Egyptian Mythology
Contents
RA
The King of Gods and Sun God
Hybrid of a man and a falcon's head
Ra was the greatest of the gods and he kept his power in his secret name, which only he knew. He had started to grow old, and sometimes he dribbled. Isis collected some of his saliva and made it into a snake. She hid the snake where Ra would walk. When Ra trod on it, it bit him, and Ra screamed in pain. All the gods gathered round, but none could heal him. Isis said "If you tell me your secret name, this will give me enough magic power to heal you." Ra didn't want to do this, but eventually the pain was so bad that he had to. Isis healed him, and ever since then she has the magic powers that Ra had.
HATHOR
Goddess of love, music and dance
Contained cow horns and sundisk on her head
Hathor was the goddess of joy, motherhood, and love.
She looked after all women.
She was the goddess of music and dancing
SEKHMET
Goddess of the Sun
Woman with a lion's head
Sekhmet was the destructive Sun Goddess
Egyptians knew that the Sun brought light but were also aware of the desert Sun which could kill people
Ra, the Sun God, was angry with mankind, because they laughed at him. He said that he'd send down his anger as Sekhmet, the Eye of Ra. She went down to Earth, killing men, and drinking their blood. She started to frighten Ra, who only wanted to punish Mankind, not destroy them all. So he dyed some beer red, to look like blood. When Sekhmet saw the beer, she was thristy for blood, so she drank it all, got drunk and went to sleep. When she woke up, Ra persuaded her to stop killing Mankind.
NUT AND GEB
Nut was the Goddess of the skies and Geb being the God of Earth
Nut is shown in blue with the Golden Stars
Geb contains the colour of plants and the fertile Nile mud
Nut and Geb are separated, but each evening Nut comes down to meet Geb and this causes darkness.
If storms came during the day, it was believed that Nut had come closer to the earth.
HORUS
Son of Osiris
A hawk or Man with hawk's head with the crown of Egypt
The Eye of Horus, healed by Thoth, was an amulet, or magic charm.