Egyptian Gods
Ancient Egyptian Gods, Goddesses and Religion
Groups of Deities
Numerical Groupings of the Egyptian GodsNumerical groups are almost always composed of deities with distinct individual identities organized to make groups of a symbolically significant size. Some of these groups, such as triads, follow the pattern of family and kingship units while others, such as enneads, are more abstract, but all are evidently symbolic in terms of the number of deities involved. In some cases the process of grouping can be seen historically as certain deities were aligned for religious or even political reasons, though in other cases deities were evidently grouped together from very early times for reasons which are not always understood.
Regional Groupings of the Egyptian Gods
Regional groups of deities - meaning those of specific
areas of Egypt, or of a given area of the cosmos such as
star gods or netherworld deities - may or may not have
individual names and identities. These groups could consist
of any number of Egyptian gods, and are often, in fact, of
varying or indeterminate size. The category includes the
deities of the hours of the day and night as these "hour"
gods and goddesses represented not only units of time but
also parts of the cosmos as imagined by the ancient
Egyptians.
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Egyptian mythology contains many groups of
deities but these are of two distinct types, although they
overlap occasionally. On the one hand, there exist what
might be called "numerical groups" formed from the uniting
of independent Egyptian gods usually related in some
symbolic manner. On the other hand, many other gods -
which may or may not have individual names and identities
- exist only as members of generalized "regional
groups".
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