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Mythology

Egyptian mythology

For the ancient Egyptians, life depended on two things: the sun that was reborn every morning and the Nile that flooded the fields every year, leaving fertile soil behind. Their gods often have a human body and the head of an animal: the falcon, the jackal, the cat, the ibis. They believed in a journey after death, full of trials, at the end of which the heart was weighed. We know these stories from inscriptions in the pyramids, from papyri and from Greek writers.

Who they were, where, and how we know

Ancient Egypt grew up along the Nile around 3100 BC, when Lower and Upper Egypt were united, and lasted almost three thousand years, until the Roman conquest of 30 BC. In all that time the myths changed a lot: a god who mattered in one city could become minor in another.

We know them from the Egyptians themselves. The Pyramid Texts (about 2400 BC) are the oldest written religious formulas, and then there are the Book of the Dead, tomb paintings and temple walls. For centuries nobody could read hieroglyphs: they were deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, thanks to the Rosetta Stone, found in 1799. The full story of Isis and Osiris comes to us from the Greek writer Plutarch.

There are many gods, often with a human body and an animal head: Ra, the sun; Osiris, lord of the dead; Isis and Horus; Anubis, who guides the dead; Thoth, writing. The key theme is life that returns: the sun that is reborn each morning, the Nile that covers the fields again each year.

The cards

RaHeliopolis · sun god not scary at allOsirisAbydos and the Nile valley · god of the afterlife a little scaryIsisPhilae and all of Egypt · goddess of magic not scary at allHorusEdfu · sky god not scary at allSetthe desert · god of the desert scaryAnubisEgypt, the Nile valley · protector of tombs a little scaryThothHermopolis · god of writing not scary at allBastetBubastis · cat goddess not scary at allThe SphinxGiza · guardian not scary at allApophisthe underworld · serpent of chaos scarySekhmetMemphis · lioness goddess scaryPtahMemphis · creator god of craftsmen not scary at allHathorDendera · goddess of joy and music not scary at allSobekKom Ombo and the Faiyum · crocodile god of the Nile a little scaryMa’at and the weighing of the heartthe Hall of the Two Truths · goddess of justice a little scaryThe boat of Rathe sky and the Duat · the journey of the sun a little scaryBeshomes all over Egypt · protector of the home not scary at allNut and Gebthe sky of Egypt · sky and earth not scary at all

Who comes from whom

Tap a name: its parents and children light up. Names with a medallion open their card (with a finger: tap them twice).

Ra
Nut and Geb, sky and earth (grandchildren of Ra)
OsirisIsisSet
HorusAnubis

Places of the myths

The Nile
the river that gives life to Egypt: without its floods the whole country would be desert.
The Duat
the underworld that the boat of the sun crosses every night.
Giza
where the great pyramids and the Sphinx stand.
Heliopolis
the “city of the sun”, the most important sanctuary of Ra.

Main sources

GreekRomanNorseCelticMesopotamianHinduJapaneseChineseAztec and MayaAfricanPolynesianAboriginalSlavic

Ciro Simone Irmici

Who's behind this

Ciro Simone Irmici

I build websites, apps and games. I built the Atlas with artificial intelligence and I check every card and every source myself. I am not a scholar of mythology: I tell these legends with respect and always say where they come from. If you know a legend from your town, write to me.

More of my work: free audiobooks on YouTube · ebooks on Gumroad · Apple Books · music on Spotify and YouTube Music

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