I’ve always been interested in mythology, but I think it’s lately become a hyper-fixation. To be more specific, I’ve been diving into Egyptian mythology; although, I wouldn’t call it diving into it right now- more like swimming in the shallow waters before getting into the deep end of it. Growing up, I loved movies such as “The Mummy”(1999) and “Gods of Egypt”(2016) and I’ve always enjoyed hearing about how a lot of the mythology deals with the afterlife and not just the various deities. It’s definitely worth doing far more research on, in my opinion. The reason I chose to research Egyptian mythology as opposed to something like Greek mythology is that I feel like Greek mythology is so popularized that everyone knows at least a little bit about it. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it’s interesting, but I like learning more about things that may not be so commonly known. I also view Greek mythology as more or less like a modern reality TV show with a lot of drama like that- as far as the gods and goddesses are concerned. There are a lot of lessons to be taken from Greek myths, for sure, just like many other kinds of myths.
In this post, I want to talk about some of the gods/goddesses I really like and am learning more things about. I hope you enjoy this as much as I like talking about it<3
(Sidenote: these are not in any particular order, there aren’t any that I like more than the others)
1.The Ennead
The way I understand it, the Ennead is possibly the most popular myth regarding the creation of the world- there are many Egyptian myths that talk about the creation of the world and Egypt. They are a group of nine ancient gods and goddesses that basically work together to make up everything regarding creation including life, death, the atmosphere, moisture in the environment, the sky, etc. Some of the gods and goddesses that are commonly known are part of the Ennead like Osiris(the god of the afterlife and fertility) and Isis(the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic). A few that I’ll list will be those in the Ennead because I really think they’re interesting.
2. Atum
According to a popular Egyptian myth, he is part of the Ennead and he created the world along with the other gods and goddesses. His direct children are Shu(the god of air) and Tefnut(goddess of moisture), and from them, the other gods came to be. He is depicted as a man wearing a double crown for Upper and Lower Egypt. He is associated with the evening sun, and it was believed that he traveled across the sky during the day and passed through the underworld at night before being reborn at dawn.
3. Bastet
Bastet is the goddess of cats, fertility, and childbirth; she is often associated with joy and dance. She is often depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, as shown in the picture above. She is mostly worshipped by Egyptians who own cats(cats are considered very sacred in ancient Egypt). She is believed to have the power to protect against evil spirits and diseases and her image is used as a kind of a good luck charm.
4. Hathor
Hathor is the goddess of love, joy, music, and beauty; she’s often linked to women, motherhood, and fertility. She is depicted as either with the head of a cow and the body of a woman, a woman with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc, or a cow with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc. She is thought to protect against illness and danger, much like Bastet. Egyptian queens are often portrayed with Hathor’s headdress. Hathor is the Egyptian version of Aphrodite- the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
5. Isis
One of my personal favorites(along with Ma’at, who I’ll talk about in another post, possibly) and one of the Ennead, Isis is the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic. She is the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus(god of the sky). She is often depicted as a woman with the hieroglyph for “throne” worn as a crown or with Hathor’s crown. She is believed to perform magic and heal the sick. In some myths, it’s said that the annual floods of the Nile are caused by Isis’ tears over her late husband Osiris.
Those are all that I’ll talk about in this post, and I’ll post a part two to this. There is a lot about the mythology that I find really interesting and I want to learn more about it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I did and I’ll see you guys next time. Much love<3
i definitely think egyptian mythology is much more interesting than greek mythology
People always talk about Greek mythology but I never really hear about the Egyptians as much, so this was very interesting to read.
Greek mythology is very interesting I enjoy hearing about it