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