In penetrating this mysterious world we are confronted by an actual jumble of gods, many being of foreign origin; and these, with the indigenous deities, made up nations of gods.  This mixed pantheon had its grades of noble princes and kings, each of its members representing one of the forces constituting the world.  Some appeared in human form; others as animals; others as combinations of human and animal forms.

The sky-gods, like the earth-gods, were separated into groups, the one composed of women:  Hathor of Denderah, or Nit of Sais; the other composed of men identical with Horus, or derived from him:  Anhuri-Shu of Sebennytos and Thinis; Harmerati, or Horus, of the two eyes, at Pharbaethos; Har-Sapedi, or Horus, of the zodiacal light, in the Wady Tumilat; and, finally, Harhuditi at Edfu.  Ra, the solar disc, was enthroned at Heliopolis; and sun-gods were numerous among the home deities.  Horus the sun, and Ra the sun-god of Heliopolis, so permeated each other that none could say where the one began and the other ended.

Each of the feudal gods representing the sun cherished pretensions to universal dominion.  The goddesses shared in supreme power.  Isis was entitled lady and mistress of Buto, as Hathor was at Denderah, and as Nit was at Sais.  The animal-gods shared omnipotence with those in human form.  Each of the feudal divinities appropriated two companions and formed a trinity; or, as it is generally called, a triad.  Often the local deity was content with one wife and one son, but often he was united to two goddesses.  The system of triads enhanced, rather than lowered, the prestige of the feudal gods.  The son in a divine triad had of himself but limited authority.  When Isis and Osiris were his parents, he was generally an infant Horus, whose mother nursed him, offering him her breast.  The gods had body and soul, like men; they had bones, muscles, flesh and blood; they hungered and thirsted, ate and drank; they had our passions, griefs, joys and infirmities; and they were subject to age, decrepitude and death, though they lived very far beyond the term of life of men.

The sa, a mysterious fluid, circulated through their members, and carried with it divine vigour; and this they could impart to men, who thus might become gods.  Many of the Pharaohs became deities.  The king who wished to become impregnated with the divine sa sat before the statue of the god in order that this principle might be infused into him.  The gods were spared none of the anguish and none of the perils which death so plentifully bestows on men.  The gods died; each nome possessed the mummy and the tomb of its dead deity.  At Thinis there was the mummy of Anhuri in its tomb, at Mendes the mummy of Osiris, at Heliopolis that of Tumu.  Usually, by dying, the god became another deity.  Ptah of Memphis became Sokaris; Uapuaitu, the jackal of Siut, was changed into Anubis.  Osiris first represented the wild and fickle Nile of primitive times; but was soon transformed into a benefactor to humanity, the supremely good being, Unnofriu, Onnophris.  He was supposed to assume the shapes not only of man, but of rams and bulls, or even of water-birds, such as lapwings, herons, and cranes.  His companion goddess was Isis, the cow, or woman with cow’s horns, who personified the earth, and was mother of Horus.