godsandgoddessesofancientegypt.docVIP

Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt THE ENNEAD: Ra, Geb, Nut, Shu, Tefnut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephythys. These nine gods were the foremost deities of the Egyptian pantheon. They were the close family of Ra, the sun god, and formed a sort of protective dynasty about him. They were also called Great Ennead of Heliopolis. That city was for a long time the religious capital of Egypt. It was the city sacred to Ra. Below is a list of most of the Egyptian Mythical Gods and Goddesses. In truth - one soul played all of these roles - as well of those of the Pharaohs and Kings. AKER An earth-god also presiding over the juncture of the western and eastern horizons in the Underworld. The motif of Aker consists of the foreparts of two lions, or two human heads, juxtaposed so that they face away from each other. Aker opens the earths gate for the king to pass into the Underworld. He absorbs the poison from the body of anyone bitten by a snake and neutralizes the venom in the belly of a person who has swallowed an obnoxious fly. More importantly he imprisons the coils of the snake Apophis after being hacked to pieces by Isis. This idea of enclosure accounts for the socket holding the mast of the Underworld ferryboat being identified with Aker. In the Egyptian notion of the Underworld Akerr could provide along his back a secure passage for the sun-gods boat travelling from west to east during the hours of night. From the tomb of Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings, the massive tomb of Pedamenopet. (Dynasty XXVI) in el-Asasif necropolis at Thebes, and mythological papyri of the priesthood of Amun in Dynasty XXI, it is possible to reconstruct a Book of Aker, concerned with the solar journey from sunset to sunrise. A more threatening side to Aker can be detected when he pluralizes into the Akeru or earth-gods. In apotropaic passages in the Pyramid Texts the Akeru are said not to seize the monarch; later there is a general hope for everyone to escape the grasp of the eart