the sky, Nut. He is often represented as a man lying on his side with one arm bent. Very often his naked wife, Nut, is shown arched above him. Illustration of the god Geb, beneath his wife the arched goddess Nut. Courtesy of Sea at Atlantis and Ancient Civilizations at http://www.seapyramid.net/ Geb was sometimes coloured green or may have vegetation growing from him. He was responsible for vegetation as the god of the earth. His emblem was a white fronted goose, and he was sometimes depicted with this goose on his head, but in other representations he was shown wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. He was seen as a fertility god. In the depictions of Geb lying on his side beneath his wife, Nut, his erect phallus is sometimes shown pointing upwards towards her. He was also thought to imprison the buried dead within his body, which is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. Geb`s laughter was thought to be an earthquake. His cult centre was at Heliopolis, as he was a member of the Heliopolitan Ennead. ( see Atum for details of this). HAPI / HAPY (god) - Hapy was the god of the inundation of the Nile river. Usually Hapi was depicted as a bearded man with a pot belly, pendulous breasts and was wearing a headdress made from aquatic plants. Illustration of Hapi, tying together Upper and Lower Egypt. Courtesy of Sea at Atlantis and Ancient Civilizations at http://www.seapyramid.net/ The main cult centres for Hapi were at Gebel El-Silsila and Aswan. It was thought that Hapy lived in caverns amongst the First Cataracts rocks. HATHOR (goddess) - She was depicted in three different ways:- 1) A woman with cow`s ears 2) As a cow 3) A woman wearing a headdress of a wig, horns and a sun disc. An illustration of hathor with a cows head. Courtesy of NEFERCHICHI`S TOMB at http://www.neferchichi.com An illustration of Hathor. Courtesy of KING TUT ONE.COM at http://www.kingtutone.com/ Hathor was seen as the goddess of love, joy,and motherhood. She was a patron of all women and was thought to be especially protective of pregnant women. She was seen as the mother of the king. She was also a goddess of dancing and music and was often shown holding a sistrum ( a type of rattle). Hathor was also a fertility goddess and was associated with the Nile inundation. Hathor was known as the "lady of the West" or "lady of the western mountain". She was thought to receive the setting sun into her protection until the next morning when it would rise again. She was seen as the protector of the dying and would continue this protection in the underworld. Her main cult centre was Dendera, from the Old Kingdom (2686 - 2181 BC). There is a Ptolemaic temple dedicated to hathor, Horus and, their son, Ihy, standing there on the site of earlier temples. She also had a cult centre at Deir el-Bahri at Queen Hatshepsut`s Mortuary Temple. She was also thought to have healing properties, as she was said to have restored Horus` sight after his eye had been pulled out by his wicked uncle, the god Seth. There are a number of sanatoriums associated with temples dedicated to Hathor. Hathor`s wrathful form is the goddess, Sekhmet, and was known as the "eye of Ra". There is a legend of the "Eye of Ra". In this Ra felt that humans didn`t respect him anymore and decided to punish them, after consulting with other gods. Ra killed many humans by sending rays from his eye.Some humans survived as they had hidden, so Ra sent the "Eye of Ra", in the form of Hathor, to kill them. Hathor developed a lust for their blood and wanted to kill them all. Ra had a change of heart and tried to stop hathor from killing any more humans, as he only wanted to get their respect. To do this, Ra flooded the fields with beer, which was dyed red to make it look like blood. Hathor drank this and became very drunk and didn`t continue with her mission. HATMEHYT / HAT-MEHIT (goddess) - Hatmehyt was depicted as a fish, usually a Nile carp (Lepidotus) or a woman with a "Fish" emblem on her head. This fish emblem has sometimes wrongly been identified as a dolphin. She was worshipped throughout the delta and her main cult centre was at Mendes. Her importance appears to have been much less after her consort, the ram-god Amended, rose in importance. HAUHET (goddess) - She is a goddess of Infinity and a member of the Ogdoad. The Ogdoad was made up of four frog-gods and four snake goddesses. Each frog was paired with a snake. These eight deities are believed to have created the original Primeval Mound of creation. She was depicted as a snake and her main cult centre was a Hermopolis Magna.Her consort was the god, Heh. HEKET / HEQET (goddess)-Heket was depicted in the form of a frog. She is first identified in the "Pyramid Texts", when Heket is believed to help the deceased pharaoh in his journey to the sky. An illustration of Heket. Courtesy of NEFERCHICHI`S TOMB at http://www.neferchichi.com She was linked with pregnancy and childbirth. Heket has been seen on various objects, e.g., ivory clappers and daggers, depicted as protector to the household and pregnant women. Midwives were sometimes referred to as "servants of Heket". Heket was believed to "fashion" the child in the womb and give it life. She is shown receiving offerings from Sety I (1294 - 1279 BC) at his temple at Abydos. Heket`s main cult centre was at Qus where remains of a temple dedicated to her have been found. HERYSHEF (god)-He is normally depicted as a long-horned ram, wearing an Atef crown and sun disc headdress. He had his main cult centre at Herakleopolis Magna, near to modern Beni Suef, as early as the 1st dynasty (3100 - 2890 BC), which is attested to on the "Palermo Stone". The Palermo Stone. Courtesy of Ancient Egypt:history and chronology at:- http://www.narmer.pl/indexen.htm Heryshef was thought to be a "creator-god", who appeared from the sacred lakes` primeval waters. His name means, "he who is upon the lake". At various times Heryshef was associated with both the sun-god, Ra, hence the sun disc headdress and also with Osiris, hence the Atef crown. HORUS (god)- Also known as HAROERIS, HARPOCRATES, HARSOMTUS, HOREMAKHET,HARSIESE, RA-HORAKHTY. Horus is usually depicted as a falcon, hawk or a man with a falcon/hawk head. He was a god of the sky and also closely linked with the kings of Egypt. Horus was seen as a protector to the reigning pharaoh. Horus was thought to be the son of the goddess, Isis, and was often known as Harpocrates, where he was represented as a human boy with a "sidelock of youth" and a finger to his mouth. (Sidelock of youth - Egyptian boys were often shown with shaven heads with a single plaited sidelock of hair). He was sometimes shown sitting on his mother`s lap. Picture showing a granite statue of Horus at the Temple of Edfu, wearing the double crown of Egypt. Copyright of Diane Day. During the Late Period and Roman period (747 BC - Ad 395) the naked child-god Horus was depicted on a stele or amulet, known as a "cippus". Horus was shown standing on a crocodile and holding scorpions, snakes, lions and other animals in his arms. Water and other liquids were poured over these cippi, infusing them with the magic of the spells inscribed upon them, providing healing powers to counteract snake bites and scorpion stings. Harsiese, is the name that Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, is sometimes known by. He was the god who performed the "opening of the mouth" ceremony on Osiris, his deceased father. In doing this he legitimized his succession to the throne as the earthly ruler. This ritual was performed by priests and eldest sons of the deceased throughout Egyptian history and especially by the eldest son of the deceased king on his dead father. This ritual re-awakened the senses of the deceased ready for his/her life in the afterlife. In the form of the son of Osiris and Isis, Horus is linked with a number of myths concerning his battles with his wicked uncle, Seth, who murdered his father, Osiris. Horus of Behdet has him depicted as a winged sun-disc. Behdet was a town in the Delta region of Egypt. He was also honored at Abydos and especially at the temple of Edfu (ancient Mesen). Here he was part of a triad, his consort was Hathor and their son was Harsomtus. He was also worshipped at Hierakonopolis, ancient Nekhen (the "town of the hawk"). Picture shows Horus as a winged sun-disc on the facade of the Temple of Edfu. Copyright of Diane Day. As Horus was seen as a sky-god, his eyes were often thought to represent the sun and the moon. He was known as the "god of the east" and of the sunrise. It was in this form that he was known as "Horemakhet" (Horus in the Horizon) and also when merged with Ra, he became Ra-Horakhty. HU (god)- He is the power of the spoken word, divine utterance, and the voice of authority. His consort was Sia, the goddess of divine knowledge (the mind of the gods). These two travel with Ra in his solar barque and help to bring order to chaos.When the king died, Hu acted as a companion to him in the afterlife. Hu also enabled the deceased king to maintain his royal authority. Hu is represented as a man. He came into being as part of the creation myth of Heliopolis and was born from either a drop of blood or a tear from the sun-god, Ra. ISIS (goddess) - Isis was seen as the goddess representing the virtues of a wife and mother, in a similar manner to that of Hathor. She was the sister and wife of the god, Osiris, and mother to the god, Horus. As the pharaoh was seen as the human form of Horus, Isis was often thought of as the mother of the king. Her maternal role showed itself in her manifestations as the "great White Sow of Heliopolis" and the "Isis-cow", which gave birth to the Apis bull of Memphis. Isis was depicted as a woman on a throne, or with a solar disc between cow`s horns, on her head. The hieroglyph for Isis` name is the image of a throne.Isis was known as the daughter of the die ties Geb and Nut in Heliopolitan theology. As the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, Isis was worshipped as part of this triad at Abydos. Picture of a statue of Isis with the solar disc and cow horn headdress. With kind permission from Kings Royal Imports at http://www.kingsroyalimports.com/ There are numerous myths surrounding Isis` role as the wife of Osiris. One of the most famous is where Isis searches for the body of her husband, Osiris, who has been murdered by their brother, Seth. Isis is thought to have created the first mummy, when she mummified Osiris` body. She is also said to have "breathed life into him" using her wings. There are reliefs in the Temple of hathor at dendera, showing Isis hovering over Osiris` body in the form of a kite. In this act she magically conceives their son, Horus. Isis is sometimes depicted as a woman with large wings. She is often shown embracing the pharaoh in her protective role.Similar scenes of her embracing a deceased person are to be seen in private tombs. Isis was also thought to have medicinal skills and cunning. She was known as "Isis great in magic" and was thought to protect the young and would be prayed to especially if people were injured. Picture of a statue of Isis with the her outstretched wings. With kind permission from Kings Royal Imports at http://www.kingsroyalimports.com/ In another myth, the sun-god, Ra, suffered a snake bite and is offered to cure him in exchange for him telling her "his secret name". Ra told her this and she then became known as, "mistress of the gods who knows Ra by his own name". She gave Horus this information allowing him to obtain great powers. Isis was worshipped throughout the whole of Egypt, but her most famous cult centre is on the island of Philae, near Aswan. She was worshipped here into the 6th century AD, until the whole of Egypt was converted to Christianity. Isis` following spread outside of Egypt, to Syria, Palestine, Greece and throughout the Roman Empire. Temples were built in her honor in Rome itself.