Principle Deities of Ancient Egypt
The Two Most Renowned Gods in this Culture were Osiris and Thoth
Aug 7, 2008
The principle figure in theEgyptian pantheon is Osiris or As-ar. In dynastic times he is represented as the god of the dead and the under-world. He occupied the same position as Ra did in the land of the living.
His origins are obscure- we cannot glean from texts when or where he was first worshipped but the cult of Osiris is significantly older than any texts. Osiris dwells peacefully in the under-world judging the souls of the deceased as the appear before him.
Myth of Osiris
Osiris was the son of the sky goddess Nut and was a great and wise king of Egypt. But he had one enemy, his brother Set. Set conspired to kill Osiris and lured him to a great feast in his honour. During this feast, Set tricked Osiris into climbing into a coffin. Once he was inside Set sealed the coffin up and set it adrift on the river Nile.
When news reached his wife and sister Isis, she set out to find him. She found the chest by the shores of Byblos and returned to Egypt with his body. Meanwhile Set, while out hunting, discovered the empty coffin and in his rage he rent the body into fourteen pieces which he scattered throughout the country.
Upon learning this, Isis took a boat and journeyed once more in search of her husband's remains. Whenever Isis a portion of the corpse she buried it and built a shrine to mark the spot. When Horus, (Isis's son), reached manhood, he did battle with Set to avenge his parents. Horus and Set, it is said, still do battle with one another, yet victory has fallen to neither. When Horus has vanquished his enemy, Osiris will return to earth and reign once more as kind of Egypt.
Thoth
Thoth or Tehuti was a highly composite deity. He is alluded to as the counter of the stars, the measurer and enumerator of the earth;as being twice and thrice great, lord of books, sribe of the gods and as possessing knowledge of divine speech.
In general he was figured in human form with the head of an ibis, but sometimes he appears in the shape of the bird. Another form of Thoth is that of a dog-headed ape, which symbolizes his powers of equilibrium.
It is clear that Thoth was originally a moon-god. He is called the "great god" and "lord of heaven". To the early civilisations the moon was the great regulator of the seasons. As such there was the "seed moon", the "deer moon" the "harvest moon" etc.
It is, however, as the recorder of souls before Osiris, that Thoth was important in the eyes of the Egyptian priesthood. He held this office because of his knowledge of letters and his gift of knowing what was right. He had the power of dictating the way in which words should be correctly spoken. The mode of speech, the tone in which words were pronounced, spelt success of failure in both prayer and magical incantations. Through the words of Thoth the gates to the under-world were opened to the deceased.
Religion was fundamental to the Egyptian way of life. No two gods were more important than Osiris and Thoth, for it was through them that they were able to enter the under-world and live with the gods for eternity.
Sources
Spence, Lewis, Myths and Legends of Egypt, Tiger Books, Middlesex, 1998
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