Deity Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Egyptian==== {{Main|Ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian mythology|Ancient Egyptian religion}} [[File:La Tombe de Horemheb cropped.jpg|thumb|Egyptian tomb painting showing the gods [[Osiris]], [[Anubis]], and [[Horus]], who are among the major deities in ancient Egyptian religion<ref name="Pinch"/>]] [[Ancient Egypt]]ian culture revered numerous deities. Egyptian records and inscriptions list the names of many whose nature is unknown and make vague references to other unnamed deities.<ref name="Wilkinson1"/>{{rp|73}} [[Egyptology|Egyptologist]] [[James Peter Allen|James P. Allen]] estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts,<ref name="Allen">{{cite journal|last1=Allen|first1=James P.|author-link=James Peter Allen|title=Monotheism: The Egyptian Roots|journal=Archaeology Odyssey|date=Jul–Aug 1999|volume=2|issue=3|pages=44–54, 59}}</ref> whereas Christian Leitz offers an estimate of "thousands upon thousands" of Egyptian deities.<ref name="Johnston"/>{{rp|393–394}} Their terms for deities were ''nṯr'' (god), and feminine ''nṯrt'' (goddess);<ref name="Baines"/>{{rp|42}} however, these terms may also have applied to any being – spirits and deceased human beings, but not demons – who in some way were outside the sphere of everyday life.<ref name="Assmann"/>{{rp|216}}<ref name="Baines"/>{{rp|62}} Egyptian deities typically had an associated cult, role and mythologies.<ref name="Assmann"/>{{rp|7–8, 83}} Around 200 deities are prominent in the [[Pyramid Texts|Pyramid texts]] and ancient temples of Egypt, many [[Zoomorphism|zoomorphic]]. Among these, were ''Min'' (fertility god), ''Neith'' (creator goddess), ''Anubis'', ''Atum'', ''Bes'', ''Horus'', ''Isis'', ''Ra'', ''Meretseger'', ''Nut'', ''Osiris'', ''Shu'', ''Sia'' and ''Thoth''.<ref name="Pinch"/>{{rp|11–12}} Most Egyptian deities represented natural phenomenon, physical objects or social aspects of life, as hidden immanent forces within these phenomena.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=James P.|title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs|date=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-77483-3|pages=43–45}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Dunand|first1=Françoise|last2=Zivie-Coche|first2=Christiane|author-link=Françoise Dunand|last3=Lorton|first3=David|title=Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE|date=2004|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-8853-5|page=26}}</ref> The deity ''Shu'', for example represented air; the goddess ''Meretseger'' represented parts of the earth, and the god ''Sia'' represented the abstract powers of perception.<ref name="Hart"/>{{rp|91, 147}} Deities such as ''Ra'' and ''Osiris'' were associated with the judgement of the dead and their care during the afterlife.<ref name="Pinch"/>{{rp|26–28}} Major gods often had multiple roles and were involved in multiple phenomena.<ref name="Hart"/>{{rp|85–86}} The first written evidence of deities are from early 3rd millennium BCE, likely emerging from prehistoric beliefs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilkinson|first1=Toby A.H.|title=Early dynastic Egypt|date=1999|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-18633-9|pages=261–262|edition=1st}}</ref> However, deities became systematized and sophisticated after the formation of an Egyptian state under the [[Pharaoh]]s and their treatment as [[sacred king]]s who had exclusive rights to interact with the gods, in the later part of the 3rd millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Traunecker|first1=Claude|last2=Lorton|first2=David|title=The Gods of Egypt|date=2001|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-3834-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/godsofegypt00trau/page/29 29]|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/godsofegypt00trau/page/29}}</ref><ref name="Wilkinson1"/>{{rp|12–15}} Through the early centuries of the common era, as Egyptians interacted and traded with neighboring cultures, foreign deities were adopted and venerated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shafer|first1=Byron E.|last2=Baines|first2=John|last3=Lesko|first3=Leonard H.|last4=Silverman|first4=David P.|title=Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice |date=1991|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-9786-5|page=58}}</ref><ref name="Johnston"/>{{rp|160}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page