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In the Egyptian texts the gods are often said to be 'rich in
names', and the multiplicity of names (and therefore
manifestations) exhibited by individual deities provides an
important example of the principle whereby one god may be seen
as many. In the New Kingdom text known as the Litany of Re the
solar god is identified in 'all his evolutions' as 75 different
deities - including not only common forms of the sun but also
female deities such as Isis and Nut. Osiris received prayers
and litanies of praise under many names, and the mythological
story explaining how his body was torn into pieces and
scattered throughout Egypt provides an example of how one god
could become many. Yet this example is unique and such a
physical explanation for multiple instances and locations of a
deity was not necessary for the application of the principle.
In the Ptolemaic temple of Edfu we find that the goddess Hathor
is represented by as many forms as there are days in the year
(and each of these is actually named as two variant forms), but
there seems to have been no mythic backdrop to this situation
which would have required the Egyptians to posit many
independent forms of the goddess. Perhaps the ultimate example
of the multiplicity of divine names is to be found in the great
god Amun, who was given so many names that the number was said
to be unknowable.
Another aspect of the multiple names of individual Egyptian
gods can be seen in those cases where a given deity was
regarded as the ba or manifestation of another. Of the god
Khnum, for example, it was often said that he was the "ba of
Ra" or of Osiris and so on, so that a given deity was not only
associated with another, but also took further names and
identities in this manner. As several scholars have pointed
out, the form, name and epithets of Egyptian deities seem to
have been variable almost at will, and are often
interchangeable with those of other deities. But while it could
be argued that in almost all these cases the various names and
manifestations of deities are simply forms of the same
underlying god or goddess, individual deities were manifest in
often increasingly diverse ways showing a basic Egyptian
predilection for the concept of one god as many.
From The Complete Egyptian gods and Goddesses
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 The
Complete Gods and
Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Book
Since you are interested in
the Egyptian gods and
goddesses, you will certainly
find this book interesting and
very informative. As a matter
of fact, most of the articles
here are inspired by, or even
directly taken from, this
book.
What makes this book so
special? I find this book so
special and different because
it is something that both
experts and new learners can
learn from. It introduces you
to the famous Egyptian gods and
goddesses, but it also gets you
deep inside the ancient
Egyptian religious life and
mysterious practices, even it
has a few pages dedicated to
the demons of ancient Egypt. I
strongly recommend this book
for you if you want to get
closer insight of the ancient
Egyptian religious doctrines.
The
book is available on
Amazon.
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