EGYPTIANmythology
Week 5ENG 107 / CC ENG 2
The Egyptian Creation Story
EGYPTIAN
GODS
RA• God of the Sun• King of the Gods• a falcon crowned
with a sun disk or a man with a falcon's head
• greatest of the gods
HATHOR / SEKHMET• the Goddess of love,
music, dance• cow horns and sundisk
on head• goddess of joy,
motherhood, and love• Had another side,
Sekhmet, goddess with lion’d head
NUT• The Sky Goddess• blue with golden
stars• married to the
King of the Gods, Ra, but she was in love with Geb
GEB
• the Earth God• colour of
plants and fertile Nile mud• the Earth, lying
beneath her
OSIRIS
• God of the Dead
• dressed in white with crook and flail and white crown
• Husband of Isis and Father of Horus
SETH
• Brother of Osiris• God of the desert, storm
and violence • animal head with long
curved pointed snout• carries a sceptre, which has
his head on top and his tail at the other end
HORUS• Son of Isis and Osiris• shown as a hawk, or a
man with a hawk's head and the crown of all Egypt
• crown is made of two parts. The white part is the crown of Upper Egypt (in the south) and the red part is the crown of Lower Egypt (including the Nile delta).
ISIS• Wife of Osiris and
Mother of Horus• Queen of Goddess • with a throne or sun disk
and horns on her head• a great healer and
magician• got her magic powers by
tricking Ra
THOTH• Husband of Ma'at• God of Wisdom, Time,
Writing and the Moon • head of an ibis• invented hieroglyphs• measurer of the earth and
the counter of the stars,• the keeper and recorder of
all knowledge
ANUBIS• God of
Embalming • head of jackal• invented
embalming to embalm Osiris, the first mummy
• guide of the dead
MA’AT• Wife of Thoth• Goddess of Justice • ostrich feather in her hair• helped at the Weighing of
the Heart• goddess of truth and
harmony
AMUN• God of Creation • crowned with ostrich
feathers• an important god, but
there are no stories about him
• sometimes spelled Ammon
• his sacred animal is a ram
BASTET
• Daughter of Ra • Proctectress of
Cats• Originally she had
the head of a lion• sometimes called
bast
The Story of Seth and Osiris
EGYPTIANMUMMIFICATION
MUMMIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT
A mummy, in terms of Ancient Egypt, is body that has been well preserved for thousands of
years. The process was long and tedious; however, essential for an Egyptian as it meant an existence in the Afterlife. The embalmers
went to great lengths to ensure their mummies were carefully anointed, wrapped,
and packaged—then they were carried to their tombs and laid to rest.
MUMMIFICATION• varied depending on the financial status of the
person being mummified and the time period of the mummy
• evolved throughout Ancient Egypt• According to Herodotus, there were three
methods of mummification that were broken up into classes; wealthy, middle, and poor. The wealthy citizens had the most lavish mummification performed while the middle class had a downgraded version of the wealthy. The poor citizens were done minimally—enough to preserve the body.
EARLY MUMMIFICATION PROCESS• Early mummification was simple. • The body was placed into a pit and the heat
from the desert quickly dehydrated moist flesh. This in turn preserved the body.
• As the Egyptians fine tuned the process they eventually started removing the internal organs such as the brain, intestine, and stomach. These organs quickly decomposed and were placed inside separate jars to avoid extreme damage to the body due to decomposition.
CURSE OF THE MUMMY• The curse of the mummy began when many terrible
events occurred after the discovery of King Tut's tomb.
• Legend has it that anyone who dared to open the tomb would suffer the wrath of the mummy. Because mummies have been associated with many magical powers throughout history, some of the mummies found from Egypt were ground into a fine powder and sold as mystical mummy powder.
• It's believed the powder had magical healing powers and it wasn't until the discovery of King Tut and the hype of the media that things would change forever.
PICTURES OF MUMMIES