Transcript Calendar of the Gods Ancient Egypt Edition

Calendar of the Gods
Ancient Egypt Edition
By Claire Swanston
January: Amun-Re
Falcon form (Re)
Human form (Amun)
January: Amun-Re
Amun-Re is known by many different names throughout
Egypt, including Re, Ra, Amon-Ra, and Ra-Atum. He
was made from the synthesis of the sun god Re and the
god of Thebes, Amun. Re was seen as the most
powerful and the great Creator. He is the sun god, and is
very closely associated with Horus, because they are
both embodiments of the sun’s power, and are both
portrayed as falcon-headed men. In the Egyptian
creation myth, Amun-Re rose out of the darkness, which
was called Nun. He named Shu and Tefnut to create the
first winds and rains, he named Geb and Nut to create
the land and sky, he named Hapi to create the Nile River,
and then became the world’s first pharaoh.
February: Shu and Tefnut
Shu
Tefnut
February: Shu and Tefnut
Shu and Tefnut were the children of Re, or Amun-Re and
were also husband and wife. Shu was the god of heat
and dry air, and Tefnut was the goddess of moisture and
rain. Tefnut was depicted as a woman wearing the sun
disk encircled by two cobras, often with the head of a
lioness and Shu was depicted as a man wearing
feathers on his head, and he is often shown holding up
the sky, or his daughter Nut. The myth of the origin of
both Shu and Tefnut is disputed, but the most common
myth is that they were created from Amun-Re’s body
through masturbation.
March: Geb and Nut
Geb (the earth) lying under Nut (the sky)
March: Geb and Nut
Geb was the god of the earth, and Nut was the goddess
of the sky. They were husband and wife, and were also
siblings by Shu and Tefnut. Images of Geb show him as
a man wearing the crown of either Upper or Lower
Egypt, and Nut is shown as a woman with a vase of
water on her head. In images of them together, Nut is
shown bending in a semi-circle so that her hands and
feet touch the ground, and her husband Geb lies
beneath her. Nut is held above Geb by their father Shu,
which brought and end to chaos, and if he ever left his
position, this chaos would return.
April: Osiris
• Osiris as
god of the
underworld
(left)
• Osiris as
god of
fertility
(right)
April: Osiris
Osiris was the god of earth and vegetation, and his
death and miraculous rebirth by Isis symbolized the
yearly flooding of the Nile and the growth of the crops.
Osiris was also the King of the Afterlife and father to both
Horus and Anubis, by Isis and Nephthys respectively. He
was the first son of Geb and Nut, and was the pharaoh
on Earth after Geb abdicated until he was killed and
Horus took his position. Osiris was said to have been the
god who brought civilization to Egypt. Before Osiris,
Egyptians were barbarous cannibals, which disturbed
the god. He then taught the people what to eat, the art of
agriculture, how to worship the gods, and gave them
laws so that they may form a creat civilization.
May: Isis
Ma’at (left) and Isis (right)
May: Isis
Isis was the wife of Osiris, sister to Osisris, Seth, and
Nephthys, and the mother of Horus. Isis is often depicted
as a woman wearing a vulture head-dress and the sun
disk between a pair of horns. Isis was the goddess of
magic and was the most powerful goddess in Egypt. She
was portrayed as a loving wife and mother, who loved all
of the people in Egypt. When Isis’ husband Osiris was
killed by Seth, she searched tirelessly for the pieces of
his body so that he could be properly buried. Through
her magic, Isis brought Osiris back to life, so that he
could impregnate her with their son Horus.
June: Seth
June: Seth
Seth was depicted as a man with the head of an
imaginary animal with red hair and large ears, similar to
a donkey or an aardvark. Seth began as the benefactor
of Lower Egypt, but once Upper Egypt conquered Lower
Egypt, Seth became the evil enemy of Horus (the
benefactor of Upper Egypt). He is the god of storms and
the uninhabitable desert and he never had any children.
Seth is best known for the fratricide of his brother Osiris
due to jealousy over his power. He killed Osiris by
tricking him and sealing him inside a beautiful wooden
chest, which he dumped into the Nile. He later cut up his
brother’s body and scattered the pieces across Egypt,
which Isis was forced to retrieve.
July: Horus
July: Horus
Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris, and is usually
portrayed as a falcon, or a man with a falcon’s head. The
pharaoh of Egypt was seen as the earthly incarnation of
Horus. Horus was often regarded as a solar deity, due to
the pharaoh’s association and worship of the sun god
Re. When Horus went to claim his throne from the gods,
his jealous uncle Seth made his breath smell foul so that
the other gods would not listen to Horus. Then Horus
and Seth started a number of competitions to see who
was stronger. Neither prevailed, and eventually Osiris
intervened by threatening to send demons from the
underworld if Horus was not crowned king. In the end,
the gods relented and Horus became king.
August: Bastet
Bastet as a cat-woman
Bastet as a cat
August: Bastet
Bastet was most often depicted as a woman with the
head of a domesticated cat but she was portrayed a
lioness before 1000 BCE. As a cat, she was associated
with the moon, and as a lioness, she was associated
with the sun. Bastet was the daughter of Re, and was
the goddess of fire, cats, pregnant women, and the
home. Many cats were sacrificed and mummified to
worship Bastet over the course of the Egyptian
civilization. Bastet had two different personalities; docile
and aggressive. She was a docile goddess in the role of
the protector of women and the home, and was
aggressive in the accounts of the battles in which Bastet
was said to have slaughtered her victims.
September: Ma’at
September: Ma’at
Ma’at was the goddess of Egyptian law, order,
and truth and was the wife of Thoth. Ma’at was
always depicted wearing an ostrich feather in
her hair, and held the sceptre in one hand, and
the ankh in the other. The pharaohs of Egypt
had to live by the principles of Ma’at or chaos
may return to Egypt and the world would be
destroyed. In this way, the pharaohs believed it
their cosmic duty to rule by the laws of Ma’at.
When the dead were judged, it was the feather
of Ma’at that their hearts were weighed against
to determine whether they had lived a just life.
October: Thoth
October: Thoth
Thoth was the god of wisdom, learning, and the moon.
He was portrayed as an ibis, or more often, a man with
the head of an ibis. Thoth’s father is disputed; some say
he is the son of Seth, others that he is the son of AmunRE, and others say he was self-created. He invented
Egyptian intellectual pursuits such as medicine and
writing. His most important duty was when he weighed
the scales of the dead in the underworld which decided
whether their souls would be allowed into the
underworld. It is said that Thoth wrote a book, titled The
Book of Thoth, that if read, would bestow all the
knowledge in the world upon the reader.
November: Anubis
Anubis proceeding over the Weighing of the Heart
November: Anubis
Anubis was the son of son of Nephthys’ tryst with Osiris,
though it is disputed whether Nephthys got Osiris drunk
or disguised herself as Isis to seduce him. Anubis is
depicted as a man with the head of a black jackal.
Anubis was a god associated with the Egyptian
underworld and he monitered the Scales of Truth to
protect the dead from deception and eternal death. He
also supervised the embalming of bodies, performed the
Opening of the Mouth ceremony, and guided the dead
into the Field of Celestial Offerings. Anubis was the god
who embalmed Osiris after he died, and thereby created
the very first mummy.
December: Aton
Pharaoh Akhenaton’s family worshipping Aton
December: Aton
Aton was the sun god worshipped primarily by the
Pharaoh Akhenaton and the people of Egypt during his
reign. Aton was the spirit of the sun was depicted as the
sun disk with many rays ending in hands, which were
often extended towards the pharaoh. The god Aton was
at the center of the new religion created by Akhenaton, in
which Aton was the supreme, and only, god. There have
been few, if any, recorded myths about Aton found,
mainly because Aton was believed to be omnipotent, and
a singular god. This religion founded by Akhenaton was
not accepted by most of the Egyptian people and it was
very short lived, because the pharaohs following
Akhenaton desperately tried to erase Akhenaton’s work
and all mentions of Aton.
Works Cited
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
"Ancient Egypt: The Gods." Ancient Egypt: The Mythology. Egyptian Myths,
13 May 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
Leonard, Scott A. "Re." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 13
Mar. 2014.
Newman, Garfield. "Egypt and Israel." Echoes from the Past: World History
to the 16th Century. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 2001. 55-89.
Print.
Philip, Wilkinson. "Ancient Egypt." DK Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology.
New York: DK, 1998. 28-35. Print.
Ritner, Robert K. "Anubis." World Book Advanced. World Book,
2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Ritner, Robert K.. "Horus." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web.
11 Mar. 2014.
Ritner, Robert K. "Osiris." World Book Advanced. World Book,
2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Ritner, Robert K. "Seth." World Book Advanced. World Book,
2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Sweet, R. F. G. "Amun." World Book Advanced. World Book,
2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Sweet, R. F. G. "Isis." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 13
Mar. 2014.