Egyptian Gods and Goddess

Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs were the ancient kings of Egypt. Pharaohs were considered one of the more important of all the Egyptian gods. While a pharaoh was ruling, he took on the "incarnation" of the god Horus and the son of Re. Once the pharaoh died, he was identified with the god Osiris, the god of the underworld. The ancient Egyptian Pharaohs served as mediators between their people and the gods. That is why the cultural significance of the gods relied heavily upon the beliefs of the pharaoh who was ruling. It was believed that the fate of the nation lay strictly with the pharaoh. At one time, it was believed that only the Egyptian kings had the opportunity for eternal life. Eventually, this opportunity was opened up to all people - dependant on that person's character.

Egyptian gods represent over 50 separate deities, most of which date back to pre-dynastic times. The ancient tribes that made up the region worshiped their own particular gods, which were normally embodied by an animal. As Egyptian civilization advanced, the deities took on human characteristics. In many cases, the gods were depicted with human bodies, while retaining animal heads. By the beginning of the Old Kingdom Dynasty (3100 BC), a national religion developed out of the primitive tribal and local religions. However, ongoing changes in political power resulted in the changing status of Egyptian gods. Generally, as different cities or regions became politically dominant, their particular god also became dominant.

Many Egyptian gods find their origin in several of the Egyptian creation myths. These myths attempted to explain the Egyptians' place in the cosmos based on the observation of natural processes. This was particularly true for the flooding of the Nile. The flooding of the Nile was critical for Egyptian civilization. As a result, gods identified with nature became prevalent in the Egyptian creation myths. Some of the most common creation myths refer to Nu or Nun, describing the churning sea of chaos that existed before creation. Out of this chaos rose the egyptian sun god Ra. Ra then created deities that were both male and female. In turn, these deities gave birth to more deities, and the newly created deities were responsible for the creation of the physical world. Ra was also responsible for the creation of mankind. One creation myth refers to mankind being created from the tears of Ra.

The Egyptian gods were closely tied to the Egyptians' strong belief in life after death. The dead were provided food, drink, weapons and other necessities. Family members often visited the tombs with ongoing gifts. The proper care for the dead was required to ensure eternal life. The Egyptian view of life after death had several different concepts, the most important of which was referred to as "ba" -- loosely compared to the existence of an individual's soul. The concept of "ba" resulted in the physical manifestation of an individual after death. This manifestation usually took the form of a bird. In that way, the individual became part of the perennial life of nature.

Ancient Egyptian religion was an ever-changing mishmash of several Egyptian gods and tribal and regional traditions. As a result, there were several conflicting beliefs. There was no one set of unified teachings such as the Bible. The king (pharaoh) was entrusted to determine the will of the gods. Over time, these conflicts were reconciled and a trend towards monotheism developed. This trend reached its zenith during the reign of Amenhoteb IV when he established Aten as the only universal god. This concept went against thousands of years of Egyptian religious tradition. The one god concept ended soon after the death of one of his successors, Akhenaten. The worship of multiple gods was fully reinstated during the reign of a boy king named Tutankhaten (Tut). (Ironically, the discovery of King Tut's tomb became one of the greatest archeological finds in history.) There is little in ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that can be directly compared to present day religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. However, the concepts of divine creation and life after death are at least common themes. A prevailing thought is that Egyptian gods, like all gods and religious belief systems, developed as a result of mankind attempting to explain the physical world. Another thought is that all humans are born with the innate understanding of the existence of a sovereign Creator, and that many ancient religions sprouted as a result of this universal truth.

The ancient Egyptians believed in many different gods and goddesses. Each one with their own role to play in maintaining peace and harmony across the land. Look through a list of the most important Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Amun
Amun is the local god of Thebes. He is the god of the wind and air as well as being the chief of all gods. His worship was the strongest among all deities especially in the New Kingdom. Amun was important throughout the history of ancient Egypt. However, when Amun was combined with the sun god Ra he was even more powerful. He was then called Amun-Ra. A large and important temple was built at Thebes to honour Amun. Amun was self-created, according to later traditions; according to the older Theban traditions, Amun was created by Thoth as one of the eight primordial deities of creation (Amun, Amunet, Heq, Heqet, Nun, Naunet, Kau, Kauket).

Amunet
In Egyptian mythology, Amunet (also spelled Amonet, Amaunet, Amentet, Amentit, Imentet, Imentit, and Ament) was a deity having several different characteristics during the long history of the pantheon of Ancient Egypt. Of the name for primordial air meaning, (one who) is hidden, the female aspect is Amunet and the male aspect is Amun. As the deity became more significant, eventually both aspects of the abstract concept were depicted as independent deities and identified as a pair. As with all goddesses in the Ogdoad, Amunet was depicted either as an Egyptian cobra snake, or as a snake-headed woman. The male deities in the Ogdoad generally were depicted with the head of a frog. Amaunet was said to be the mother who is father, implying that she was a creator who needed no male to procreate, reproducing asexually through parthenogenesis. The Egyptians thought that animals without sexual dimorphism, such as snakes, were all female. As Amunet continued to be identified as the goddess of air, she sometimes was depicted as a winged goddess, or as a woman with a hawk, or ostrich feather, on her head. While continuing to represent the air and the invisible, Amunet was said to have become associated with Iah, the moon, and was depicted in association with the Moon on tombs, coffins, and sarcophaguses.

Amun - Ra
A combination of god Amun and god Ra. The name became popular when the worship of Amun spread to all over the country.

Anubis
Anubis is the god of the dead. He was associated with embalming of a dead man, and he plays a big role in a man's travel to the underworld. Anubis was the son of Nephthys. By some traditions, the father was Set; by others, Osiris. (And by still other traditions his mother was not Nephthys but Isis.) Anubis was depicted as a jackal, or as a jackal-headed man; in primitive times he was probably simply the jackal god. Probably because of the jackal's tendency to prowl around tombs, he became associated with the dead, and by the Old Kingdom, Anubis was worshipped as the inventor of embalming, who had embalmed the dead Osiris, thus helping preserve him in order to live again. His task became to glorify and preserve all the dead. Originally, in the Ogdoad system, he was god of the underworld. He was said to have a wife, Anput (who was really just his female aspect, her name being his with an additional feminine suffix: the t), who was depicted exactly the same, though feminine[citation needed]. He is also said to have taken to wife the feminine form of Neheb Kau, Nehebka, and Kebechet, the goddess of purification of body organs specially placed in canopic jars during mummification. Anubis was also worshipped under the form Wepwawet or Upuaut ("Opener of the Ways"), sometimes with a rabbit's head, who conducted the souls of the dead to their judgement, and who monitored the Scales of Truth to protect the dead from the second death in the underworld.

Apis
Apis is god of Memphis illustrated as bull, crowned with the sun disc and a uraeus/ehistory/glossary/index.htm. The bull itself was honored in celebrations after being chosen after recognizing some signs that indicate its sacredness.

Aten
Aten (or Aton) was the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra. He became the deity of the monotheistic - in fact, monistic - religion Atenism of Amenhotep IV, who took the name Akhenaten. The worship of Aten seemed to stop shortly after Akhenaten's death. In his poem "Hymn to Aten," Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, and giver of life. Aten was the life-giving force of light. The full title of Akhenaten's god was The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc. (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at Amarna, or "Akhetaten.") This lengthy name was often shortened to Ra-Horus-Aten or just Aten in many texts, but the god of Akhenaten raised to supremacy is considered a synthesis of very ancient gods viewed in a new and different way. The Aten, the sun-disk, first appears in texts dating to the 12th dynasty, in The Story of Sinuhe, where the deceased king is described as rising as god to the heavens and uniting with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker. During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was considered to be king of all), with his names drawn in a cartouche. There were two forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form has Re-Horakhti who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name Shu which is the Aten. The later form has Re, ruler of the two horizons who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light which is the Aten.

Bastet
In Egyptian mythology, Bast (also spelled Ubasti, Baset, and later Bastet) is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty. In the late dynasties, the priests of Amun began to call her Bastet, a repetitive and diminutive form after her role in the pantheon became diminished as Sekhmet, a similar lioness war deity, became more dominant in the unified culture of Lower and Upper Egypt. In the Middle Kingdom, the cat appeared as Bastet¹s sacred animal and after the New Kingdom she was depicted with a woman with a cat¹s head carrying a sacred rattle and a box or basket. Bast or Bastet was the cat goddess and local deity of the town of Bubastis or Per-Bast in Egyptian, where her cult was centered. Bubastis was named after her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lioness. Indeed, her name means (female) devourer.[citation needed] As protector, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra, who was a solar deity also, gaining her the titles Lady of Flame and Eye of Ra. The goddess Bast was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the other ¬ the aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget embellished with a lioness head. Bast was a goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later when she was changed into a cat goddess rather than a lion, she was changed to a goddess of the moon by Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization. In Greek mythology, Bast is also known as Aelurus.

Geb
Son of Shu and Tefnut, twin brother of Nut, husband of Nut, father of Osiris and Isis, Seth, Nephthys. Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. As a vegetation-god he was shown with green patches or plants on his body. As the Earth, he is often seen lying beneath the sky goddess Nut, leaning on one elbow, with a knee bent toward the sky, this is representive of the mountains and valleys of the Earth. Geb is usually represented in the form of a man who wears either the white crown to which is added the Atef crown, or a goose. The Goose was his sacred animal and symbol. As the God of Earth, the Earth formed his body and was called the "House of Geb," just as the air was called the "House of Shu," and the heaven the "house of Ra," Hence, he was also often portrayed laying on his side on the Earth, and was sometimes even painted green, with plants springing from his body. Earthquakes were believed to be the laughter of Geb. In hymns and other compositions he is often portrayed as the erpat, i.e., the hereditary, tribal chief of the gods, and he plays a very important part in the Book of the Dead. Therefore he is one of the gods who watch the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the Judgement Hall of Osiris. The righteous who were provided with the necessary words of power were able to make their escape from the earth but the wicked were held fast by Geb.

Hapi
This is the god of the Nile and river. Hapi is usually depicted as a man with developed female breasts as a symbol of abundance. Hapi was one of the Four sons of Horus depicted in funerary literature as protecting the throne of Osiris in the Underworld. Hapi is sometimes depicted as a baboon-headed mummified human on funerary furniture and especially the canopic jars that held the organs of the deceased. Hapi's jar held the lungs. Hapi was also the protector of the North. Hapi was assigned to a tutelary protective goddess Nephthys. Hapi was the personification of the Nile. He was believed to dwell in a great cave near the cataracts. There he was aided by a retinue of crocodile gods and frog goddesses, who ensured that the Nile ran cool and clear. Each year he would increase the Nile so that it flooded, depositing rich soil on the farmlands. He was worshipped throughout Egypt.

Haroeris
Horus the elder, a variation of Horus.

Hathour
Goddess of love, music and dancing . etc. Hathor is usually pictured as a cow or a woman with the sun disc between her horns. Sometimes she is considered an aspect of Isis
In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Egyptian for House of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow. Hathor was an ancient goddess, worshipped as a cow-deity from at least 2700 BC, during the 2nd dynasty, and possibly even by the Scorpion King. The name Hathor refers to the encirclement by her, in the form of the Milky Way, of the night sky and consequently of the god of the sky, Horus. She was originally seen as the daughter of Ra, the creator whose own cosmic birth was formalised as the Ogdoad cosmogeny.An alternate name for her, which persisted for 3,000 years, was Mehturt (also spelt Mehurt, Mehet-Weret, and Mehet-uret), meaning great flood, a direct reference to her being the milky way. The Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun god and the king, leading the Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky. Due to this, and the name mehturt, she was identified as responsible for the yearly inundation of the Nile. Another consequence of this name is that she was seen as a herald of imminent birth, as when the amniotic sac breaks and floods its waters, it is a medical indicator that the child is due to be born extremely soon. Hathor was also favored as a protector in desert regions. Some Egyptologists associate Hathor with artificial light as evidenced by what has been purported to be a representation of an electric lamp in a temple dedicated to her worship. Though other scholars believe the representation to be that of a lotus flower, spawning a snake within Hathor was worshipped in Canaan in the 11th century BC, which at that time was ruled by Egypt, at her holy city of Hazor, which the Old Testament claims was destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 11:13, 21).
The Greeks also loved Hathor and equated her with their own goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.

Horus
Horus is illustrated as a falcon or a falcon-headed man. He is the god protector and the deity of war. Horus is considered a manifestation of a living king. Horus is the god of the sky, and the son of Osiris, the creator (whose own birth was thought due to the Ogdoad). Horus became depicted as a falcon, or as a falcon-headed man, leading to Horus' name, (in Egyptian, Heru), which meant The distant one. Horus was also sometimes known as Nekheny (meaning falcon), although it has been proposed that Nekheny may have been another falcon-god, worshipped at Nekhen (city of the hawk), that became identified as Horus very early on. In this form, he was sometimes given the title Kemwer, meaning (the) great black (one), referring to the bird's color.

Identities
- Mekhenti-irry (He who has on his brow Two Eyes) - the sun and moon representing his eyes, on nights when there is no moon. In this form he was considered the god of the blind.
- Haroeris (Horus the Elder) An early form of Horus - God of light. His eyes represented the sun and moon. He was the brother of Osiris and Seth. Sometimes he was the son, or the husband of Hathor.
- Horus Behudety In the form of Horus of Edfu, he represented the midday sun. This Horus was worshipped in the western Delta and later, as his cult spread south into Upper Egypt, a cult center was established in Edfu. Horus of Edfu fights a great battle against Seth and an army of conspirators. He is pictured as a winged sun-disk or as a hawk headed lion.
- Ra-Harakhte (Horus of the two horizons) - He was identified with Ra and the daily voyage of the sun from horizon to horizon. The two deities combined to become Ra-Harakhte. He was represented as a falcon or a falcon-headed man wearing the solar disk and double crown or the uraeus and the atef crown.
- Harmakhet (Horus in the Horizon) In this form he represented the rising sun and was associated with Khepri. He was also considered to be the keeper of wisdom. He was sometimes pictured as a man with a falcon's head, or a falcon headed lion. But his most recognizable form is that of a sphinx, or as a ram-headed sphinx.
- Harsiesis (Horus son of Isis) This Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was conceived magically after the death of Osiris and brought up by Isis on a floating island in the marshes of Buto. The child was weak and in constant danger from the scheming of his wicked uncle Seth, who sent serpents andmonsters to attack him. But his mother, Isis was great in themagical arts and she warded off this evil by using a spellagainst creatures biting with their mouths and stinging withtheir tails, and the young Horus survived and grew.
- Harendotes (Horus the avenger of his father)
- Har-pa-Neb-Taui (Horus Lord of the Two Lands)
- Harpokrates (The infant Horus) As a child he represented the new born sun and was often pictured being suckled by Isis. he was usually represented as a seated child, sucking his thumb, his head was shaved except for the sidelock of youth. Even as a child, he wore the royal crown and uraeus.
As Horus was the son of Osiris, and god of the sky, he became closely associated with the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt (where Horus was worshipped), and became their patron. The association with the Pharaoh brought with it the idea that he was the son of Isis, in her original form, who was regarded as a deification of the Queen. It was said that after the world was created, Horus landed on a perch, known as the djeba, which literally translates as finger, in order to rest, which consequently became considered sacred. On some occasions, Horus was referred to as lord of the djeba (i.e. lord of the perch or lord of the finger), a form in which he was especially worshipped at Buto, known as Djebauti, meaning (ones) of the djeba (the reason for the plural is not understood, and may just have been a result of Epenthesis, or Paragoge). The form of Djebauti eventually became depicted as an heron, nevertheless continuing to rest on the sacred perch. Just as a precaution: a great deal of the following information is incorrect. For example, Isis has always been Horus' mother and never his wife. Osiris has always been Horus' father and Horus is not both Horus and Osiris. The relation between the story of Jesus and the story of Horus is the fact that Horus' story is the story of the REAL first immaculate conception.
The story goes as follows: Seth (brother of Osiris) was jealous of Osiris and fought him to the death. After he killed Osiris he cut his body up into 14 pieces and spread the pieces throughout Egypt. Isis (Osiris' wife) found out that her husband was killed and she searched egypt looking for his body parts. She found all but one (his penis) and using her magic she put his body together and buried him, during the process of putting him back together she became impregnated with her son Horus. She gave birth to Horus who became the god of the sky and later avenged his fathers death by killing his uncle Seth. 

Imhotep
The vizier and architect who built Djoser's step pyramid and deified as a physician god later
His name means 'The One Who Comes in Peace'. Imhotep was a vizier, wizard, and the first architect and physician known by name to written history. As the story goes, he was the son of Ptah, his mother was sometimes said to be Sekhmet, who was often said to be married to Ptah, since she was the patron of Upper Egypt. Imhotep also served as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. He was said to be a son of Ptah, his mother being a mortal named Khredu-ankh. He was revered as a genius and showered with titles.

The full list of titles is:
• Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt,
• First after the King of Upper Egypt,
• Administrator of the Great Palace,
• Hereditary nobleman,
• High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder,
• Sculptor and Maker of Vases in Chief

Isis
Isis is goddess of fertility and motherhood. She is the mother of Horus and wife of Osiris. Isis is always depicted wearing horns that bear the sun-disc in between. Isis was very popular in Greek and Roman eras and her cult. The island of Philae at Aswan was a strong center of her cult that survived to be the most recent Ancient Egyptian-related worship. Her name literally means female of throne, i.e. Queen of the throne. Her original headdress was an empty throne chair belonging to her murdered husband, Osiris. As the personification of the throne, she was an important source of the Pharaoh's power. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important sanctuaries were at Giza and at Behbeit El-Hagar in the Nile delta

Khnum
Khnum (Khenmew, Khnemu, Khenmu, Chnum), from the Egyptian 'unite', 'join' or 'build', was an ancient deity of fertility, water and the great potter who created children and their ka at their conception. He was mentioned in the pyramid texts and the pyramid builder Khufu's name was actually 'Khnum-Khufu' meaning 'Khnum is his Protector'. His cult was popular before the cult of Ra eclipsed it. The next pyramid builders were his son and grandson who added 'Ra' to their names - Khafra and Menkaura. Khnum was possibly even a predynastic god. The Egyptians believed that he was the guardian of the source of the Nile who was originally a Nile god, but who became a helper of Hapi. His role changed from river god to the one who made sure that the right amount of silt was released into the water during the inundation. In working with the silt, the very soil that the ancient Egyptian potters used, he became the great potter who not only molded men and women, but who molded the gods themselves and the world. He was depicted as a ram, ram-headed man or as a full male with the horns of a ram who wears a plumed white crown of Upper Egypt. In early times he was shown as the first domesticated ram, the Ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus, with long corkscrew horns growing horizontally outwards from his head. This species died out, though even so he was still depicted as that breed of sheep until much later in Egyptian history. Eventually he was shown as the Ovis platyra (the type of ram associated with Amen) with horns curving inward towards his face. Sometimes he was shown with four ram heads, aligning him with the sun god Ra, the air god Shu, the earth god Geb and Osiris, lord of the dead. In his four headed form, he was known as Sheft-hat. The Egyptians believed that the ram was a very potent animal, and thus Khnum was linked to fertility.

Khonso
Khonsu is the son of god Amun and goddess Mut. He is sometimes depicted as a child with a plait in his head, or a falcon-headed man.

Maat
Maat is depicted as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head, and sometimes with wings. Maat is associated with the judgement of the deceased; she weighs his heart. Maat or Mayet, thought to have been pronounced as was the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice who is sometimes personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation. Later, as a goddess in other traditions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth and their attributes are the same.
Like Thoth, she was seen to represent the Logos of Plato. After the rise of Ra they were depicted as guiding his Solar Barque, one on either side. After her role in creation and continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos, her primary role in Egyptian mythology dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld, Duat. Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully.

Mandulis (Merul)
Mandulis is a lion-headed god whose worship was limited to Nubia.

Min
The ithyphallic/ehistory/glossary/index.htm god of fertility, always depicted wearing plumed crown with a flail in his right hand and an erect penis. He is sometimes associated with God Amun.

Montu
The warrior-god always illustrated with a falcon head wearing double plumes and a sun disc. Montu was manifested in a bull called Buchis.

Mut
Goddess of sky usually depicted as a woman wearing a vulture headdress or the double crown of Egypt. Mut was also a wife to Amun and mother of Khonsu and Montu. Her theophany was the vulture.

Nut
Nut is also a sky goddess, usually depicted as a woman whose body is stretched over the earth, personified in Geb, her husband, the earth. Her body is full of stars in a magnificent manifestation of the sky.

Osiris
God of the dead and the judge of the netherworld and fertility in many occasions. Osiris is the husband of goddess Isis and father of god Horus. Horus is illustrated as a mummified man with plumed crown on his head.

Pakhet
She is lion goddess of the desert. She was associated with the Greek with their goddess Artemis, the virgin huntress, which reflects Pakhet's own features.

Petesouchos
One guise of God Sobek worshipped in locally in Fayoum, as his worship was centered there.

Pnepheros
Another guise of God Sobek worshipped in locally in Fayoum. -See Petesouchos and Soknopaios.

Ptah
God of Architects and builders. He always appears as a mummified man, with a scepter in his hands. Ptah is the creator of Memphis.

Ra
Ra, also called Re, is a supreme god in ancient Egypt. He is a sun god and chief deity of Heliopolis, always appear with a falcon head crowned with a solar disc with a uraeus attached to it.

Re-Harakhty
This is a combination between god Ra and Horus. Harakhty is one name of Horus, which means "Horus of the Horizon."

Reneutet (Termuthis)
The serpent goddess of harvest and happiness usually depicted as a serpent wearing horns containing the sun disc.

Satis
Goddess of fertility and inundation of the Nile. She is usually depicted as a woman wearing a conical crown with elaborated horns.

Serapis
Serapis is a combination of god Osiris and Apis, an invention created by Ptolemy I Soter I.

Seth
Seth is the evil brother of Isis and Osiris. He killed the latter and scattered his disassembled body all over Egypt. He is the god of deserts.

Sobek
Sobek is always represented as a crocodile or a crocodile-headed man. He is god of fertility and mightiness. Sobek is also the domestic god of Fayoum region. He was worshipped there in three guises as Petesouchos, Pnepheros and Soknopaios.

Soknopaios
A variation of God Sobek, the third form that was worshipped domestically in Fayoum. -See Petesouchos, Pnepheros

Thoth
Thoth is always depicted as an ibis-headed man. He is god of wisdom, healing and writing.
He was considered the heart and tongue of Ra as well as the means by which Ra's will was translated into speech. He has also been likened to the Logos of Plato and the mind of God (The All). Thoth, like many Egyptian gods and nobility, held many titles. Among these were "Scribe of Ma'at in the Company of the Gods," "Lord of Ma'at," "Lord of Divine Words," "Judge of the Two Combatant Gods," "Judge of the Rekhekhui, the pacifier of the Gods, who Dwelleth in Unnu, the Great God in the Temple of Abtiti," "Twice Great," "Thrice Great,"" and "Three Times Great, Great." Thoth has been involved in arbitration, magic, writing, science and the judging of the dead. In the Egyptian mythology, he has played many vital and prominent roles, including being one of the two deities (the other being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's boat. In the underworld, Duat, he appeared as an ape, A'an, the god of equilibrium, who reported when the scales weighing the deceased's heart against the feather, representing the principle of Ma'at, was exactly even.