The ancient Egyptian religion is a system of beliefs and rituals that were an integral part of the life of the ancient Egyptians. Their beliefs and rituals were based on the worship of gods and goddesses, representing natural phenomena and strength. The Egyptians made offerings to their deities, as they believed that this helps to maintain the divine order: truth, justice, harmony, morality. The pharaoh was considered the representative of the gods. He was empowered to oversee the maintenance of the divine order.
The characteristics of the Egyptian gods were expressed in myths and art. The gods had their own hierarchy and different relationships among themselves. The supreme deity, according to the Egyptians, was the creator of the world. It was believed that the gods are present in all spheres of human life, able to influence the course and order of things in human life. The relationship of people with their gods was a fundamental part of Egyptian society. They prayed, appealed to their action, asked for advice, performed rituals and offerings. According to Egyptologists (scientists who study ancient Egyptian history) had about 1,500 deities.
Major gods
Amon was presented in human form, sometimes with a ram's head. His name meant "hidden". He was the supreme deity, the god of the sun, the patron of the city of Thebes.
Apis was considered the god of fertility, depicted as a bull with a disk of the sun, the patron saint of Memphis. Of all the animal deities, the bull was the most respected.
Astarte - the goddess of fertility and love, symbolized feminine qualities.
Aten is the god who personified the solar disk. During the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, he was recognized as a single deity throughout Egypt. Also at this time it was forbidden to worship other gods.
Anubis is a god with a human body and the head of a jackal. It was believed that Anubis accompanied the dead to another world.
Geb is the son of the god of air, the god of earth. It was believed that water comes from this deity and all the plants that people need grow on it. He also protected people from snakes.
Horus is a god with a human body and a falcon's head, the patron of the sky and the sun.
Isis is the goddess of motherhood, one of the main goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon of gods. She was the patroness of slaves and the oppressed.
Osiris was the judge in the afterlife. He was a god natural forces And world of the dead. It was believed that it was Osiris who taught man the arts, agriculture and sciences.
Option 2
The ancient Egyptians worshiped a huge number of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Some of them were very similar to people; however, others consisted of human and animal parts. Therefore, some Egyptian gods looked like crocodiles, jackals, cats, rams, and even falcons.
The bodies of these ancient gods were always human, but their heads could be part of a bird and an animal.
Although most religions now worship only one god, the ancient Egyptians worshiped many gods. This phenomenon is called polytheism.
The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians were based on an extraordinary number of ancient Egyptian gods and Egyptian goddesses. Characteristics and appearance some of the ancient deities closely resembled humans. However, some of the deities were perceived as "human hybrids", taking the form and characteristics of animals such as the crocodile, jackal, falcon. The bodies of these ancient deities were human, but their heads looked the same as those of birds or animals.
Major ancientegyptian gods
Ra was the sun god and head of the ancient Egyptian divine pantheon. Ra was depicted as a man with a hawk's head and a headdress in the form of a solar disk. At some point, Ra was combined with another god, Amon, to create an even more powerful god, Amon-Ra. It was one of the first religious reforms in the history of human civilization, when Pharaoh Amenhotep decided to abolish the entire pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods and worship only the god Amun-Ra. It was believed that Ra created all forms of life and was the supreme ruler of the gods.
Osiris was also one of the main ancient deities whose role was in guiding the underworld. He was the judge of the dead.
Set was the personification of Egyptian evil and darkness. This god was the most terrible among the ancient Egyptian gods, since he killed his brother Osiris.
ancient egyptian goddess Isis, the mother goddess, was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus, who assisted in the resurrection of Osiris.
One of the most famous deities, the patron of the animal kingdom, was the half-ibis god That. He also patronized scribes, writers and scholars and inventors of hieroglyphs.
Anubis, the god of the jackal, was perhaps one of the most famous ancient deities, as he was the god of the dead, in charge of tombs and embalming.
Another of the famous half-animal demigods was the god of strength and power. Sobek, half crocodile.
Magic surrounded the Egyptian gods, and Hake He was the god of magic and medicine. Heka was the son Khnuma, god of fertility.
The scarab was a significant symbol in ancient Egypt, and one of the deities Khepri, was depicted with the head of a scarab.
Many pharaohs built big temples in honor of the gods, whom they considered their patrons. These temples had large statues of deities and the pharaoh, gardens, altars and places of worship. Each city had temples to the patron gods of that particular city.
Some famous temples include the Temple of Luxor, the Temple of Isis at Philae, the Temple of Horus and Edfu, the Temples of Ramsey and Nefertiti at Abu Simbel, and the Temple of Amun at Karnak.
The ancient Egyptians considered the pharaoh their main intermediary between them and the gods. The pharaoh was considered more important than the priests in the temples. At the same time, people believed that the pharaoh was so closely associated with the god Horus that he could sometimes take his form. Later, the pharaohs approved the belief among the people, according to which they are the children of the gods.
The ancient Egyptians believed that there was an afterlife after death. They thought that people had two important parts of the soul and body: "ka" or life force, which represented the body, and "ba", which was more like the soul. If “ka” and “ba” could be combined in the afterlife, then a person will exist in afterlife. A key component of this was the preservation of the body for the afterlife. This is why the Egyptians used embalming or mummification to preserve the dead. But it was not a cheap pleasure and only wealthy people could afford it. To preserve their embalmed body, the pharaohs erected huge pyramid tombs. Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops is the only one preserved in modern world wonder of the world.
The ancients lived in close connection with nature. Not surprisingly, the life-giving Sun was the central object of their worship. In the cults of different parts of the world, the solar gods were deeply revered and exalted. They were coaxed with offerings, holidays were held in their honor and they were asked for patronage.
God Ra - protector from the forces of darkness
In Egyptian myths, the sun god Ra is the father and ruler of the world. During the day, sailing along the heavenly Nile, Ra carefully sends his warmth to the earth. And with the advent of night, he goes to the underworld, where he fights against the advancing darkness, illuminating the underworld. All night Ra fights against the forces of darkness. In the underworld, he meets his main enemy - the serpent Apophis, who is trying to swallow the Sun so that the world plunges into eternal darkness. By morning, Ra kills Apophis, and with it dawn comes.
God Ra sails on his boat across the heavenly Ocean of the goddess Nut
world creation
According to myths, the god Amon-Ra, as he was also called during the New Kingdom, has always existed. Long before the creation of the world, he lived in the space of the ocean Nun, which the ancient Egyptians likened to an egg. The god of the Sun marked his exit beyond Nun with an act of creation.
According to the myth, the god Amon-Ra came out of the abyss of Nun and created the world with his will alone. Then he created wind and moisture from himself, and from them came the earth and sky. So four elements appeared in the images of two divine couples: Shu and Tefnut, Hebe and Nut. It was believed that the god Amon-Ra and his descendants were the first pharaohs of Egypt.
Earth god Geb (bottom) and sky goddess Nut (top). Papyrus.
Symbolic image of Ra
The sun god Ra was depicted with a falcon's head crowned with a red disk. In one hand he holds an ankh, an Egyptian cross symbolizing eternal life and rebirth; in the other - a scepter - a symbol of divine power. Also in the mythology of Egypt, Ra sometimes takes the form of a phoenix rising from the ashes. Like fiery bird, in the evening Ra fades away in the west, in order to be reborn in the east in the morning.
The solar disk above the head of the god Ra is his fiery Eye of retribution. The Eye of Ra protects him from numerous enemies and subjugates the recalcitrant to his will. The eye of Ra is also the personification of the destructive side of fire and a reminder of the dual nature of things. The creative power of light can turn into scorching rays of heat. And what was previously the source of life will become the cause of death.
Once, when the god Ra was already very old, people stopped obeying him. And angry with the people, he turned his sunny Eye into the ferocious lioness Sekhmet. In the name of retribution, Sekhmet began to destroy everything in her path in a rage, beating and killing people. Seeing this, Ra was horrified and decided to stop Sekhmet by tricking her into drinking beer dyed the color of blood.
Bas-relief depicting Isis (right) and Sekhmet (left)
The sun god Ra appears in ancient myths in the form of his various incarnations. Ra Himself is the daytime Sun. The evening Sun was called Atum, which also corresponds to the name of the more archaic god Atum, who was popular in earlier Egyptian times. The morning sun was called Khepri, which means "scarab" - ancient symbol rebirth. And in the fight with the serpent Apophis, the god Ra fights in the form of a fiery red cat.
The god Ra in the form of a cat defeats the serpent Apep (on the right). papyrus ani
Departure of the god Ra from the human world
According to the myths of ancient Egypt, upset by the disobedience of people, the sun god Ra decided to leave the earthly world. Upon learning of this, people repented and came to see Ra off. They gave him the word to fight against his enemies and honor his memory. After that, Ra climbed onto the back of the Heavenly Cow to continue to rule the world from there. And earthly power passed into the hands of his children.
- Even if the great space distinguished them…”
Subject: "Gods in Ancient Greece».
Cause, which served to write the work, was the desire to acquaint others with the ancient Greek gods - the main personifications of nature.
Relevance this topic has disappeared in our days, only a few of us are interested in the gods of this ancient culture.
aim The abstract is to show the essence of famous gods and prove that these mythical creatures can be interesting.
Object of study- Ancient Greek gods. These creatures can be called the embodiment of the forces of nature and the guardians of the ancient sciences and arts. They are the defenders of harmony and law in nature, punishing people for their misdeeds and sins.
Tasks:
- To uncover characteristics of gods and goddesses.
trace powerful forces present in the images of the supernatural beings in question.
Define the role of the gods in human life and the whole world.
Myth
What is a myth? In the "school understanding" - these are, first of all, ancient, biblical and other old "tales" about the creation of the world and man, as well as stories about the deeds of the ancient, mainly Greek and Roman gods and heroes - poetic, naive, often bizarre. The very word "myth" is Greek and means tradition, legend. Until the 19th century in Europe, only ancient myths were most common - the stories of the ancient Greeks and Romans about their gods, heroes and other fantastic creatures. Especially widely the names of ancient gods and heroes and stories about them became known from the Renaissance (15th-16th centuries), when interest in antiquity revived in European countries. Around the same time, the first information about the myths of the Arabs and American Indians penetrates into Europe. In an educated society, it has become fashionable to use names ancient gods in an allegorical sense: saying "Mars" meant war, by "Venus" they meant love, by "Minerva" - wisdom, by "muses" - various sciences and arts. Such word usage has survived to this day, in particular in the poetic language, which has absorbed many mythological societies.
The variety of myths is very large. All of them are interesting in their own way, but the most famous are ancient greek myths. Consider the gods present in the mythology of Ancient Greece. Gods as powerful supernatural beings are the main characters of most myths in the so-called developed mythologies.
The myths of the ancient Greeks say: in the beginning there was nothing but eternal Chaos.
Chaos in Greek means "yawn", "yawning", "unfolded space", "abyss". Gaia has already arisen from it - Earth, Tartarus, Eros, Night and Erebus - the fundamental principles of life. The Orphic poets brought Chaos closer to the world egg, the source of life. Late antiquity identifies CHAOS with Hades. Ovid represents Chaos as a rough and formless matter, where land and air, heat and cold, hard and soft mixed. Chaos is both a life-giving and annihilating force. It is infinite in time and space. From Chaos also came the world and the immortal gods.
Gods and Goddesses
Of course, there were quite a few gods and goddesses in Ancient Greece, and it is not possible to count and consider all of them, but you can get to know some of them. The first of the gods reigned Uranus-sky.
Uranus
Uranus was the husband of Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Uranus gave birth to Gaia, and then, having entered into marriage with him, gave birth to Cyclopes, Hekatoncheirs and Titans. Uranus, at first sight, hated his monster children, imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth "and enjoyed his villainy." Gaia was burdened by her time, and she persuaded the children to punish their father; for this she gave them a weapon - a sickle. The youngest of the children castrated his father with a sickle and imprisoned him in tartar. From the blood of Uranus, poured onto the earth, giants, erinnias and shallows were born. Uranus and Gaia are the first, most ancient generation of gods. It was they who laid the foundation for the kind of monsters that later, classical gods and many generations of heroes had to fight with.
Power from Uranus was taken away by his son Kron, the same one who castrated and imprisoned his father in tartar. According to legend, the time of his reign was the Golden Age, when people did not know labor and death.
Cron
Kronos or Kronos married his sister Rhea and, fearing the fate predicted for him to be overthrown by his son, he swallowed all his children. When the youngest son, Zeus, was born, Rhea deceived her husband and let him swallow a stone wrapped in a diaper, and hid Zeus on the island of Crete. Having matured, Zeus forced Krona to return all the children he had swallowed, giving him a magic drink, and overthrew himself and threw him into tartar.
The name Kronos is close to the Greek "chronos" - "time". He is depicted with an ominous scythe in crayfish - perhaps the sickle with which he committed an "unholy deed" over his father turned into it.
After the death of Cronus, there was a great struggle for the power of the titans and the Olympian gods. When the Olympians defeated the titans, it meant victory for the power of reason, order and harmony. Zeus, Hades and Poseidon are three brothers who shared the supreme power over the world. Zeus got Olympus and became known as Olympus, or Thessaolian, personifying only a bright, life-giving force. Hades settled in his underground possessions, and Poseidon received the sea, after which he settled in the underwater golden palace in Aegah, leaving Olympus.
Zeus and his wife
Zeus is a primordially Greek deity, his name means "bright sky"; associate his name with the Greek words "life", "irrigation", "that through which everything exists."
At first, Zeus was thought to be the ruler of both the living and the dead, he judged the dead and combined the beginning of life and death in himself. This archaic deity was called Chthonius - underground and was worshiped in Karinth.
Zeus is afraid of the fate of the overthrown Uranus and Kron, and when Gaia foreshadows the birth of a stronger son than he, he swallows his first wife Metis (a wise goddess, her name means "thought") to prevent this from happening. Metis, absorbed by Zeus, gives him advice and helps to distinguish between evil and good.
After Metis, Zeus married the goddess of justice, Themis. Themis is an ancient powerful deity, sometimes she is thought of by mother Gaia, the keeper of ancient wisdom and a prophetic gift. In classical mythology, Themis is no longer identified with the earth. She forever remained the adviser of Zeus, sits at the foot of the Olympic throne and conducts conversations with him.
The third - and last - the legal wife of Zeus Hera. The name Hera means “lady”, “guardian”. Before the battle with the Titans, the mother hid Hera at the end of the earth, near the Ocean and Tethys. Zeus found her there and, passionately falling in love, made her his lawful wife. Hera is an older deity than Zeus. In her character there are traces of an archaic, elemental, unreasonable force. She tries to defend her independence in front of her husband, they often argue among themselves, Hera has her own sympathies and interests. Hera is the patroness of marriage and family. She is jealous of the polygamist Zeus and pursues his lovers. This goddess is touchy and vengeful. She gave birth to Zeus Hebe, the goddess of youth, Ilithyia, the patroness of women in childbirth, and the god of war, Ares.
The marriages of Zeus bring harmony and reasonable beauty into the world. The goddess Themis gave birth to mountains from Zeus - the goddess of the change of seasons, regularity and order, and Moira - the goddess of fate. The goddess Mnemosyne, one of the beloved Zeus, gave birth to ten muses - the patrons of the arts and sciences. The oceanid Eurynome gave birth to a radiant harit, personifying joy, beauty and fun, meek Leto - the formidable and beautiful Apollo and the hunting goddess Artemis. The wise Athena was also born from Zeus, and according to some versions, Aphrodite. Mortal women gave birth to Zeus, heroes-winners of ancient monsters, sages and founders of cities.
Unlike the insidious, violent and unbridled gods of previous generations, Zeus stands guard over law and order. He himself obeys the judgments of the moira. The dictates of fate are hidden from him; in order to recognize them, he weighs the lots on golden scales, and if the lot of death fell even to his son, he does not dare to interfere with this. Therefore, he severely punishes all violations of the law - whether their offenders are gods or mortals.
Zeus fights evil, punishing individual "swindlers" like Tantalus or Sisyphus, and carries out the execution of family curses over entire generations of people.
Possessing the power and authority of an ancient primitive deity, Zeus protects morality and law - the foundations of ancient statehood. He is the patron of orphans, prayers, travelers.
Zeus is also revered as the guardian of the family and clan. He was called "father", "all-begetter", "father", "patrimonial"; wars prayed to him for victory, referring to Zeus: “military”, “bearer of victory”, and the sculptor Phidias sculpted Zeus holding the figure of the goddess Nike in his hand. In a word, Zeus is generally the protector of the Hellenes.
In more ancient myths, the elemental power of Zeus is brought to the fore.
The attributes of the supreme god are the aegis, the scepter, sometimes the hammer. The sanctuaries of Zeus were in Dodona and Olympia. In Olympia, in honor of this deity, the famous Olympic Games were held every four years, during which all wars in Greece ceased.
Cult statues of Zeus have been preserved, where he is depicted sitting on a throne with his attributes of power. The antique sculpture “Zeus Otricoli”, numerous reliefs of the Parthenon and the Pergamon altar depicting Zeus among the Olympians, the battle of Zeus with the giants and the birth of Athena from his head have come down to us.
Hades
Hades is the god of the underworld. The ancient Greeks imagined the afterlife as gloomy, terrible, and life in it seemed to them full of suffering and misfortune. Incorporeal shadows swept through the gloomy fields of the underworld, uttering quiet, plaintive groans. The river Lethe carried its waters to the kingdom of Hades, giving oblivion to everything that comes to earth. Severe Charon transported the souls of the dead to the other side of the river Styx, from where there was no return to anyone.
The golden throne of Hades was surrounded by terrible, gloomy creatures.
Hades is not sacrificed, he has no children, and he even got his wife illegally and by cunning. By letting her swallow a pomegranate seed, he forced her to return to him for at least a third of the year. According to Pausanias, Hades was revered only in Elis, where once a year his temple was opened and the priests of Hades entered there. The name Hades means “invisible”, “formless”, “terrible”.
Perhaps the only good creature that lived in the realm of the underground god was the god of sleep, Hypnos.
Hypnos is the son of Night and the brother of Death - Tanat, as well as Moira and Nemesis. Hypnos, unlike Tanat, is a calm and benevolent deity to people. He silently rushed around on his transparent wings and poured a sleeping pill from his horn. As soon as this god gently touched human eyes with his magic wand, people immediately fell into a deep sweet sleep. Even the great Zeus was unable to resist Hypnos.
Poseidon
Poseidon is one of the main Olympic gods, the lord of the sea. His wife, Nereid Amphitrite, gave birth to his son Triton, the god of the deep sea. Poseidon rushes across the sea on a chariot drawn by long-maned horses and measures the waves with his trident.
In the ancient Greek beliefs, Poseidon is associated with the earth - after all, it is the waters that make the earth fertile. This is also indicated by his epithets “landowner”, “earth shaker”, and legends in which he carved a source of water from the ground with his trident, and his embodiment in earthly animals - a bull and a horse.
As expected ancient deity, Poseidon is vengeful, vindictive, violent. He considers himself equal to his brother Zeus and sometimes openly feuds with him.
The children of Poseidon were also distinguished by savagery and elemental, monstrous strength.
These are the violent and daring giants Sarpedon, Orion and the Aload brothers; the king of the Bebriks, the son of the earth, the strongman Antey, the wild and gloomy ogre Polyphemus, the king Busiris, who kills strangers, the robbers Kerkion and Skiron. From the Gorgon Medusa, Poseidon had the warrior Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, from Demeter the horse Areyon, a monstrous minotaur born by Pasiphae, is also the son of Poseidon.
Mythical Scheria is the only country where the descendants of Poseidon lived happily and serenely, reigning over the people of skilled sailors, loved by the gods. Atlantis, where the descendants of Poseidon also reigned, Zeus punished for impiety.
Poseidon was revered as the deity of the sea and springs. Black-haired, sinekudrom usually sacrificed black animals, which indicates his connection with underground, chthonic forces. Sacrifices were made to Poseidon in case of disasters sent by God and were supposed to soften his anger.
Apollo
Apollo was born on Desol Island. About to be relieved of her burden, Leto wandered for a long time, pursued by the wrath of the jealous Hera and the serpent Python sent by her. Only the floating island of Asteria, deserted and rocky, finally gave her shelter. There, under a palm tree, Summer gave birth to twins - Artemis and Apollo, and from that moment on, the island firmly adhered to the seabed and became known as Delos, which means "I appear." The island became sacred, which revealed the light god to the world, the palm tree became the sacred tree of Apollo, and the swan became the sacred bird, for the swans sang seven times in honor of the birth of Apollo; therefore there are seven strings on his cithara.
Having been born, Apollo demanded a bow, a lyre and wished to prophesy the will of his father Zeus. The "light-bearing god", Apollo approaches the sun - both destructive and healing. He can save the people from the plague, he is an intercessor and a doctor and has power over all healing herbs. A healing panacea flows from his hair, protecting him from illness. His son Asclepius is a healer so skilled that he brings the dead back to life.
According to legend, for this Zeus struck Asclepius with lightning, while Apollo killed the Cyclopes who bound this lightning, and as a punishment, he had to serve on earth for a year, with King Admet. It was then that while grazing the flock of Admet, he received the nickname "shepherd's god", "protector of the flocks." Admet remembered that his shepherd was an immortal god, honored and worshiped him, and the flocks of the king prospered. As a sign of friendship, Apollo promised Admet to delay his death if one of his relatives agreed to go to Hades instead of him.
In general, the love and friendship of Apollo rarely turned out to be beneficial over mortals. His favorite, the young Cypress, died; mourning the death of a beloved deer: the gods turned it into a tree of sorrow. The young Hyakinthus was accidentally killed by Apollo himself while throwing the discus. From the blood of a young man he raised a beautiful flower.
Apollo received the gift of divination as soon as he was born, but according to other legends, things were different. After the victory over Python, Apollo had to cleanse himself of the filth of spilled blood, and for this he descended into Hades. There, having atoned for the guilt before the Earth, which gave birth to Python, he gained prophetic power. In Delphi, at the foot of Parnassus, where he killed the monstrous snake, the god founded his temple. He himself brought the first Cretan seafaring priests there and taught them to sing a hymn in honor of Apollo. The Temple of Delphi, where the Pythia sat on a tripod and announced the future, is the main sanctuary of Apollo. The Delphic oracle, along with the sacred oak in Dodona, where the sanctuary of Zeus was, are the most authoritative soothsayers of Greece. With her enigmatic predictions, the Pythia seriously influenced the politics of Greek ideas. From Apollo came a kind of soothsayers.
As a child, Apollo amused himself by building cities from the horns of fallow deer killed by Artemis. Since then, he has taken a liking to building cities. This god taught people to mark the ground, build altars and erect walls.
With all the variety of his roles, Apollo is best known as the patron of the arts. He is a musician, kifared (plays the cithara) and musaged (leads round dances of the muses). From him went to the earth a kind of singers, musicians. His sons are Orpheus and Lin. He is the organizer of world harmony, world order. Under the auspices of Apollo, the mythical country of the Hyperboreans, a blessed people, flourishes, spending their days in fun, dancing and singing to music, in feasts and prayers.
Ares
Ares is the god of war. According to legend, he was born in Thrace, inhabited in the representation of the Greeks by wild, warlike barbarians. Ares is bloodthirsty, violent, loves killing and destruction. At first, Ares was simply identified with war and deadly weapons. He is hated by both people and gods. On Olympus, only Aphrodite burns with passion for him, and Zeus curses Ares and threatens that he would have thrown him into tartar if he were not his son.
Ares is a formidable warrior, his epithets are “strong”, “huge”, “treacherous”, “fast”, “furious”, “crusher of cities”. The same wildness and violent militancy is visible in the children of Ares. This is the Thracian king Diomedes, who fed travelers to his horses, the heroes Meleager, Ascalaf, the cruel king Enomai, the wicked Phlegius, the tribe of the Amazons. In alliance with one of the Erinnias, Ares, the Theban dragon was born, from whose teeth militant Sparta grew - Jason had to fight them in Colchis, where he arrived for the Golden Fleece. For Cadmus, who killed this dragon, many generations of his descendants, the Theban kings, later paid with troubles.
Companions of Ares - the goddess of discord Eris and the frantic Enio - confusion; the horses in his chariot are Shine, Flame, Noise, Horror.
Ares had to endure insults not only from the gods, but also from mortals. The Aloads chained him and kept him for thirteen months in a copper jar - without the help of Hermes, he would not have escaped from there. The mortal Diomedes wounded Ares with a spear. Hercules during the war with Pylos put Ares to flight. But for all the hardships, Ares is rewarded by the love of the most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite. From their union were born Phobos, Deimos, Eros and Anteros, as well as a daughter, Harmony.
Helios
Helios is the god of the sun, who gives life to all living things and punishes criminals with blindness and death. Son of the titans Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selene and Eos.
In a halo of blinding rays, with terrible burning eyes in a golden helmet and on a golden chariot, the sun god passes his daily journey through the sky. From above, he sees all the deeds of people and gods, even those that are hidden from the eyes of other celestials.
Helios lives in a golden palace with silver forged gates. Surrounding his jeweled throne are the four seasons, and flanked by Hours, Days, Months, Years and Ages. Phaeton came to this palace with an unreasonable request - to ride in his golden crown and on his fiery horses. But he could not keep the divine horses and collapsed into the sea. After the death of Phaeton, the day passed without the sun - Helios mourned his son.
On the island of Trinacria, the herds of Helios graze - seven herds of bulls and seven herds of rams, each with fifty heads, and their number is always unchanged. These herds symbolize the fifty-seven-day weeks that make up the year of the ancient Greeks, and bulls and rams are days and nights. The satellites of Odysseus encroached on the sacred bulls, for which Zeus, at the request of Helios, threw lightning at them and sank along with the ship.
The descendants of the sun god were distinguished by impudence and malevolence, as well as a penchant for sorcery, like Kioka and Medea.
Helios was often identified with his father, the titan Hyperion, and in late antiquity with the Olympian Apollo.
Dionysus
Dionysus is the god of vegetation, viticulture and winemaking. According to the main myth, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and the Theban princess Semele.
Because of the intrigues of the jealous Hera, Zeus had to appear to Semele in all his Olympic greatness, and Semele died in a flame of lightning. Zeus sewed the prematurely born baby into his thigh and gave birth again three months later. Therefore, Dionysus is called "twice born", and sometimes referring to Zagreus (the predecessor of Dionysus), - "thrice born". Zeus gave his son to be raised by the Nisean nymphs.
When Dionysus grew up and found the vine, Hera instilled madness in him. In a frenzy, he wandered through Egypt and Syria until he came to Phrygia, where Rhea-Cybele healed him and introduced him to her mysteries. From there, Dionysus went to India, planting the cult of the vine along the way. The procession of Bacchus was accompanied by violence and destruction. Naturally, many did not like these Bacchanal orgies and Dionysus often met resistance. He was declared an impostor, then Dionysus showed himself in the form of a god.
The names of Dionysus are Bromius (“noisy”), Ley (“liberator”), Leney (“sower of clusters”), Evius (“ivy”), Sabazius, Liber, Bassareus. His attributes are a thyrsus (a rod entwined with ivy) and a goblet. The myths about Dionysus are reflected in ancient fine arts.
Hermes
Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the patron of travelers, the guide of the souls of the dead. Hermes - the Olympic god, the son of Zeus and Main, the daughter of Atlanta, was born in Arcadia, in the cave of Kyllene. Its antiquity is indicated by the name, which may have come from the word "germ" - a pile of stones. Such herms marked the places of burial, they were road signs, marked the boundaries. The destruction of herms in Greece was punished as sacrilege.
Having been born, the infant Hermes immediately stole a herd of cows belonging to Apollo. Despite all his cunning precautions, the prophetic Apollo guessed who the kidnapper was, but in response to his demands, the “innocent baby” only wrapped himself in swaddling clothes. When Apollo dragged Hermes to court to Zeus, he continued to deny, swearing that he had not seen any cows and did not even know what they were. Zeus burst out laughing and ordered the herd to be returned to Apollo. Hermes gave the cows to the owner, but he began to play the lyre so beautifully, which he made from the shell of the tortoise he had caught that same morning, that Apollo began to beg him to exchange the lyre for a herd. Hermes got the cows back, and instead of the lyre he made himself a flute, which he also gave to Apollo in exchange for his golden rod. In addition, Apollo promised to teach him divination. So, barely born, Hermes appeared in the world in all the variety of his roles.
Clever rogues, eloquent liars and thieves pray to Hermes.
Hermes is the patron of travelers, wanderers, he is a guide, he unlocks any doors. Hermes leads the goddesses to court to Paris, he delivers Priam to the tent of Achilles, invisibly leading him through the entire Achaean camp. The fleet-footed Hermes serves as a messenger for the Olympians, communicating the divine will to mortals.
Hermes is a guide not only on earth and Olympus, but also in the kingdom of Hades. He accompanies the souls of the dead to Erebus.
A side function of Hermes, which he shared with Hekate, is the patronage of the shepherds and the multiplication of the offspring of the flock. His son Pan is the god of the herds. Hermes was revered at the anthesteria - the holiday of the awakening of spring and the memory of the dead.
His attributes are golden winged sandals and a staff.
Hephaestus
Hephaestus is the god of fire and blacksmithing, the son of Hera. After the birth of Athena, Hera wished, like Zeus, to give birth to a child on her own without the participation of her husband, and was resolved by Gefes. The baby turned out to be frail and ugly, and Hera threw him from Olympus, which is why he later began to limp in one leg. Hephaestus was picked up in the sea by Thetis and Eurynomus and raised in a cave by the ocean. He forever retained gratitude to his adoptive mothers, and Hera took revenge - he forged a trap chair for her, from which she could not get up until the Olympians persuaded Hephaestus to forgive her mother. Later, Hephaestus even protected Hera from the wrath of Zeus - and paid for it: now Zeus threw him off Olympus. Since then, Hephaestus has been limping on both legs.
Hephaestus was famous on Olympus as a skilled blacksmith and artist: he built palaces of copper and gold for the gods, forged immortal weapons and the famous shield of Achilles, the crown of Pandora and the bedchamber of Hera.
On Olympus, the good-natured and clumsy Hephaestus entertains the gods with jokes, treats them to nectars, and generally plays a certain service role.
Hephaestus is the personification of fire, close to the elemental forces of nature.
Asclepius
Asclepius is the god of healing. When Apollo struck Coronis with an arrow for treason, he soon regretted what he had done and, unable to resurrect his beloved, already on the funeral pyre tore out the baby she was carrying from her womb. Apollo gave his son to be raised by the clever centaur Chiron, who taught the young man the art of healing so much that they began to worship him like a god. But when Asclepius began to raise the dead with his art and thereby violated the laws of fate, Zeus incinerated him with his lightning. According to some versions, Asclepius was later resurrected by Zeus and placed by him among the stars.
Asclepius was revered throughout Greece, especially in Epidaurus, where the sick flocked from everywhere for healing. A snake was an obligatory attribute of Asclepius, - with it he stays among the constellations. The most famous sanctuary of Asclepius is located on the island of Kos. The doctors of this island were famous for their art and were considered the descendants of Asclepius - Asclepids.
Prometheus
Prometheus - son of the titan Iapetus (Iapetus), cousin of Zeus; known as a theomachist who betrayed the gods and helped people. The mother of Prometheus is the oceanid Clymene (or Asia). In Aeschylus, however, Prometheus calls the goddess of justice Themis his mother, identifying her with Gaia - the Earth. The name Prometheus means "seer", "foreseeing". Endowed from Mother Earth with the gift of clairvoyance, Prometheus in the battle of the titans with the Olympians foresaw the victory of wisdom, not strength. His rude and narrow-minded relatives - the titans did not listen to his advice, and Prometheus went over to the side of Zeus. With the help of Prometheus, Zeus dealt with the Titans.
According to one of the legends, He Himself created people from clay - and also created them, unlike animals, looking up into the sky. Prometheus taught people crafts, customs, agriculture, building houses and ships, reading, writing and fortune-telling - all the arts people have from Prometheus. Thus, he led people along the path of technological progress, which Zeus did not like very much - after all, people, having learned to ease the hardships of life for themselves, became proud and deteriorated. But Zeus did not correct people, but to complete the evil he created Pandora.
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In ancient Egypt, there were a very large number of gods. Each city had its own pantheon or ennead- 9 main deities that people worshiped. However, for the first time such an ennead appeared in the city of Heliopolis (Heliopolis). It has been known since the time of the Early Kingdom, that is, from the origins of Egyptian civilization.
The priests who lived in this city were considered the most influential and powerful. It was they who named the very first nine deities. Therefore, it is believed that the main gods ancient egypt originated in Heliopolis, and the pantheon itself began to be called heliopolis or great ennead. Below is a list of the supreme deities and their brief description.
God Ra
This is the supreme ancient Egyptian deity. It personified the sun. After the creation of the world, Ra began to reign over him, and this was the most fertile time for people. The power of the god was in his mysterious name. Other celestials wanted to know this name in order to gain the same power, but the sun god did not tell anyone.
A very long time passed, and Ra grew old. He lost his vigilance and gave his mysterious name to his great-granddaughter Isis. After that, a period of chaos ensued, and people stopped obeying the supreme deity. Then the sun god decided to leave the earth and go to heaven.
But he did not forget the people and continued to take care of them. Every morning he boarded a boat called Atet, and the sun disk shone over his head. In this boat, Ra sailed through the sky and illuminated the earth from dawn until noon. Then, between noon and dusk, he transferred to another boat called Sektet and went to the underworld in it to illuminate the ordeals of the afterlife.
In this mournful place, the sun god met every night with the huge serpent Apep, who personified evil and darkness. A battle began between Ra and the serpent, and the sun god was always the winner. But evil and darkness were reborn by the next night, and the battle was repeated again.
The ancient Egyptians depicted the god Ra with the body of a man and the head of a falcon, which was crowned with a solar disk. On it lay the goddess Wajit in the form of a cobra. She was considered the patroness of Lower Egypt and its pharaohs. This god had other names in some religious centers. In Thebes he was called Amon-Ra, in Elephantine Khnum-Ra. But this did not change the main essence of the solar deity, who had the status of the main god of Ancient Egypt.
God Shu
This deity personified the airspace illuminated by the sun. Shu was the son of Ra, and when he ascended to heaven, he began to reign in his place. He ruled the sky, earth, mountains, winds, seas. As the millennia passed, Shu also ascended to heaven. According to its status, it was considered the second after Ra.
In some images, he was shown as a man with a lion's head. He sat on a throne carried by lions. But there are many more images of the god of air in the form of an ordinary person with a feather in his head. It symbolized the goddess of truth, Maat.
Goddess Tefnut
This deity also belonged to the main gods of Ancient Egypt. Tefnut is the goddess of heat and moisture. She was the daughter of the god Ra and was the wife of her brother Shu. The husband and wife were twins. But even before the marriage, the god Ra removed his daughter to Nubia, having quarreled with her, and a drought set in Egypt. Then the sun god returned his daughter, and she married Shu.
The return of Tefnut and her marriage became a symbol of the flowering of nature. Most often, the goddess was depicted as a man with the head of a lioness and a fiery disk above his head. The disk indicated her connection with the father of Ra, since the daughter was considered his fiery eye. When the sun god appeared early in the morning on the horizon, the fiery eye shone in his forehead and burned all enemies and ill-wishers.
God Geb
Geb is the god of the earth, the son of Shu and Tefnut. He married his sister Nut - the goddess of the sky - and this couple had children: Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys. It is noteworthy that Geb constantly quarreled with Nut, who before dawn ate her children - heavenly bodies, but again gave birth to them on the eve of twilight.
These quarrels tired Shu's father, and he separated the spouses. He lifted chickpeas high into the sky, and left Hebe on the ground. He reigned after his father, and then transferred his power to his son Osiris. He was often portrayed as a human. Green colour sitting on a throne with a royal crown on his head.
Goddess Nut
Nut is the goddess of the sky, the daughter of Shu and Tefnut, the sister and wife of Geb. She was the mother of Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. In the morning, the sky goddess swallowed the stars, and late in the evening gave birth to them, thus symbolizing the change of day and night. She had an inextricable connection with the world of the dead.
She raised the dead into the sky and guarded the tombs of the dead. Depicted as a woman with a curved body. It stretched across the horizon and touched the ground with the tips of its fingers and toes. Often, under the curved body of Nut, Geb was depicted lying on the ground.
I must say that the main gods of Ancient Egypt would have lost a lot without Osiris. He was the great-great-grandson of the god Ra and ruled the earth after his father Geb. During his reign, he taught people many things. useful things. He married his own sister Isis, and Seth and Nephthys were his brother and sister. But Seth, who lived in the south of Egypt in the desert, began to envy his successful brother, killed him and appropriated royal power.
Set not only killed, but dismembered the body of Osiris into 14 pieces and scattered them across the lands of Egypt. But the faithful wife Isis found all the pieces, put them together and called a guide to the underworld of Anubis. He made a mummy from the body of Osiris, which became the first in Egypt. After that, Isis turned into a female kite, spread herself over the body of her husband and brother, and became pregnant from him. Thus was born Horus, who became the last of the gods who ruled the earth. After him, power passed to the pharaohs.
Horus defeated Set, sent him back south into the desert, and revived his father with his left eye. After that, he remained to rule on earth, and Osiris began to reign in the afterlife. God was depicted as a man in white clothes and with a green face. In his hands he held a flail and a scepter, and a crown crowned his head.
Isis (Isis) was extremely popular in ancient Egypt, was considered the goddess of fertility, symbolized motherhood and femininity. She was the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. The Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded when Isis cries, mourning Osiris, who left her and left to rule the kingdom of the dead.
The significance of this goddess increased significantly during the Middle Kingdom, when funerary texts began to be used not only by the pharaohs and their families, but also by all other inhabitants of Egypt. Isis was depicted as a man with a throne on his head, which personified the power of the pharaohs.
Set (Seth) - the youngest son of Geb and Nut, brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys. He married the latter. He was born on the third New Year's Day, jumping out of his mother's side. The ancient Egyptians considered this day unlucky, therefore, until the day ended, they did nothing. Set was considered the god of war, chaos and sandstorms. He personified evil, which is similar to Satan. After killing Osiris, he reigned for a short time on earth until he was overthrown by Horus. After that, he ended up in the desert in the south of Egypt, from where he sent sandstorms to fertile lands.
Set was depicted as a man with the head of an aardvark or a donkey. It had long ears and a red mane in many depictions. Sometimes this god was given red eyes. This color symbolized the sand of the desert and death. The pig was considered a sacred animal of the god of sandstorms. Therefore, pigs were classified as unclean animals.
The youngest of the children of Geb and Nut, named Nephthys, also belonged to the main gods of Ancient Egypt. She was born on the last day of the year. The ancient Egyptians saw this goddess as the complement of Isis. She was considered the goddess of creation, which permeates the entire world. Nephthys ruled over everything ephemeral, which could not be seen, touched or smelled. She had a connection with the world of the dead, and at night accompanied Ra in his voyage through the underworld.
She was considered the wife of Seth, but did not have pronounced negative traits characteristic of her husband. They portrayed this goddess in a human female form. Her head was crowned with a hieroglyph denoting the name of the goddess. She was depicted on sarcophagi as a woman with wings, symbolizing the protector of the dead.
