EGYPTIAN GODDESSES: Most prominent names

All the great cultures had interesting pantheons, with a large number of gods related to practically all aspects of life and nature. One of these important mythologies is the egyptian, serving as a basis for later cultures and at the same time drinking from the pantheons of other peoples. To know the importance of women in these myths, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the most prominent names of Egyptian goddesses.

Before going into talking about the most prominent names of the Egyptian goddesses, we must talk even briefly about the egyptian mythology, since it is important to know their main characteristics to understand the types of existing deities and their roles in the society of the ancient African state.

Egyptian mythology is one of the classical beliefs that more years remained, since we can speak of its existence from the predynastic stage until the arrival of Christianity and the prohibition of pagan religions by Justinian I.

The evolution of Egyptian mythology was huge due to the large number of years that it kept booming, but we can talk about

a number of common characteristics throughout all these centuries, some of these being the following:

• One of the main characteristics of Egyptian mythology was its belief in the life after death, there are many myths related to the subject.
• They were polytheists, with a rich pantheon that was adding gods over the years.
• It was common for Egyptian godswere half person and half animals.
• They believed in the maintenance of the soul after death.
• Some animals were sacred, due to her relationship with certain gods.
• The vast majority of gods had temples, although the vast majority of them have not reached our times.

To continue with this lesson we must talk about the main Egyptian goddesses, these being the ones with the greatest number of sources, due to their great relevance with respect to other goddesses.

Amunet

She is the personification of the north wind, which in Egyptian mythology was considered to bring life to the people. Being depicted as a snake she was spoken of as a protector goddess and as goddess of mystery in Egypt.

Bastet

Represented as a cat she was one of the most important goddesses, being both the protector of the home, of temples and love, as well as a warrior goddess in the Lower Egypt area, this being one of the examples of the duality existing in Egyptian mythology.

Hathor

Mother of Horus and Ra, goddess of the sky, mother of the pharaohs and gods who helped souls on their way to the afterlife. All of this made Hathor one of the greatest goddesses of Egypther, and at the same time she marked him a great duality between a vengeful side and another more related to the arts.

Isis

Woman of Osiris and mother of Horus, she shared many similarities with Hathor, fulfilling in many cases the same roles as her. The importance of her was so much that she remained during the Greek and Roman stage, being she one of the few gods who achieved such status.

Amentit

The goddess who she represented the necropolis of the Nile where the dead were welcomed. She is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, where she talks about her role in feeding the dead for their last journey.

Maat

Daughter of Ra was the goddess of truth and justice, was supposed to be the goddess who maintained harmony throughout the universe, doing a kind of justice that human beings were not even capable of understanding.

Mut

The equivalent of Hera in Egyptian mythology, she being the goddess of everything created, of the sky and the important city of Thebes. She was the wife of Amun, just as Hera was of Zeus.

Neith

Creator of menshe, feminine goddess of death and war, inventive goddess and wisdom. Her relationship with wisdom and war makes her counterpart the Greek goddess Athena.

Nut

According to Egyptian mythology Nut was the the very sky turned into a goddessher, at the same time that she was responsible for the creation of the entire universe. It is said that her union with the universe was such that her entire body was made up of the stars that we can see in the sky.

Sekhmet

The importance of this goddess was such that according to myths from her breath the desert appeared. She was the Egyptian goddess of war, healing, vengeance, power, and the protector of the pharaohs. For all this she was considered an invincible goddess and one of the most powerful deities in Egypt.

To conclude this lesson on the most prominent names of the Egyptian goddesses we must talk about some of the Egyptian deities that, although they are not as represented as those mentioned above, they are still important. Some of these goddesses are the following:

• Nun: The personification of the ocean.
• Ammit: The one in charge of eating the hearts of those who were not judged as fair in the Judgment of Osiris.
• Qebehut: A funerary goddess related to purification by water.
• You: Goddess of fertility and protector of pregnant women.
• Seshat: Goddess of books, writing and history in general.
• Renenutet: Goddess of food and harvest.
• Rattaui: The female version of the god Ra.
• Qadesh: Goddess of love and sexuality.