Egyptian gods: the major deities, their spheres and their Greek names
The principal gods of Egypt — Ra, Amun, Ptah, Thoth, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set, Nephthys, Anubis, Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Maat, Geb and Nut — with the sphere each holds in the texts, the Greek name Herodotus or Plutarch gave them, and the passage of Herodotus, Plutarch or Budge behind each line.
Why this wins its question: Lists of Egyptian gods give one modern synthesis. This one gives, per god, which ancient witness says what — Herodotus's Greek name, Plutarch's narrative, and the Egyptian texts as Budge printed them — with the passage for each cell.
Key takeaways
- Three creators, three cities: Ra/Tem at Heliopolis, Ptah at Memphis, Thoth at Hermopolis, Amun at Thebes (Budge Lit. ch. VI) — 'king of the gods' depends on the temple.
- Herodotus's Greek names — Amun = Zeus, Osiris = Dionysus, Isis = Demeter, Horus = Apollo, Bastet = Artemis, Ptah = Hephaestus — are each a sentence in Book 2; Set = Typhon and Thoth = Hermes come from Plutarch.
- The Osirian family (Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, Horus) are the children of Geb and Nut; the murder, search and vengeance are told in Plutarch 13–19.
- The heart is weighed by Anubis and Thoth before Osiris and the Company of the gods (Budge Lit. ch. IV).
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Amun is Herodotus's Zeus: "the Egyptians call Zeus 'Amon'" (Hdt. 2.42.5), shown ram-headed because Zeus appeared to Heracles in a ram's fleece (Hdt. 2.42.3–4). Budge prints a Karnak stele headed "Amen-Ra, King of the Gods" (Budge Lit. ch. VIII) and names Amen the Thebans' creator (Budge Lit. ch. VI).
Ra is the sun and, at Heliopolis, the creator: "according to the Heliopolitans, Atem, or Tem, and at a later period Ra, was the Creator" (Budge Lit. ch. VI); a funerary hymn hails him "in the form of Khepera, Khepera the creator of the gods … crowned King of the Gods" (Budge Lit. ch. IV). Herodotus records "the festival of the sun at Heliopolis" (Hdt. 2.59.3).
Ptah of Memphis is Herodotus's "Hephaestus": he gathered his stories from "the priests of Hephaestus' temple at Memphis" (Hdt. 2.3.1), and the kings add courts to "the temple of Hephaestus" (Hdt. 2.101.2, 2.108.2, 2.121.1). Budge gives the Egyptian name: "according to Memphite theology he [the Creator] was Ptah" (Budge Lit. ch. VI), and the Papyrus of Ani invokes "Ptah-Seker-Tem" as creator of Memphis (Budge Lit. ch. IV).
Thoth is the scribe and judge: ibis-headed, "the author of Egyptian literature", who at the Great Judgment records "the weighing of the heart of the dead man in the Balance" and was "the righteous judge" (Budge Lit. ch. I); the Hermopolitans made him the Creator (Budge Lit. ch. VI). Plutarch calls the same god Hermes — the Hermopolis Isis is "the first of the Muses" (Plut. Is. 3), Hermes wins the five days at draughts (Plut. Is. 12) and pleads for Horus (Plut. Is. 19).
Geb and Nut, earth and sky, are the parents of the Osirian family: "Shu and Tefnut then united and they produced Keb, the Earth-god, and Nut, the Sky-goddess", and the next five gods were "Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys" (Budge Lit. ch. VI); the Pyramid Texts address Nut as mother of "thy son the Osiris Pepi" (Budge Lit. ch. II). Plutarch tells the same births under Greek names, as the children of "Rhea" on the five intercalated days (Plut. Is. 12).
Osiris is king of the dead and, to the Greeks, Dionysus: "Osiris, who they say is Dionysus" (Hdt. 2.42.2; 2.144.2); Plutarch says the Greeks identified him with Dionysus because he civilised the world with music (Plut. Is. 13). The Papyrus of Ani hails "Osiris Un-Nefer … king of eternity … Eldest son of the womb of Nut, begotten by Keb" (Budge Lit. ch. IV).
Isis is "Demeter in the Greek language" (Hdt. 2.59.2; 2.156.5), whose images are "in woman's form, horned like a cow" (Hdt. 2.41.2). She searches for Osiris's chest and body (Plut. Is. 14–18); Budge prints "The Legend of Ra and Isis", in which she learns Ra's secret name (Budge Lit. ch. VII), and notes that "Isis and Nephthys were the daughters of Keb and Nut" (Budge Lit. ch. III).
Horus is Apollo: "Osiris' son Horus, whom the Greeks call Apollo; he deposed Typhon, and was the last divine king of Egypt" (Hdt. 2.144.2); "in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus" (Hdt. 2.156.5). Plutarch has Osiris train him and Horus win the battle (Plut. Is. 19). Budge's "Legend of Horus of Behutet" ends with Horus spearing Set, while noting the editor "confounded Horus the ancient Sun-god with Horus, son of Isis" (Budge Lit. ch. VII).
Set is the god the Greek witnesses call Typhon: Herodotus's Horus "deposed Typhon" (Hdt. 2.144.2), Plutarch's Typhon shuts Osiris in the chest (Plut. Is. 13) and "is named Seth and Bebon and Smu" (Plut. Is. 62). Budge calls him Osiris's "twin-brother Set, the god of evil" (Budge Lit. ch. I), and the Pyramid Texts have Nut snatch Osiris "out of the hand of Set" (Budge Lit. ch. II).
Nephthys is the fourth of the Osirian siblings, born on the fifth of the intercalated days (Plut. Is. 12), mother of Anubis by Osiris (Plut. Is. 14, 44) and "the wife of Typhon" (Plut. Is. 38). Budge prints "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" over the dead Osiris (Budge Lit. ch. V).
Anubis presides over embalming and the balance: Budge calls him "a very ancient god who presided over embalming … a man with the head of a dog or jackal" (Budge Lit. ch. II), and in Chapter XXXB of the Book of the Dead the heart is weighed "by Anubis and Thoth, in the presence of the Great Company of the gods and Osiris" (Budge Lit. ch. IV). Plutarch makes him the dog-like guardian found by Isis (Plut. Is. 14), "a deity of the lower world as well as a god of Olympus" (Plut. Is. 44).
Hathor and Sekhmet are the Eye of Ra in "The Destruction of Mankind": Ra sends "his Eye (i.e. the goddess Hathor)" against the blasphemers, and "for three nights the goddess Hathor-Sekhmet waded about in the blood" (Budge Lit. ch. VII); elsewhere Sekhmet is "the Lady of the Plague" (Budge Lit. ch. X). Herodotus, without an Egyptian name, records "a temple of Aphrodite … of great sanctity" at Atarbechis, the town of the sacred cattle (Hdt. 2.41.5).
Bastet is Herodotus's Artemis: the chief festival is "in honor of Artemis at the town of Bubastis" (Hdt. 2.59.1), "Artemis [is] Bubastis" (Hdt. 2.156.5), and dead cats "are taken away to sacred buildings in the town of Bubastis, where they are embalmed and buried" (Hdt. 2.67.1).
Maat is truth and right order: in the funerary hymn "the goddess Maat embraceth thee at morn and at eve", "Thoth and the goddess Maat have laid down thy course" for Ra's boat, and the dead enter "the Hall of Truth" declared "a speaker of the truth" (Budge Lit. ch. IV, ch. V).
The Ennead is Budge's "Great Company of the Gods who dwell in the Great House of the Aged One … in Anu [Heliopolis]" (Budge Lit. ch. II), "the Nine Gods" of the historical texts (Budge Lit. ch. VIII), built in the creation story as Tem/Khepera → Shu and Tefnut → Keb and Nut → Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, Nephthys (Budge Lit. ch. VI).
Egyptian gods
Three kinds of witness stand behind this list. Herodotus (5th century BC) visited Egypt and wrote the gods down under Greek names. Plutarch (1st–2nd century AD) retold the Osiris myth, also under Greek names, with the Egyptian ones in asides. Budge printed translations of the Egyptian texts themselves — Pyramid Texts, Book of the Dead, temple legends — in which the gods carry their own names. The table binds each row to the passage that supports it.
The list
| God | Sphere (as the texts show it) | Greek name (per whom) | Passages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ra (Tem, Khepera) | sun, creator at Heliopolis, "King of the Gods" | — (Herodotus: "the sun") | Budge Lit. ch. IV, ch. VI; Hdt. 2.59.3 |
| Amun (Amen-Ra) | Theban creator, "King of the Gods", ram-headed | Zeus (Herodotus) | Hdt. 2.42.3–5; Budge Lit. ch. VI, VIII |
| Ptah | Memphite creator, craft | Hephaestus (Herodotus) | Hdt. 2.3.1, 2.101.2; Budge Lit. ch. IV, VI |
| Thoth | writing, wisdom, the balance, "righteous judge" | Hermes (Plutarch) | Budge Lit. ch. I, IV, VI; Plut. Is. 3, 12, 19 |
| Geb | earth, father of Osiris | "Cronus" (Plutarch's frame) | Budge Lit. ch. II, IV, VI; Plut. Is. 12 |
| Nut | sky, mother of Osiris | "Rhea" (Plutarch's frame) | Budge Lit. ch. II, VI; Plut. Is. 12 |
| Osiris | king of the dead, "lord of eternity" | Dionysus (Herodotus, Plutarch) | Hdt. 2.42.2, 2.144.2; Plut. Is. 13; Budge Lit. ch. IV |
| Isis | wife of Osiris, magic, the search | Demeter (Herodotus); Persephone, Athena (Plutarch) | Hdt. 2.41.2, 2.59.2; Plut. Is. 14–18, 27, 62; Budge Lit. ch. VII |
| Horus | kingship, avenger of Osiris, last divine king | Apollo (Herodotus) | Hdt. 2.144.2, 2.156.5; Plut. Is. 19; Budge Lit. ch. VII |
| Set | chaos, "the god of evil", killer of Osiris | Typhon (Herodotus, Plutarch) | Hdt. 2.144.2; Plut. Is. 13, 62; Budge Lit. ch. I, II |
| Nephthys | sister-wife of Set, mourner, mother of Anubis | "Finality" (Plutarch) | Plut. Is. 12, 14, 38, 44; Budge Lit. ch. V |
| Anubis | embalming, guardian, the balance | — (Plutarch: like Hecate) | Budge Lit. ch. II, IV; Plut. Is. 14, 44 |
| Hathor | Eye of Ra, cow-goddess | (Aphrodite's temple at Atarbechis, Herodotus) | Budge Lit. ch. VII; Hdt. 2.41.5 |
| Sekhmet | the Eye in fury, "Lady of the Plague" | — | Budge Lit. ch. VII, X |
| Bastet | cats, festival of Bubastis | Artemis (Herodotus) | Hdt. 2.59.1, 2.67.1, 2.156.5 |
| Maat | truth, right order | — | Budge Lit. ch. IV, V |
Reading the "king of the gods" column
There is no single answer. Budge's chapter on creation says each great town made its own god the maker of all: Tem and then Ra at Heliopolis, Ptah at Memphis, Thoth at Hermopolis, Amen at Thebes (Budge Lit. ch. VI). The Karnak stele calls Amen-Ra "King of the Gods" (Budge Lit. ch. VIII); the funerary hymn gives the title to Ra as Khepera (Budge Lit. ch. IV). Herodotus, writing from Thebes, made the Theban god his Zeus (Hdt. 2.42.5). An agent asked "who is the king of the Egyptian gods" should answer with the city.
The Osirian family
Budge's creation text runs: Shu and Tefnut "produced Keb, the Earth-god, and Nut, the Sky-goddess"; "the gods and goddesses next created were five, namely, Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Osiris married Isis, and their son was called Horus; Set married Nephthys" (Budge Lit. ch. VI). Plutarch tells the same births as five birthdays of "Rhea's" children — Osiris, Arueris (the elder Horus), Typhon, Isis, Nephthys — and then the murder in the chest, the search, the dismemberment and Horus's victory (Plut. Is. 12–19). Herodotus condenses the whole story into one clause: Horus "deposed Typhon" (Hdt. 2.144.2).
What the Greek names are and are not
Herodotus's equivalences are his own, made on the spot: Amun = Zeus, Osiris = Dionysus, Isis = Demeter, Horus = Apollo, Bubastis = Artemis, Ptah = Hephaestus. They tell us how a Greek traveller sorted the gods, not what the Egyptians thought. Plutarch's are more self-aware — he gives the Egyptian names Seth, Bebon and Smu beside Typhon (Plut. Is. 62). The full table with every passage is in the companion guide on Egyptian gods and their Greek names.