Egyptian Gods
Ancient Egyptian Gods, Goddesses and Religion
Ju·ve·nal
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(c.60–c.140), Roman satirist; Latin name Decimus Junius
Juvenalis. He wrote 16-verse satires that savagely attacked
the vices and follies of Roman society, chiefly during the
reign of Domitian
"Who does not know, Volusius, what monsters are worshipped by demented Egyptians?One lot reveres the crocodile, another goes in awe of the ibis..." Juvenal - Fifteenth Satire
Although Juvenal's diatribe
against the Egyptian gods was not based on any depth
of understanding of Egyptian religion, it nevertheless
portrays the seemingly unintelligible array of gods
and goddesses which characterized the pantheon of the
Nile. But not even satire could exaggerate the
vastness of this pantheon, which embraced hundreds
upon hundreds of gods often as amazing in their forms
as they were astonishing in their numbers.
This range of form was particularly true of minor deities, "demons" and the composite deities of later Egyptian religion, which often stretched the limits of the imagination in the variety of their hybrid natures. Yet for all their often bizarre appearances, these deities are never without a certain logic which appealed to the Egyptian mind and which personified its ideas of the divine with utmost charity. Despite their often alien outward appearances, the many gods of Egypt included deities whose characters, myths and even forms provide fascinating insights into the world views, concerns and ethics of a society which was great long before Juvenal's Rome was born and which would affect the world long after the gods of Rome were lost in time. Photo: The noble Sennedjem, alone and with his wife, worshipping some of the many forms of deities in the Egyptian pantheon. 19th Dynasty. Ceiling of the tomb of Sennedjem, Deir el-Medina, Western Thebes. 
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