1. While there are MANY, MANY, MANY Egyptian gods (polytheism), these are the main ones that you will constantly see in Egyptian artwork.

2. God of the dead, the underworld and the afterlife. Judged the dead in the afterlife. His green skin was said to symbolize rebirth. Father of Horus. Said to also control the flooding of the Nile.

3. Goddess of motherhood, magic, and fertility. Wife of Osiris (some accounts say they were also brother and sister. Mother of Horus. It is said that when the Nile floods it is her tears, crying over the death of Osiris (said to be murdered by his brother)

4. God of the King on Earth, the sky, protection, and war. Son of Osiris and Isis Depicted as a falcon, it is his protective eye that the pharaohs would draw in kohl on their eyes to symbolize that they were a god on earth. Eye of Horus symbolizes protection.

5. Goddess of the sky, love, nature, beauty, life, and music. Represented as a cow or with cow horns as the cow symbolized fertility, life, and nature. Wife of Horus, although some accounts say she is his mother. Said to be the daughter of Ra, the sun god. Greeks identified Hathor with the goddess Aphrodite and the Romans with Venus. Always holds the ankh… symbol of life.

6. God of burial, mummification, health and the protection of the dead. Depicted as a jackal as the jackal symbolized a scavenger who had the ability to uncover human bodies. Protector of the dead and tombs, so is present at the head of every funerary procession Is the sibling of Horus in some accounts… other accounts say he is the son of Ra the sun god

7. “Devourer of Bone” she was a demon who was part lion, hippo, and crocodile. Look at the picture and the text to the left. Does the Egyptian afterlife sound like similar to anything else you have heard of???? This detail scene from the Papyrus of Hunefer (ca. 1375 B.C.) shows Hunefer’s heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth, by the jackal-headed Anubis. The Ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result. If his heart is lighter than the feather, Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife. If not, he is eaten by the waiting Ammit. Vignettes such as these were a common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.