Name of Egyptian God	Function or Identity of Egyptian God
Amon	Primoridal creation deity; one of 8 gods of chaos; combined with the suprme solar deity, Ra, Amon-RA was the hidden power that created the gods.
Anubis	Embalming
Atum	One of 4 creation deities; caused the division of the sexes; as Ra-Atum, he represented the evening sun.
Bes	Music, dance, war, slaughter.
Duamutef	Protect deceased's stomach.
Geb	Earth and guide to heaven.
Hapi	Nile god.
Hapy	Protect deceased's lungs.
Horus	Many guises. Falcon-head. Sky god whose left eye was the moon amd whose right eye was the sun (depicted as an eye); king of Egypt.
Imsety	Protect deceased's liver.
Khensu	Moon god.
Khnemu, Khnum	One of 4 creator gods; potter who sculpted man and anumals and breathed life into them; water god.
Min	Fertility god who bestowed sexual powers on men.
Osiris	Earth and vegetation.
Ptah	Patron of craftsmen.
Qebehsenuef	Protect deceased's intestines.
Re	Sun
Seth	Lord of Lower Egypt & evil enemy of Horus
Shu	God of space & light between sky & earth; power over snakes; held ladder to heaven.
Sobek	Crocodile god.
Thoth	Wisdom & learning.

Egyptian cosmogonies were more about explaining the order of the world (personified as Ma'at), especially the rising of the sun and the flooding of the Nile, than the creation of mankind. The world would continue its orderly progression regardless of whether or not we mere mortals lived or died, although the kings and queens, as incarnations of the gods, counted, and religious rites symbolically helped maintain the order.

During the millennia during which ancient Egypt was a Mediterranean power to be reckoned with, different dynasties came to power, some African, some Asian, and later, the Greeks and Romans. One result of the long, heterogeneous history of Egyptian power is great variety in the myths of ancient Egypt. Tobin ["Mytho-Theology in Ancient Egypt," by Vincent Arieh Tobin. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt (1988)] says the different and seemingly conflicting creation myths were but different sets of symbols used to "articulate the same reality," rather than factual accounts of how the universe emerged. Two of the versions below have a sun god as the creator. A version not listed below, at Elephantine, has a potter as the creator god.

There were 3 main Egyptian creation myths, named for the gods and locations involved, which helped justify the political claims of these cities:

1. Hermopolis - The Hermopolitan Ogdoad,
2. Heliopolis - The Heliopolitan Ennead, and
3. Memphis - The Memphite Theology.

Other cities had their own cosmogonies that served to elevate the cities' status. Another major, but short-lived theology was the so-called monotheism of the Amarna period.

Here you'll find information related to the 3 main Egyptian creation myths and the major gods. Go to the hyper-linked articles for more information and the references.

Hermopolis on map of ancient Egypt, from The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography, by Samuel Butler, Ernest Rhys, editor (Suffolk, 1907, repr. 1908). Public Domain. Courtesy of Maps of Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and Neighboring Lands

1. Ogdoad of Hermopolis

The 8 gods of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad were mated pairs from a primordial chaos. Together they produced the world, but exactly what they produced varied with the telling, more so than the variation in the powers of the 8 chaotic deities. They may have produced a mass or an egg or the sun. Although the Ogdoad may not actually be the oldest Egyptian cosmology, the gods and goddesses of it, are thought to have produced gods and goddesses of the Ennead of Heliopolis. The Ogdoad of Hermopolis was the group of gods who created the world, or at least the sun, according to Egyptian mythology centered in Hermopolis Magna. The Ennead of Heliopolis is a contrasting grouping of 9 creating Heliopolitan gods. A third cosmogony is the Memphis Theology, which is centered on the god Ptah.

Since the Ogdoad of Hermopolis is an Ogdoad, there are 8 deities, in 4 pairs of males and females. Their functions may be described as chaos and generation, eternity, darkness, and moisture, or as invisibility, endlessness, obscurity, and water, all perhaps in a primeval watery chaos. The pairs are spelled out in English as Amun and Amaunet, Heh (Huh) and Hehet, Kek and Keket, and Nun and Naunet, although spelling varies. Sometimes in later representations, the male (the first in each pair) is depicted as frog-headed and the female with a snake head, all generated spontaneously from the Nile mud.

The Egyptian cosmogony that is based on the Ogdoad of Heliopolis evolved over time. One version is that from the original chaos, the 4 sets of gods were motivated to get together to produce the sun or a primordial mass (in Hermopolis, of course). This may have produced to a cosmic egg (sometimes a goose egg laid by the Great Cackler or an ibis egg from Thoth) from which hatched the sun god. Amun or Thoth is credited with stirring up the old gods to create the primordial mass. The Ogdoad then fades into the background or dies and lives in the Underworld. Even though the deities are, in a sense, retired, they still make the sun rise and the Nile flow. In another version, a lotus emerged from the waters, opened up, and revealed, again, the sun god. Thus the sun god is an essential feature for the creation of a world with living creatures.

The Ogdoad of Hermopolis provides a cosmogony without a tale of divine inter-generational fighting (theomachy).

Also Known As: Hermopolitan Ogdoad

Examples:

The Greek historian Herodotus says there were 12 gods in Egypt, but before them there were the 8. Griffiths says the Greek name for the city of Hermopolis is based on the connection the Greeks made between their god Hermes and the Egyptian Ibis god, Thoth.

Relevant passages from Herodotus History Book II are 43.4 and 145.1.

Since the Ogdoad of Hermopolis produced the sun (god), and the sun was the head of the Ennead at Heliopolis, it can be claimed that the Ogdoad of Hermopolis produced the Ennead.

Hermopolis

Hermopolis (Megale) is a Greek name for this important city of Upper Egypt. Hermopolis was the spot where the chaos gods brought forth life or the sun or whatever, and then later became an important city for the international set, with layers of temples from different religions, and cultural artifacts from the Greeks and Romans. More »The Ogdoad of Hermopolis was the group of gods who created the world, or at least the sun, according to Egyptian mythology centered inHermopolis Magna. The Ennead of Heliopolis is a contrasting grouping of 9 creating Heliopolitan gods. A third cosmogony is the Memphis Theology, which is centered on the god Ptah.

Since the Ogdoad of Hermopolis is an Ogdoad, there are 8 deities, in 4 pairs of males and females. Their functions may be described as chaos and generation, eternity, darkness, and moisture, or as invisibility, endlessness, obscurity, and water, all perhaps in a primeval watery chaos. The pairs are spelled out in English as Amun and Amaunet, Heh (Huh) and Hehet, Kek and Keket, and Nun and Naunet, although spelling varies. Sometimes in later representations, the male (the first in each pair) is depicted as frog-headed and the female with a snake head, all generated spontaneously from the Nile mud.

The Egyptian cosmogony that is based on the Ogdoad of Heliopolis evolved over time. One version is that from the original chaos, the 4 sets of gods were motivated to get together to produce the sun or a primordial mass (in Hermopolis, of course). This may have produced to a cosmic egg (sometimes a goose egg laid by the Great Cackler or an ibis egg from Thoth) from which hatched the sun god. Amun or Thoth is credited with stirring up the old gods to create the primordial mass. The Ogdoad then fades into the background or dies and lives in the Underworld. Even though the deities are, in a sense, retired, they still make the sun rise and the Nile flow. In another version, a lotus emerged from the waters, opened up, and revealed, again, the sun god. Thus the sun god is an essential feature for the creation of a world with living creatures.

The Ogdoad of Hermopolis provides a cosmogony without a tale of divine inter-generational fighting (theomachy).

The Greek historian Herodotus says there were 12 gods in Egypt, but before them there were the 8. Griffiths says the Greek name for the city of Hermopolis is based on the connection the Greeks made between their god Hermes and the Egyptian Ibis god, Thoth.

Relevant passages from Herodotus History Book II are 43.4 and 145.1.

Since the Ogdoad of Hermopolis produced the sun (god), and the sun was the head of the Ennead at Heliopolis, it can be claimed that the Ogdoad of Hermopolis produced the Ennead

Also Known As: Hermopolitan Ogdoad

Thoth. CC Flickr User gzayatz

Thoth

Thoth (or Amun) is credited with stirring up the old chaos gods to create the primordial mass. Thoth is described as a moon god, a cosmogenic god, a god of thunder and rain, a god of justice, and the patron of scribes. Thoth is also the Egyptian messenger god. More »

Basics on Thoth
Details on Thoth

Thoth was an Egyptian god who was worshiped throughout Egypt, but particularly atHermopolis Magna (near modern El‐Ashmunein), where he is connected with the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Thoth was, among other things, a god of the moon and the inventor of writing who announces and writes down the judgments about the dead. Hellenistic Greeks associated Thoth with Hermes , the messenger god, especially as Hermes Trismegistus (3-times great Hermes, which is based on an Egyptian epithet of Thoth calling him wr wr wr "great, great, great"). This Thoth is said to convey knowledge of the Underworld, of ethics, of Egyptian geography, and of mysteries.

Thoth was worshiped as can be seen in writing from 4th millennium B.C. pyramid texts through Roman period temple inscriptions.

Thoth and Egyptian Mythology:

The parents of Thoth are said to be the male homosexual pair or "two combatants" Horus and Seth. He is also described as the son of Ra (Re).

• After Osiris is killed, Thoth helps Horus and Anubis in putting him back together again.
• Thoth is credited with bringing a young Horus back to life after a fatal scorpion sting.
• He also helps Horus by finding his eye.
• After Horus decapitates Isis, Thoth reattaches the head.

Attributes of Thoth:

Thoth is usually shown with the head of an ibis bird. He may appear as an ibis. The baboon is one of his symbols and sometimes Thoth is shown as a dog-headed baboon. The curve of the beak of the Ibis may represent the crescent moon, which is another attribute of Thoth. He often carries a palette and pen. On Thoth's head may be the crescent moon and disk, the atef-crown, and the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Thoth is described as a moon god, a cosmogenic god, a god of thunder and rain, a god of justice, and the patron of scribes. Thoth is also the Egyptian messenger god.

Thoth and the Ogdoad of Hermopolis:

Thoth was connected with the Ogdoad of Hermopolis as a creator god.