Egyptian Mythology

Cats in Egyptian Mythology

Ma'at: the goddess of truth, justice, law, and orderThe hearts of the dead are weighed against her feather of truth. If the heart is heavier than the feather, it is eaten by a beast.

Nephthys:goddess of funeralsNephthys is the sister and wife of Set, sister of Osiris and Isis, and mother of Anubis. She is a minor god in comparison to the rest of her family.

Anubis:god of the dead and embalmingAnubis is the son of Osiris and Nephthys. He presides over funerals, guides the dead through the underworld, and places their hearts on the scale to be weighed against the feather of Ma'at.

PharaohThe pharaoh was the king of Egypt and the most important religious figure. He was thought to be the link between the gods and humans, or even related to the gods or a god himself. He was responsible for maintaining order and harmony by supporting religion and building and maintaining temples. In some ways, the pharaoh was more important than any other god.

Isis and OsirisThe children of Geb and Nut were Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Osiris married Isis and became the ruler of Egypt after teaching humans to support themselves by farming. Set became jealous of his success and killed him by sealing him in a coffin and putting it into the Nile. The coffin eventually hit land and a tree grew around it; the tree was cut down and used as a pillar in a palace. Isis never gave up searching for her husband and eventually found the pillar and brought the coffin home. When Set discovered this, he cut Osiris into 14 pieces; Isis was able to find 13 and put her husband back together. They then had their first child, Horus, but this was not a permanent fix, and Osiris became the ruler of the underworld while Horus took his place as ruler over the human world.

Egyptian Mythology

MummiesAncient Egyptians believed in an afterlife. A person's "ka" was their life force, and it could live eternally in the afterlife as long as it had nourishment and a body to inhabit. For this reason, food offerings were left at tombs by the living, and bodies were mummified to house the ka.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramids are burial monuments which were also believed to act as "resurrection machines.