"Nearly every god of the earliest part of Egyptian history was visualized in the form of an animal, bird, or even an inanimate object. Thus Bastet, the local goddess of the town Bast (modern Tell Basta) in the eastern Delta, became associated with a lioness, the god Thoth of Khemenu (Hermopolic Magna, modern El-Ashmunein) with an ibis, Khnum of the first cataract region with a ram, the goddess Hathor, whose worship was known from several places, with a cow, and the god Sobek with a crocodile. The precise reasons for such associations are not clear, but natural logic seems to have influenced the choice. Thus, the cults of the bull were popular in the cattle-grazing area of the Delta, a crocodile cult was known from the marshy Faiiyum, etc. The god could adopt the form of an animal in order to become manifest, but this did not mean the animal itself was regarded as a deity."

"We can conjecture that each of the larger chiefdoms at the end of the Predynastic Period [5000/4500-2925 BC] was connected with a cult-center and a shrine or temple of the local deity. The fortunes of Egyptian gods waxed and waned with those of their home districts, and the development of relationships among deities went side by side with the creation of one state. The king of the unified Egypt identified himself with the god Horus of Nekhen, but the appearance of Seth of Nagada as well as the god Horus in the names of two kings of the late Second Dynasty [circa 2600-2658 BC] need not be a reflection of civil strife, because the relationship between politics and religion cannot be reduced to a simple equation. Almost all of the deities of later times were known during the earliest dynasties, usually in the forms of animals, birds, or fetishes."
     - Jaromir Malek, In the Shadow of the Pyramids

"Before the development of a structured cosmos there existed in darkness a limitless ocean of inert water. It was envisaged as the primeval being called Nu or Nun. No temples were ever built to honor it, but the nature of Nu is present in many cult sanctuaries in the form of the sacred lake which symbolizes the 'non-existence' before creation. In fact, this vast expanse of lifeless water never ceased to be and after creation was imagined to surround the celestial firmament guarding the sun, moon, stars and earth as well as the boundaries of the underworld. There was always a fear in the Egyptian mind that Nu would crash through the sky and drown the earth."
     - George Hart, Egyptian Myths

"Mounds will be cities and cities become mounds and mansion will destroy mansion."
     - Coffin Texts (Spell 1130)

"When this Götterdämmerung occurs the only survivors will be the gods Atum and Osiris in the form of snakes, 'unknown to mankind and unseen by other gods'."
"Atum, 'lord of Heliopolis' and 'lord to the limits of the sky', constitutes the demiurge, the creator of the world, who rose out of Nu at the beginning of time to create the elements of the universe. As the sun god, he self-developed into a being and stood on a raised mound, an image suggestive of the banks and islands that re-emerge after the season of the Nile inundation. This primeval mound became formalized as the Benben, a firm pyramidal elevation to support the sun god; the actual stone relic, perhaps regarded as the petrified semen of Atum, was alleged to survive in the Hewet-Benben (Mansion of the Benben) in Heliopolis."
     - George Hart, Egyptian Myths

The Sumerians also exerted an influence on the developing culture of early Egypt.

The First to Fifth Dynasties

"In Egypt, religion and worship of the gods began in Heliopolis, close by the Giza pyramids; its original Egyptian name was Annu (as the name of the ruler of Nibiru) and it is called On in the Bible: when Joseph was made viceroy over all of Egypt (Genesis chapter 41), the Pharaoh 'gave him Assenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the [high] priest of On, for a wife'. Its oldest shrine was dedicated to Ptah ('The Developer') who, according to Egyptian tradition, raised Egypt from under the waters of the Great Flood and made it habitable by extensive drainage and earthworks. Divine reign over Egypt was then transferred by Ptah to his son Ra ('The Bright One') who was also called Tem ('The Pure One'); and in a special shrine, also at Heliopolis, the Boat of Heaven of Ra, the conical Ben-Ben, could be seen by pilgrims once a year."
     - Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

"One of the peculiarities of Egyptian thinking was the notion of dualism, i.e., a totality consisting of two elements in harmonious opposition. The concept was founded in Egyptian geography as well as early history. The country lends itself to such an approach easily: the known world = The Black Land (Kemet) + The Red Land (Deshret, the desert); Egypt = the valley (Upper Egypt) + the Delta (Lower Egypt). Historically, the earliest towns in Upper Egypt, where the idea would have developed, were Nekhen and Nubt, the homes of the rival gods Horus and Seth."
     - Jaromir Malek, In the Shadow of the Pyramids

"...The first Dynasty of Egypt was founded by the Horu, a Hamitic people entering Egypt from the east to settle in and around Memphis, according to Petrie, with a written language, culture, social stratification and mythos of their own well in place at the time. Their standard of a Falcon on a pole, suggests an origin in the Seir, where these birds were first domesticated (the mountains which run from Jordan all the way down the east coast of the Red Sea to Yemen).
"These people were later invaded by the Seti (standard of the seti beast), also from the east, possibly invading up the Wadi Ham maat from the Red Sea and settling in and around Thebes."
     - Whittet (whittet@shore.net)

"In the Egyptian magical tradition the primeval state is chaos, and the great ocean is not the sea, but space. Frequently this chaos is characterized as a dragon. In the Egyptian mythologies it was Apepi or Apophis, the great primordial serpent whom lived in the waters of the celestial Nile - Eg: The Milky Way. In general Apepi is considered the dragon of chaos and destruction. However in essence Apepi is an early form of a light god who resided within the abyss before the creation of the worlds. For many years Ra (A Star) fought in battle against Apepi; and would always be victorious. Later however during one such struggle Ra became wounded and did not have the strength to hold back the forces of destruction against the world. In desperation he searched the gods to find warrior to assist him. The only god that Ra was able to find of suitable strength and courage was the jackal-god Suti. Today Suti is more widely known as Seth. Esoterically Set is spirit and the dry hot desert as well as the night. Originally Seth was regarded as a loving and caring god by the Egyptians and only later became seen as evil. The Chaldean form of Seth was Shaitan which became the Satan of the Hebrews. At this point it may be worth to consider that Ra (the Supreme God) required the assistance of Seth (Satan) to battle against an even older adversary. Thus the jackal-god and Ra both fought together against the might of Apepi, to hold at bay the forces of destruction. As said by Seth

"It was I who stood in the prow of the solar barque and vanquished all the enemies of Ra and cast them back into the abyss."

"Originally, in earliest times, Set was the patron deity of Lower (North) Egypt, and represented the fierce storms of the desert whom the Lower Egyptians sought to appease. However, when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and ushered in the First Dynasty, Set became known as the evil enemy of Horus (Upper Egypt's dynastic god). Set was the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys, and husband of the latter; according to some versions of the myths he is also father of Anubis.
"Set is best known for murdering his brother and attempting to kill his nephew Horus; Horus, however, managed to survive and grew up to avenge his father's death by establishing his rule over all Egypt and casting Set out into the lonely desert for all time.
"In the 19th Dynasty there began a resurgence of respect for Set, and he was seen as a great god once more, the god who benevolently restrained the forces of the desert; but this was short-lived and by around Dynasty 20 or 21 Set became once more dreaded as the god of evil."
     - Shawn C. Knight,"Egyptian Mythology FAQ"

"Much of the mythology known to us from later periods of Egyptian history must have already existed during the Old Kingdom. The myth of Seth's killing his brother Osiris, of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys' mourning over his body, and his eventual vindication by Horus, is already suggested in the Pyramid Texts."

"The earliest type of text commonly used in private tombs was the 'offering given by the king' (hetep-di-nisut) formula. It was a short prayer asking the god of the necropolis, at first Anubis, for a share of reversion offerings which where presented to him by the king, but gradually it grew into a more complex system of wishes."
"In the Fifty Dynasty [2465-2322 BC] autobiographical texts developed further to include episodes illustrating the tomb-owner's character and describe his memorable achievements....The concept of a moral evaluation was new, and perhaps the result of new religious ideas, particularly the increased importance of Osiris, which became widespread during the Fifth Dynasty."
     - Jaromir Malek, In the Shadow of the Pyramids

"The Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt provide the earliest evidence of man's quest for salvation. They reveal that about 2400 BC a complex soteriology connected with the divine kingship of the pharaohs had been established in Egypt. This soteriology was gradually developed in concept and ritual practice and was popularized; i.e., the original royal privilege was gradually extended to all of the classes of society, until by about 1400 BC it had become an elaborate mortuary cult through which all who could afford its cost could hope to partake of the salvation it offered. This salvation concerned three aspects of postmortem existence, as imagined by the ancient Egyptians, and, in the concept of Osiris, it involved the earliest instance of a saviour-god.
"An elaborate ritual of embalmment was designed to save the corpse from decomposition and restore its faculties so that it could live in a well-equipped tomb. This ritual imitated the acts that were believed to have been performed by the gods to preserve the body of Osiris, with whom the deceased was ritually assimilated.
"The next concern was to resurrect the embalmed body of the dead person, as Osiris had been resurrected to a new life after death. Having thus been saved from the consequences of death, the revivified dead had to undergo a judgment (presided over by Osiris) on the moral quality of his life on earth. In this ordeal, the deceased could be saved from an awful second death only by personal integrity. If he safely passed the test, he was declared maa kheru ("true of voice") and was admitted to the beatitude of the realm over which Osiris reigned."
     - Encyclopaedia Britannica

"The monumental building of pyramids had a profound effect on Egyptian society and its economy. Cult and later also temple establishments now became an important element in the country's life. Their economic dependence on the central authority was gradually lessening. When royal cult establishments began to play a role in the material support of officials of state administration in the mid-Fifth Dynasty, it was an indication that the balance of economic power, based on land-ownership, had shifted very significantly. From then on these establishments represented a major economic force in the land, and acted as the main clearing houses for the distribution of national produce."
"At first, the main beneficiaries of the king's favors were the religious centers near the capital, and it appears that it was only in the Fifth Dynasty that temples even in the provinces began to receive land donations which turned them into economically independent institutions....The king's greater interest in the shrines of local gods could have been the consequence of an earlier development. It seems that the official dogma concerning the king's relationship with the gods was re-defined and systematized during the Fourth Dynasty in order to make him part of a system with the creator sun-god Re (or, in a syncretized form, Re-Harakhti, 'Re-Horus of the Horizon') of Iunu (Heliopolis) at the head. The rise in importance of the sun-god lead to his recognition as the main state-god of the Old Kingdom, and the appearance of the name of the god in royal names and titles reflected it. The king, while still being called Horus, now became a 'son of the god Re'."

"The seeds of the decline of the Old Kingdom were already present at its birth, and the dynamics of the process were contained in the system itself. The gradual shift in the ownership of land from the central authority to cult and temple establishments, as well as to private tomb endowments, was undermining the very foundations on which the state stood. These changes were not affecting agricultural production, but, by weakening the royal authority, they were slowly preparing conditions for a return to a situation comparable to that before the creation of one state."
"The eventual disintegration of the political structure which emerged at the beginning of the Third Dynasty from the chrysalis of the Predynastic Period and the first dynasties, was then unavoidable. Pepy II's long reign contributed to the decline, and Egypt's inability to maintain its influence outside its borders were a symptom of the malaise. The worsening of climatic conditions, unfortunately, came at a time when Egyptian administration was no longer in a position to react, and so it delivered the decisive blown."
     - Jaromir Malek, In the Shadow of the Pyramids

Related Sites

The Egyptian Mythology Site Read about Egyptian gods and philosophy and the Papyrus of Ani - with pictures

Hyperlinks

·Egyptian & Old Testament Scriptural Correspondences
·Hebrew Peoples in Egypt
·Lovecraft's Necronomicon
·Osiris
·The Serpent in Mythology
·Ptah, the Universal Architect God
·The Mysteries of Sirius
·The Sons of Snakes