The Egyptian deities are a complex lot. Local worship of several deities spanned thousands of years before occasionally merging into nation-wide worship under different names or combinations of names. Depending upon the resource, the same goddess could be considered someone's mother, sister, daughter or wife -- so we left most intra-deity relationships out. This list is in not comprehensive and is meant to provide a very simple, basic background of some of the more commonly known Egyptian gods and goddesses.

· Amon/Amen · Mut · Khonsu/Khensu · Ra/Re/Khepera · Anubis/Ienpu

· Aten/Aton · Osiris/Wesir · Horus/Heru · Isis/Aset · Nephthys/Nebt-het · Hathor/Hethert

· Nut · Bast · Sekhmet · Set/Seth · Djehuty/Thoth

Amon or Amen
The god of wind, fertility and secrets. In combination with Ra (or Re), Amon later became Amon-Ra, king of the gods. He is part of the Triad of Thebes, along with Mut and Khonsu. He is occasionally depicted with the head of a ram.

Amon is the ultimate aristocrat in the Egyptian pantheon. He's also popular with the ladies -- in one myth he shows up to the pharaoh's mother in the guise of her husband and they have a "pleasant time" together. The result? Pharaoh Hatshepsut, one of the few female kings in antiquity.

Mut
She is a consort of Amon and part of the Triad of Thebes. Mut is the Egyptian equivalent of Hera, as wife of the pantheon's king, although Mut apparently does not share Hera's temper. She is depicted as a beautiful woman with the queen's vulture crown and the two crowns of Egypt on her head.

Khonsu or Khensu
The moon god and son of Amon and Mut. His name means "Traveller"; somewhat ironic, since he's usually shown wrapped up tight (like Ptah or Osiris). Maybe his parents don't want him getting into trouble? Seriously, though, the meaning of his name is probably associated with his moon traits (traveling through the sky). His appearance is that of a handsome young Egyptian prince with his youthful side-lock, regal beard, and the moon disk upon his head.

Ra or Re (and sometimes Khepera)
The sun god of Heliopolis. From the fifth Dynasty onwards he is combined with the deity Amon. As Khepera, he is shown with a scarab beetle in the place of his head. Ra himself is usually depicted with a falcon's head. Amon-Ra doesn't gain prominence until the Middle Kingdom, which starts around Dynasty 11. Ra rides around in a barq (boat) and gets attended by all the lion goddesses, who are usually his daughters or granddaughters (the Eyes of Ra): Sekhmet, Bast, Tefnut, Mut, etc. It appears that almost all single female deities are considered an "Eye of Ra" at some point. Ra also gets paired with Horus to form Ra-Horakthy or "Ra-Horus-of-the-Two-Horizons" in the Middle Kingdom, a deity with a red sun disk on his head who encompasses yesterday, tomorrow, and everything in between.

Anubis or Ienepu
The god of travelers, orphans, and those who are lost. He serves as the guide of the dead. His parents are anyone's guess -- in some stories they're Osiris and Isis, Osiris and Nephthys, Nephthys and Set, and so on. He is depicted as a man with the head of a jackal.

Aten or Aton
Aten is associated with the physical presence of the sun (as opposed to Ra or Amen, who are associated with the sun's powers of growth and life), similar to the distinction in Greek mythology between Helios and Apollo. He is also the god of mirrors. He is depicted as the sun disk.

Osiris or Wesir
The original ruler of men, Osiris was murdered by his brother Set and thus became the first man to die. Through Isis's magic, he returned to life, although he could not return to the land of the living and therefore sits in judgment of those who join him in the underworld. He is the god of death and resurrection. Osiris is shown as a green or mummified pharoah.

Horus or Heru
Horus is the patron of the rulers. Horus avenged the death of his father Osiris by battling Set and sending him into exile. Horus is represented as a falcon or a hawk-headed man, with the solar disk when depicted as Ra-Horus. The Greeks compare him to Apollo.

Isis or Aset
Over time, Isis gained many of the qualities originally belonging to other Egyptian deities. Her primary worship is related to motherhood and magical spells. She is a beautiful woman, occasionally with wings. Like her sister, Nephthys, Isis wears her hieroglyph (a throne -- also the meaning of her name) on her head.

Isis is the original single mom. Even in the stories from antiquity, she doesn't suffer fools gladly. She is very strongly associated with magic (one of her titles is "Great of Magic").

Nephthys or Nebt-het
Her name means "Mistress of the House or Castle." She was the consort of Set, but abandoned him when he murdered Osiris. At that time, she helped her sister Isis embalm Osiris's corpse, and stayed with her to protect the body until it was buried. Nephthys is sometimes referred to as the Friend of the Dead, and her hair is described as being like mummy wrappings (making Halloween the only day of the calendar when she isn't having a "bad hair day").

Hathor or Hethert
The goddess of love, dance, and alcohol is depicted as a cow with the sun disk set between her horns. Hathor is married to Horus and sometimes dons riot gear to become the vengeance goddess Sekhmet. She is also associated with the goddess Isis by the Greeks, who combined many of her myths into those of Isis.

Nut
Mother of the sun, moon and heavenly bodies. Nut is the wife of Geb. She is also the mother of Isis, Set, Osiris, Nephthys, and the other, older Horus, who were all born on the five days that are outside the year. In one set of myths she swallows Ra at night, and gives birth to him every morning. She is depicted as a woman with midnight-black skin covered in stars, arching herself over the earth.

Bast
The goddess of cats, vengeance, and protection. She is depicted as a maiden with the head of a cat or a lion. In the city of Bubastis, she is the mother of the lion god Mihos. Bast's face is found carved into shields and other devices meant to ward off evil. Where you might see Medusa's face on an aegis in Greece, in Egypt you would see Bast's face instead. The Greeks associated Bast with Artemis.

Sekhmet
She is the goddess of war and sickness, and of destruction and renewal. Her name means "powerful lady". Sekhmet is the surgeon's god. She's got a knife, and she knows how to use it. She fires arrows at the enemies of the kingdom and strikes down the transgressors of truth. Sekhmet is shown as a woman with the head of a lioness.

Set or Seth
Set is the god of chaos and individuality as well as of foreign lands. He also wields a righteous spear! He killed his brother Osiris and in punishment is exiled to the Sahara desert. He is depicted as a man with an unusually-shaped animal head; so unusual, in fact, that no one really knows what it is up there.

Djehuty or Thoth
The god of writing, mathematics and scholarship. He is depicted with either the head of an ibis or as a baboon wearing the moon crown. The Greeks consider him the Egyptian equivalent of Hermes, as Thoth also served as the messenger for the gods. Thoth's name means "Leader". He shows up in the afterlife to record what the deceased say when their heart is being measured by Anubis.