Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
 

Bast
Other Names: Bastet, Ailuros

Patron of: the sun (originally), the moon (after the Greeks), cats, women, and secrets.

Appearance: A desert cat, or a woman with the head of a cat (this form possibly dates after the domestication of the Egyptian wild cat).

Description: Probably the most famous Egyptian goddess after Isis, Bast was said to be the daughter of Ra, though long after he created the primal gods. She was originally a sun goddess, but after contact with the Greeks, she changed to a moon goddess, probably due to the Greeks associating her with Artemis.

Like Artemis, Bast was a wild goddess. To those who were in her favor, she gave great blessings, but her wrath was legendary and she was sometimes listed as one of Ra's avenging deities who punish the sinful and the enemies of Egypt. This is of course in keeping with her totem animal, the cat. Cats were sacred to Bast, and to harm one was deemed a great transgression. Bast's importance in the Egyptian pantheon might be due to the great value placed on the domesticated cat by the Egyptians. Cats curtailed the spread of disease by killing vermin, and though the idea of microbes was unknown to the ancient Egyptians, they must have noticed the connection between rats and disease.
Her worship was widespread, and her cult apparently had a great deal of power. Bubastis was even the capital of Egypt for a time during the Late Period, and some pharaohs took her name in their king-names. Herodotus' description of her temple at Bubastis is that of a place of great splendor and beauty, rivaled only by the temples to Ra and Horus.

The temple was considered the dwelling house of the god, it was a miniature picture of the world at the moment of creation. The temple was conceived as the center of creation. This symbolic role of the temple was expressed in its location and design as well as the decoration of its walls and ceiling. The structure was separated from the outside world by a massive mud brick enclosure wall which symbolize the watery state of the cosmos at creation. Within this lay the main wall or the entrance wall, decorated with scenes of the king slaughtering his enemies. The pylon is the largest element in the temple symbolizing the hieroglyph of the horizon with its two massive columns and the gap between them. The orientation of the temple was always east-west, therefore the sun rises in the pylon gateway penetrating with its rays to the sanctuary (or shrine in which the statue of the god was kept) which is placed in axis. The sanctuary represent the mound of creation. Therefore in passing through the temple, toward the sanctuary, one goes through the various phases of creation. The hypostyle hall encompasses the decorative scheme of the whole. The hall with its columns represented the marsh of creation while the ceiling is decorated with reliefs of the sky. On the walls, the activity of the world is represented, and in terms of the temple the give and take relation between the king and the god is the core of the world activity. There was a consistent general pattern of temple building. This pattern ensured a gradual approach was made to the divinity. The arrangement consisted of a gradual move from light to shadow, with a rise in the ground floor and lowering of the ceiling. The temple's daily ritual was a dramatization of the god's daily life. The main services at dawn, midday, and night consisted of washing, anointment, adornment with clothing and feeding of the deity with offerings. The great festivals represented the god's social life when he was taken in procession to visit another deity in his house or received such a visit. These procedures stand in sharp contrast with the religious practices of the majority of the Egyptians. In each of the main temples the Pharoah was regarded symbolically as the high priest.

The temple was considered the dwelling house of the god, it was a miniature picture of the world at the moment of creation. The temple was conceived as the center of creation. This symbolic role of the temple was expressed in its location and design as well as the decoration of its walls and ceiling. The structure was separated from the outside world by a massive mud brick enclosure wall which symbolize the watery state of the cosmos at creation. Within this lay the main wall or the entrance wall, decorated with scenes of the king slaughtering his enemies. The pylon is the largest element in the temple symbolizing the hieroglyph of the horizon with its two massive columns and the gap between them. The orientation of the temple was always east-west, therefore the sun rises in the pylon gateway penetrating with its rays to the sanctuary (or shrine in which the statue of the god was kept) which is placed in axis. The sanctuary represent the mound of creation. Therefore in passing through the temple, toward the sanctuary, one goes through the various phases of creation. The hypostyle hall encompasses the decorative scheme of the whole. The hall with its columns represented the marsh of creation while the ceiling is decorated with reliefs of the sky. On the walls, the activity of the world is represented, and in terms of the temple the give and take relation between the king and the god is the core of the world activity. There was a consistent general pattern of temple building. This pattern ensured a gradual approach was made to the divinity. The arrangement consisted of a gradual move from light to shadow, with a rise in the ground floor and lowering of the ceiling. The temple's daily ritual was a dramatization of the god's daily life. The main services at dawn, midday, and night consisted of washing, anointment, adornment with clothing and feeding of the deity with offerings. The great festivals represented the god's social life when he was taken in procession to visit another deity in his house or received such a visit. These procedures stand in sharp contrast with the religious practices of the majority of the Egyptians. In each of the main temples the Pharoah was regarded symbolically as the high priest.

The temple was considered the dwelling house of the god, it was a miniature picture of the world at the moment of creation. The temple was conceived as the center of creation. This symbolic role of the temple was expressed in its location and design as well as the decoration of its walls and ceiling. The structure was separated from the outside world by a massive mud brick enclosure wall which symbolize the watery state of the cosmos at creation. Within this lay the main wall or the entrance wall, decorated with scenes of the king slaughtering his enemies. The pylon is the largest element in the temple symbolizing the hieroglyph of the horizon with its two massive columns and the gap between them. The orientation of the temple was always east-west, therefore the sun rises in the pylon gateway penetrating with its rays to the sanctuary (or shrine in which the statue of the god was kept) which is placed in axis. The sanctuary represent the mound of creation. Therefore in passing through the temple, toward the sanctuary, one goes through the various phases of creation. The hypostyle hall encompasses the decorative scheme of the whole. The hall with its columns represented the marsh of creation while the ceiling is decorated with reliefs of the sky. On the walls, the activity of the world is represented, and in terms of the temple the give and take relation between the king and the god is the core of the world activity. There was a consistent general pattern of temple building. This pattern ensured a gradual approach was made to the divinity. The arrangement consisted of a gradual move from light to shadow, with a rise in the ground floor and lowering of the ceiling. The temple's daily ritual was a dramatization of the god's daily life. The main services at dawn, midday, and night consisted of washing, anointment, adornment with clothing and feeding of the deity with offerings. The great festivals represented the god's social life when he was taken in procession to visit another deity in his house or received such a visit. These procedures stand in sharp contrast with the religious practices of the majority of the Egyptians. In each of the main temples the Pharoah was regarded symbolically as the high priest.




 
The Egyptian Gods


Amaunet - A female counterpart to Amon and one of the primordial gods of the Hermopolitian Ogdoad (group of eight gods).  An Egyptian mother goddess, called the "Hidden One". She is the personification of the life-bringing northern wind. She belongs to the Ogdoad of Hermopolis. Within this group of gods her consort is the god Amun. She is referred to as 'the mother who is father' and in this capacity she needs no husband. Amaunet was regarded as a tutelary deity of the Egyptian pharaohs and had a prominent part in their accession ceremonies. She is portrayed as a snake or a snake-head on which the crown of Lower Egypt rests.

Amentet - She took care of the dead and guided them to their new homes and supplied them with food and water. She personified the world beyond - "Land of the West" - Amenty. From her shelter in a tree at the desert edge she had a good view over the gates to the underworld. Her looks were of a woman with object on her head. A falcon, an ostrich feather and the sign for "west" . She was linked to the main goddesses an occationally she could have wings. Her parents were Horus and Hathor and she represented the setting sun.

Amon - Usually associated with the wind, or things hidden, and was also of the Hermopolitian Ogdoad. At Thebes he became Amon-Re, king of the gods. He was part of the Theban Triad, along with Mut and Khonsu.
 
Ammut - Ammut was a female demon from the Underworld who took care of punish- ment of sinners. She had a crocodile's head, a lion's mane, the front part of a leopard to rear of a hippo- potamus. All were very dangerous animals to people and feared by the Egyptians in all times. Ammut sat at the Osiris Court in the Underworld where the heart of the deceased was put on the scales against the feather of Ma'at. If it was heavy by sins, Ammut would swallow it at once and the soul became restless forever and this was called: "to die a second time". Thus one of her names was "The Devourer". She did not have a cult of her own (understandably), since she was a monster that people should fear if their deeds during life hadn't been by the rules of Maat - honest, fair and truthful.  
  
Anubis - A god who took care of the cemeteries and he was connected to the vast Osiris cult and became his son with the goddess Nephtys. Depicted as a jackal or a man with a jackal's head. He guided the deceased to the next life via the court of Osiris in the Underworld. He was the one who took care of embalmings and was the subject of the mortuary prayers in funerals.


Apis - Seen as the bull with a solar disk between its horns, Apis was associated with Osiris and Ptah. One bull was chosen from marks on its body and theologically he was considered to have been born by a virgin cow impregnated by the local creator god Ptah. The animal was well fed and all measures were taken for its well-being. As long as the Apis was well the livestock of the country was thought to be the same. After 25 years of priestly care it was ritually slaughtered by drowning and the search for a new one began. Parts of the bull were then eaten in a sacramental meal and the rest of the body was embalmed.
  

Atum - A primordial god that was represented in the form of a human and a serpent. He was the supreme god in the Heliopolitan Ennead (group of nine gods) and formed with Re to create Re-Atum. He could be seen in many forms, like a cat or an eel with a royal crown. His body was considered the parts of all physical matter and he was mostly seen as a man.
  
Bast - She protected pregnant women and was patroness for singing, music and dancing and thus very popular. She was seen as a woman with a cat's head, or just a sitting cat but originally wore a lioness' head. In depictions she can be seen as a cat with a mask of a lioness (with rounded ears) in her hand. Her festival was very popular since she also was protector of love, joy and pleasure.

Hathor - The goddess of love, dance and alcohol was depicted as a cow. At Thebes she was also the goddess of the dead. She was worshipped at Dendera as the consort of Horus and Edfu, and was associated with Isis at Byblos.  Wife to the sacred bull Buchis*. She and Horus protected the royal couple and she attended at the arrival of the dead king into the next world.
  
Hedjwer - The virility god Babi ("bull of the baboons") appeared and he stood for male dominance and also had a violent temper and could kill on sight. On his menu was human entrails. People protect themselves against him by spells but also made curses on others where Babi was the supposed executer. Funerals texts helped the dead to get his power in the afterlife. Baboons were symbols of Thoth, and his character attracted kings who through worshipping hoped they would gain a suitable personality of authority, manly strength and wit.

Horus - The  royal god was the shape of a falcon, with the sun and moon as his eyes. The sky-god was the ruler of the day. The many forms of Horus are; Re-Harakhti, Harsiesis, Haroeris, Harendotes, Khenti-irti, Khentekhtay (the crocodile-god), and Harmakhis, which is Horus on the horizons, in which the Sphinx of Giza is considered to be his aspect. He was the personal symbol of the local ruling pharaohs to whom he gave protection and courage. He defeated all evilness in the world (symbolically) by defeating Set who had killed his father Osiris. His twin sister was Bast


Isis - The mother of Horus and sister and consort of Osiris, stood for love, magic, motherhood, children, medicine and peace.People ask her to make marriages happy. She was the goddess with a throne upon her head and her name simply meant "seat". Like Hathor she could also wear the sun disc within two cow-horns and a cobra. Her parents were Nut and Geb, and she was sister to Osiris, Set and Nephtys. Her temples were found all over Egypt and her very popular worshipping was continued by the Greeks and Romans.

Khonsu - the moon god was the son of Amon and Mut. The main temple at Karnak is dedicated to him. He appeared in seven forms and was associated with the two gods Re and Thoth. His image was of a young man in a mummy dress with his head shaven and wearing a false black children's hair-curl and sometimes also a beard. He carried a crook, flail and a thick staff. He stood for healing and had the ability to help people in need and he was called upon whenever somebody got sick.
 
Maat - The goddess Maát stood for the good spiritual ideals and human behaviour. She was also the patroness of harmony, justice, truth and cosmic order. She had a roll in the funeral cult, and in the Osiris court of Justice she put her ostrich feather in the scale of balance with the heart of the deceased. If he had been living according to her norms the heart was light and he would pass, if not the heart was eaten up by the evil monster Ammut*. Máat was depicted as a woman, and in her hair she wore the feather of truth (its name was Máat). Sometimes she was kneeling with outstretched arms like wings.

Min - God of fertility and harvest coalesced with Amon and Horus. His special marks were two: an erected phallus and his arm lifted to a flail. He usually wore a white mummy suite or was just as an ordinary man and sometimes he wore two long plumes or the red royal crown of Lower Egypt. He was also protector for people travelling in the desert. In the spring people had a harvest festival to his honour and he was popular through all times.  

Mut - Worshipped at Thebes, she was a consort of Amon and part of the Theban Triad (group of three gods). The mythology about her moved to Heliopolis where she was said once to had changed from a goddess of the sky, into a cow. She was seen wearing the double crown on her head with a hair ornament like a lying golden vulture and sometimes she had a vulture's head.

Nut - Mother of the sun, moon and heavenly bodies. Wife (and sister) to Geb and mother to Horus the Elder, Set, Isis and Nephtys. Often depicted blue and covered with stars and stretched out like the arch of heaven and supported by her son Shu.  She had a vase on her head and could be the cow of the sky, or a sow eating up she stars in the morning and giving them birth in the evening. Every morning the gave birth to Re seen as sun disk above a bewinged scarab (Kheper). People asked her to protect their dead relatives. She was called: "She with a thousand souls".  

Osiris - He is regarded as the dead king that watches over the nether world and is rejuvenated in his son Horus. A symbol of eternal life. He was the chief judge in the court at the threshold to the next life, where all the dead citizens were trying to come through to Paradise. He always wore a mummy-dress and was brother to Isis, Hor, Set and Nephthys. His parents were Geb and Nut.

Ptah - He stood for good moral and order based upon the 4 Djed-pillars of stability, (seen in the upper part of his staff). In Heliopolis he was forming a "triad" with his wife Sekhmet and their son Nefertem. He was dressed in a white mummy-outfit.

Re - He was the sun god of Heliopolis. He was travelling over the sky in his boat every day with his life-giving sundisc. He stood for life, rebirth, children, health, virility etc, and the myths about him were several. In later times he got a wife called Ret, and she looked just like Hathor.

Serapis - He was mainly worshipped in Alexandria and was later worshipped by the Greeks as Zeus. He was never fully accepted by the Egyptians in the Ptolemaic period.

Sekhmet - She was part of the Memphite Triad with Ptah and Nefertem. She was the mistress of war and sickness and the popular fire-goddess, daughter of Re and associated with plagues and famines. Her husband was the old god Ptah. In some places she was considered to have healing functions. She and Hathor once almost wiped out all humanity when Re told her to punish all those who had forgotten him. She was shown as a woman with a head of a lioness and sometimes with the sun disc and/or a cobra ont top of her head. Herself, her husband and son Nefertem formed the "Triad of Heliopolis". She had power to destroy Egypt's enemies, killing them with the rays of the sun that she sometimes carried along.

Seth - The son of Geb and Nut in the Heliopolitan Ennead was in the form of an animal that has no zoological equivalent. This powerful god was regarded as god of the desert, making him a god of foreign lands, god of winds and storms and an evil spirit of destruction and disorder.  He had many forms: a pig like animal, a pig, a black hippo, a dog with an erected or arrow-like tail, a crocodile or a man with red hair and eyes wearing a red robe. He was also a god of love and war. He murdered his brother Osiris and was sentenced to pull Re's solar bark across the sky every day - forever.

Shu - He was an ancient cosmic power and was regarded as the god of the air and the bearer of heaven. He was often shown standing up supporting his mother sky goddess Nut as a vault over the whole horizon on the command of the sun god Re. Together with his twin sister Tefnut (humid warm air) he was a member of the old family in Heliopolis. Sometimes he was sitting on a throne wearing a crown with plumes and horns topped with a sun disc. Normally he was a man wearing a band with a feather but in some provinces he could also show himself as a lion.

Sobek - He was a crocodile god from Faiyum who was born from the watery chaos when the world was created. He symbolised the physical strength of the king, and was bodyguard for other colleagues protecting them from all evil. In some places he was equalled with the disorderly Set since the Egyptian feeling about crocodiles was ambivalent.

Thoth - He was the old god of wisdom, learning, fantasy, writing, wit, speaking and inventions. He recorded and as a baboon he checked (or "adjusted") the result at the "Balance of Truth" at the court of Osiris. He wore the head of an ibis-stork and carried his writing tools, was associated with the moon (on his head), protected physicians and knew of magic,  and was called "the Silent Being", an irony to his protection of spoken words.
  
Wadjet - She was the serpent mother who protected Lower Egypt (the delta in the north) and had possibly once come from a location just south of Tanis. New kings had to claim the throne from her at their coronation. She was associated with Hathor and had a minor roll in the Osiris myth and cult. The cobra was the symbol of Lower Egypt and she was sometimes seen with her Upper Egyptian counterpart, her sister the vulture goddess Nekhbet ("she from Nekheb"), the pair thus represented the two united states. She could also be seen as a cobra with the red crown or the sun disc upon her head and sometimes with wings.